Page 35 of I Married Amreth

He’d been here less than a day, and yet my entire life felt as if it had been turned upside down. I wished we weren’t here, that this whole thing was already resolved so that we could just focus on getting to know each other and exploring our relationship.

Among other things, I needed to figure out how I wanted to handle things between us over the upcoming days. Should I just let things follow their normal course and go with the flow? Should I suggest that we put anything between us on hold whilewe sorted out this mess and then start fresh with our minds at ease once we were done? What did he even expect?

“Oh, my God! Cut it out!” I whispered angrily to myself.

I had the tendency of overthinking and over analyzing things. Sometimes, things didn’t need to fit neatly inside a little container with a proper label. Chaos held its own beauty.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a knock on the front door. Heart pounding, I jumped to my feet and bolted out of the guest room where I’d been working—or rather daydreaming—and rushed to the door. It wasn’t locked. My heart fluttered when I found Amreth standing behind it, his hands carrying two large bags.

“Come in,” I said, feeling a little awkward as I stepped out of the way.

He smiled with a hint of amusement, no doubt perceiving how flustered his mere presence suddenly made me feel.

“Technically, as you’re going to live here now, you don’t have to knock in the future,” I said with a nervous giggle.

“Thank you. It just felt presumptuous not to do so at least this time,” he replied.

“And I appreciate you being so considerate,” I said, tucking a strand of my silver-white hair behind my ear. “But please, this way. Your bags look heavy,” I added, gesturing towards the guest room.

He followed me into the room only for my stupid brain to finally realize that I had been using it as an office. The whole time I’d been waiting for him, it didn’t register once that I should move my stuff out. Granted, it was only a laptop and a 3D holographic display, but I still should have thought of it.

“Oh, sorry!” I exclaimed, rushing to remove them. “I had been using this room as my office.”

“You can leave them here,” Amreth interjected while setting one of the bags on the bed. “I will only need this room to sleep. You can still work here the rest of the time.”

“I don’t want to bother you or invade your privacy,” I said sheepishly.

He shrugged and looked at me as if I had said something silly. “Your presence can never bother me. But mine could definitely botheryou,” he added teasingly.

“I doubt it. I’ve really enjoyed your company so far, and you’re far more pleasant to look at than all that medical data,” I retorted tauntingly.

He snorted. “Not to boast, but I couldn’t agree more with you on that last point. I get cross-eyed just looking at those reports you and your colleagues have been poring over. I’ll ogle myself any day over that,” he said with an exaggerated shudder.

I chuckled, seriously liking that playful side of him. I doubted he realized it, but where people would occasionally say I had quite the resting bitchface, he had the typical Obosian resting haughty face. Anyone who didn’t know him would likely assume that he was stuck up and holier than thou.

“But you also are very easy on the eye, Ciara. I love the color of this nightgown on you. It makes your skin glow.”

My stomach fluttered with the most pleasant feeling. It wasn’t just the words, but the soft way he spoke them and the admiration in his eyes devoid of lurid undertones. This could have gone in so many different directions. I just liked that he didn’t seem to just look at me as a sex toy.

I glanced down at myself with a timid smile, my right hand absent-mindedly flattening nonexistent creases on the short skirt of my nightgown.

“Thank you. Whoever picked the clothes for me had a really nice taste. I don’t naturally tend to pick colorful clothes, but the selection they provided has made me rethink that stance. OnceI leave here, my wardrobe will get a notable update. I just wish they had a bath here and not just a shower. I have a thing for bubble baths while reading a good book.”

“I have a jacuzzi tub on my ship that I personally never use. If the urge becomes too great for you, I’ll have to sweet talk Aku into allowing you a well-deserved escape for an hour or so.”

I smiled. “You’re sweet, and I’ll definitely keep that offer in mind. In fact, I will set it as a reward for when we pinpoint the source of the illness plaguing them.”

“Deal! Now I have an extra incentive to see that it happens sooner than later. But with that said, I could use a shower myself,” Amreth said, glancing around the room. “I did not notice the hygiene room when Aku first brought me here.”

“This place is fairly primitive,” I said in an apologetic tone, as if somehow this was my house that I feared wasn’t up to par. “They have an outdoor shower, and an outhouse.”

The crestfallen look on his face had me bursting out laughing. I didn’t mean to make fun of him, but as a noble Lord, he likely wasn’t used to roughing it out. Added to that, his wings were quite massive. Although the shower wasn’t tiny, it would likely be a little cramped for him in there.

“I should have listened to myself,” he mumbled under his breath.

“About what?” I asked, curious.

“About taking a shower on my ship before returning. But I had been gone long enough and didn’t want Aku to think I had reneged on my word. Oh well, it will be a good reminder of what it was like during my Warrior training. They made sure we forgot the meaning of creature comfort during those four brutal years,” he said with resignation.

---