Page 39 of Tales of Earth and Leaves

“Of course,” I replied and went back to the groceries. I did not remember ordering so much, some of these things were not even on my list back at home. I never even tried okra, yet I had a paper brown bag full of them and the unpacking took forever. Passion fruit, sweet kiwi, chestnuts? Had he just picked whatever he fancied and placed it in my delivery?

I heard him laugh, then he shifted and jumped up from the sofa, finding a pink highlighter and returning into the kitchen with the

magazine.

“Are you sure this is my delivery?” I enquired as he sat, uninvited again, on one of the stools and placed the magazine on the table, uncapping the marker.

“I added some extra bits I thought you might enjoy,” he said without lifting his attention from the page. I stared at the article, it was one of those women’s tests magazines liked to invent that gave you an intricate answer, making it seem that Sigmund Freud himself created them. I never enjoyed them and skipped them most of the time, I didn’t care what shade of lipstick would work best for my skin tone and other silly things.

“I’ll do you a test,” he announced excitedly. “My results were spot on.”

“If it entertains you, sure,” I decided to be friendly and once he finished, I would politely kick him out.

He smiled and shimmied in the chair to make himself comfortable. “You are on a first hot date and he offers you a ride home, do you: A. Politely decline and take a cab, B. Give him a kiss goodbye and leave, C. Sure, why not? Or D. Think about it but decide to call a friend to pick you up.”

I frowned, but he lifted his head from the magazine, highlighter at the ready, searching my face for an answer.

“D,” I replied.

A disapproving sound escaped his throat but he circled my answer.

“When your partner asks you to do something adventurous, do you: A. Rip their clothes off and show them your wildest side, B. Shove them in the closest room and perform oral, C. Book a safari trip, D. Get tipsy and let the spirits free.”

I look at him in shock as I remain silent, surprised by the questions and the nerve he had to read them to me. He scanned me for an answer and when one didn't come, he frowned, uncertain.

“What?” he finally asked.

“What kind of questions are those? I replied angrily.

“Discover your kinky side in 10 questions,” he lifted the magazine and showed it to me.

Crimson does not even begin to describe the colour of my face.

“You are in Sweden. People have a threesome a week here. Shy doesn’t suit this country.”

He actually expected me to answer, but I snatched the magazine from his hands and threw it on the sink cabinet.

“Which is why I am only visiting.” I shoved the bags in one and give them back to him, then I nodded and pointed at the door.

“Thank you for the delivery, it is getting late.” I walked across the room and headed to the door. I was practically kicking out this impertinent prick and I did not care. He could move his sexy ass somewhere else, I already had more sexual tension than I could handle, I didn’t need a new man in my life wanting to know how kinky I am.

“Of course,” he followed and then picked up another bag that I hadn’t noticed before. It looked pretty heavy.

“This is for you,” he lifted it and placed it by the door, making it drop with a heavy thump. “It may come in handy someday.” Rhylan nodded a goodbye and walked out, throwing me another one of his seductive smirks. I waited for him to get in the car, a polite gesture

I made with everyone who came in, but I didn't see a vehicle parked in front of the house.

“I’ll walk. I need to take care of something,” he read my thoughts. A deep wicked grin conquered his face as he said it. Whatever he planned, it didn’t look good.

“Enjoy,” I replied dryly and closed the door behind him. This visit turned into a wild ride and I was not emotionally prepared for the excitement. Curious, I opened the black bag he left by the door to check its contents, but I frowned with disappointment. This man left me a bag full of iron chains. I grimaced and returned to my laptop.

The next morning, excitement woke me up before sunrise and as soon as I opened my eyes, a jolt of emotion passed through my entire body, knowing I would see Ansgar again. I decided to follow my instinct, if it didn’t want any more sleep, I wouldn’t force it. Plus, it gave me an advantage in my schedule because I had so many things to do until he arrived that I even made a list.

The very first thing on it was me, I had to be at the top of my game. I hurried to the bathroom and turned on the tap to my huge bathtub, letting the water flow freely. After washing my face with a cleanser, I greedily soaked in bath salts and after about half an hour of letting my skin absorb everything it possibly could and washing my hair, I carefully shaved every inch of me that required attention. Then, I dried my hair with a towel and added some foam to make up a few waves. I finished my skincare routine and spent extra minutes in the mirror to analyse some of the bigger pores and applied some extra serums to get rid of their appearance for the day.

I didn’t know what he wanted to do or if he wanted to go somewhere, so applying makeup proved a more difficult task than I thought. I didn’t want to not wear any, he had already seen my sweaty face too many times, but I didn’t want to put on a full face of makeup, with primers, foundations and ten powders for him to take me swimming somewhere or hiking where I could sweat everything off and look like a Picasso. I decided to go for comfortable and cute, a bit of a sixties look with waterproof mascara, eyeliner, just a bit of brow liner, a touch of rosy blush and a dark shade a nude pink. I checked the mirror for confirmation and blew myself a kiss. Cute enough.

I decided on a dress, he had never seen me in one, and ballet slippers. Also, they would give me the excuse to not be able to walk much, so if he really wanted to go somewhere far away, he would have to carry me. A smile cropped up on my face at the memory of him carrying me up and down cliffs and through huge trees, the touch of his skin and his hard muscles.Mmmhhhmm, I moaned hungrily. It was official, I would turn into a slut for this man and be proud of it. Perfume and deodorant came next, though I kept the perfume close to reapply throughout the day, just in case we were staying home.

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