Page 39 of The Enemy's Daughter

Chapter Nine

“You don’t like it?” Alaric asked, watching as Bella stood in the center of the cabin. They had spent the past hour in the restaurant waiting as the room was made up for them, with their suitcases even being dealt with. For two days, their clothes had been hung up in the same closet, and the fire was roaring in the sitting room. He still couldn’t get over their shared closet.

They were sharing a space together in the bedroom.

Bella looked a little uneasy about that as well.

“I do. I really do. It’s just a little surreal,” she said.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I’m here with you, and I don’t even know what you are. My lover, friend, boyfriend—”

“Boyfriend.” He liked that. Being a possession of hers.

“Three years of celibacy has really paid off,” she said.

He laughed, and folded his arms, leaning against the doorframe. The jeans she wore molded to her curves, and he couldn’t wait to peel them off her, and fuck her brains out.

“Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that,” he said.

“What would you like to know?” She spun around to face him. “Want to know how a girl can keep her legs closed for that long?”

“Not that crude, but pretty much.”

She chuckled. “After my last boyfriend, and all the other disasters, sex just didn’t seem all that important.”

“You’re a highly sexed woman, Bella. How did you contain it?”

“I told you, I worked, and I cook and bake. I like sex. I like it a lot, but it doesn’t consume me.”

“It doesn’t?”

“I thought about it. Of course I did, and I played when I got desperate. I guess memories of all the past failures stopped me from reaching out and finding someone else. It’s not as easy as it looks.”

“No, it’s not.”

“You know, we’ve known each other a couple of weeks now, and I don’t know anything about you,” she said.

“Yeah, you do. You know the important stuff.”

“Like leaving the toilet seat up?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I don’t like it when you do that. It’s a pet hate of mine. I don’t suppose you’ll start putting it down, will you? Is there any way you can, I don’t know, sit down to pee?” she asked.

“I can’t even believe I’m having this discussion.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m nervous. The only time I’ve been away was with my parents, and that was so long ago, I can’t even remember it. Mom would have liked this place.”

“Even though she loved camping?”

“She loved camping in the summer. Even my mom got cold. She’d never have gone away for Christmas though. To her, Christmas was always supposed to be at home.”

Alaric thought about her home, the decorations, the scents around the kitchen as she’d been baking up a storm. Bella had him in the kitchen making up sweet pastry while she made her own mincemeat. It was the most interesting of his memories so far.

Bella took a seat, and hugged one of the cushions to her. “I remember as a little girl we’d spend the final week of Christmas baking brownies, cookies, pies, and breads, and everything. We’d go to my father’s office for his party, and everyone would be so welcoming, so inviting. There would be tinsel and mistletoe. Mom and Dad would laugh, and everything was perfect in the world.”

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