Even though I hadn’t opened my eyes yet, I knew he was intensely staring at me. The old Reiss used to study me whilst sleeping and defenseless. Although, with this new version of him, I wasn’t sure what ran through his mind. I was more afraid he regretted it now that he had been given the chance to pause and think properly without his cock leading his reasoning.
The idea of him regretting it almost brought tears to my eyes. But, if it did happen, I shouldn’t take it too hard. He was a virile male who enjoyed women, and I was the ex-lover whom he needed to get out of his system. Once he got his fill, he’d resume his hankerings of beautiful women. What a truly sad thing to think about after what I had just shared with him, but it was my reality and there was no point in sugarcoating the truth.
Not wanting to be exposed and vulnerable to his scrutiny, I slowly shifted to the other side, facing away from him. Regulating my breathing, I thought of calming clouds or anything of that nature when I felt his hand against my back, softly tracing my spine. He took his time, gliding against my skin before I felt the heat of his body slowly moving behind me. His lips were the first things I felt as they left a soft kiss on my nape.
“You still look like the girl I fell in love with all those years ago,” he started saying as his fingers caressed the side of my hips while his lips left tracks against my shoulder blades. “It’s unfortunate I can’t love you the way I used to. Everything is too late for us. Don’t ever fancy yourself falling in love with me. It’ll only ever hurt you.”
His words struck me hard, leaving me hurt while he tried to ease the pain with his kisses. Did he know I was awake and that was why he thought giving me a warning whilst softening the blow would make things easier for us? What if I told him that it was much too late, that I was in love with him? Would it make a difference? Somehow, I believed it would make him run, avoiding me like the plague. It was best if I kept that secret to myself, or I might end up regretting driving him away. Once was enough. I doubted I’d survive being excluded from his life for a second time.
I fell asleep with my troubled thoughts leading the way. Even though he was holding me close, breathing evenly against my neck, the sweet gesture brought little comfort after his words had ingrained themselves into my mind, burning into my soul, leaving me empty and hollow and utterly incomplete.
Hours passed, and I woke up in the same position, with him spooning me from behind. Slowly glancing at the time, I almost choked on my saliva when I saw it was one in the afternoon. “Reiss, wake up!” I tapped him on the shoulder a few times before he started to grumble in protest. “It’s one p.m., and you’re bloody late for work!”
He said something inaudible before his hands reached for me, pulling me back against his hot, hard body. “The world will survive without me for a day,” he softly whispered behind my ear, just as I felt his cock slowly growing against my bottom.
“You can’t be getting randy when you’re late for work!” I reprimanded him, even though my body was in tune with his, readily responding.
“Of course I’m randy … I’m next to you.” He grinned as he shifted me onto my back while situating himself above me. “Open those glorious legs, love. I need you … desperately.”
“Don’t you even care that you’re not at work?” I found myself smiling as I gazed at him, temporarily banishing the words of warning he had spoken last night.
Bringing his face to mine, I softly kissed him. After a few minutes, we broke apart, feeling as if we were back to the old us. My left hand reached out to touch his chest, wanting to trace it, when something caught me off guard. My wedding ring had disappeared, replaced by another ring.
Staring at it wildly, I disentangled myself from Reiss as I placed my hand before me, clueless as to what was going on. “Reiss, my wedding ring … it’s gone.” Panic seized me as I looked at him, uncertain what to think. Without that familiar ring, I felt naked.
He suddenly had this serious expression. “I took it off last night, replacing it with the ring I chose for you.”
“What?” I shrieked. “Why would you do that? Can you please give it back?”
“You still don’t like any ring I get you, it seems. I guess some things just don’t ever change.”
His stony expression made me gaze at the ring. His ring.
“But, I haven’t said yes …” The words echoed around me as I admired the beautiful, antique sapphire setting with a diamond eternity band. As if being proposed with a fake marriage wasn’t humiliating enough, the beautiful ring made me feel gaudy, like I was temporarily filling someone else’s spot.
“I see. Of course you wouldn’t marry me.” He shrugged as though he didn’t care one way or the other as he slowly slid off the bed, gloriously naked with his morning wood protruding proudly. He went to the coffee table across the bedroom before returning to me with Ashton’s ring. “Here. I meant to give it back to you when you woke, but I got distracted.”
Taking the ring out of his hand, I murmured a small thank you. Then I watched while he started to stride towards the bathroom, making me suddenly feel ill because I knew he was going to leave. He felt like I was rejecting him, but it wasn’t him that I was rejecting; it was the manner in which he had proposed that I didn’t agree with.
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
“I am. I have to go see your father and tell him that we’re not—Well, you’re not going through with it. The lawyers need to be told … and I need to get away.”
I could hear the shower being turned on, and I launched off the bed, not bothering to cover myself as I went inside the bathroom, gripped by the fear that I had already lost him.
“So that’s it, then?” I half yelled at him just as he was about to get into the shower.
The man who had been smiling down at me less than ten minutes ago was long gone. “What’s it, Ava?”
“You fuck me until you’re sick of it, and then you just leave.” Hurt had triggered my words, but I kept it hidden, only showing him my anger.
“I’m leaving because I have to!” His face contorted as he hungrily roved his eyes all over my body. “I’m leaving because…” He took a deep breath, lost for words. “Maybe because you’re being bloody insufferable, walking in here stark naked. Fuck!” he growled as he yanked me towards him, capturing my lips as he lifted my body and situated me on the marbled countertop before he stepped in between my legs, never letting go of my lips.