Adalia
I stared at Zayn standing in my doorway. He was wearing a black ribbed knit shirt, paired up with black suit pants. He looked so good in black that it was impossibly hard to peel my eyes off him.
His hair was wet and slicked back, with little strands falling across his forehead. His smell was somehow sharper than usual, enveloping every bit of me, making my senses numb.
It turns out I wasn't the only one having trouble with schooling their eyes, as Zayn's eyes were also wandering all over my body. Freckles of gold were slowly bleeding into his electric blue, the longer he stared, and he emanated a sound that was suspiciously close to that of a purr.
There it was again. That sound and that golden color.
Zayn silently leaned in closer, pressing his nose on my neck, then he took in a deep breath. Once again I heard the purring sound and I felt his chest rumble from our proximity.
The sound was entrancing, reeling me in until I was unconsciously tugging at his shirt. I nuzzled my neck further into his lips and shuddered a little when I felt his lips trace one of the hickeys on the base of my neck; it was by far the biggest one.
Zayn groaned. He grabbed my waist and pulled me further into him, then swept my hair backward and caressed the hairline behind my ears.
"It's becoming a hard choice between actually taking you out for a date and confining you here." He spoke against my ears. "If you don't stop, I may do things I'd be sorry for, but won't regret."
"What-?" I stuttered, clinging harder to his shirt. I bet I just gave it more than a crinkle from my grip.
He gave my earlobe a light feather kiss and murmured. "Are you ready to go, gorgeous?"
I was flushed up against him, his warmth seeping through the fabric of my clothes, down to my skin. It felt so good and I didn't want to separate, but I muttered a hesitant, "Yes." even though that was far from the truth.
I honestly don't mind not going out today, but instead just staying in his arms all day. I'd love to cuddle up with him on the couch, watching tv shows, and binge-eating. Just us and no one else. Now that'd be the dream.
"By the way, you look so fucking lovely." He said, as his embrace on my waist tightened, then slowly released. He looked like he was also hesitant to leave but eventually stepped back.
I shook my head, bringing back some clarity to my brain, then quickly locked my house door and followed him to his car.
Zayn was browsing through his phone and I failed at resisting the urge to stare at him.
I can't believe I kissed him yesterday. His full, sensual lips that were tainted with red were on my neck, kissing, sucking, and nibbling. His large hands were wrapped around my waist, pulling and sliding it on his thighs until I reached ecstasy.
I was still lost in a trance when his eyes suddenly drifted to mine. The moment they met, his luscious lips broke out into a knowing, sinful grin.
Oh boy, I feel like I just got caught. I immediately darted my eyes away. For some reason, I felt like he knew what I was thinking about.
Zayn maintained a grin on his face as he leaned over his steering wheel, resting his head on his arms.
"Is there something you want to say?" He asked.
"What?" I blinked at him.
"Well, you're staring at me and licking your lips like I'm a piece of candy."
Aw fuck. I was licking my lips? What else was I doing, fucking drooling?! This is extremely embarrassing.
Filled with embarrassment, I did what I always do best - changing the topic.
"Uh, w-where's Hydra?" I fumbled at my words.
"Hydra?" Zayn scrutinized. As if wondering why I'd be asking about Hydra. "He's with my assistant, Louis. I can't very well bring him to our date and have him share your attention, now can I?" He said as he revved the car and started driving.
"Uh..." I started, wanting to add more comments to his statement, but immediately shut my mouth. I sucked at flirting, and would always just divert my attention like I hadn't heard what the person just said.
I wonder where he's taking us. I've seen a lot of movies and K-dramas for me to know rich people like him take peasant girls like me to expensive restaurants, and places where we end up feeling incredibly out of place and stupid.
I glanced at Zayn.
Maybe I should just ask him where we were going, so I could prepare myself in advance. But what if he mentions some fancy place and I'm left feeling stupid because I have no clue as to what he was talking about?
Deciding it was best not to let curiosity kill the cat, I gulped down my questions and stared off into the road.
After a while, my phone buzzed and I stared at the lit-up screen to see that it was a message from Luke Carver. It read:
'Where are you Adalia? I was suddenly told you can't make it to work.'
Then another text followed: 'Are you feeling okay?'
Another: 'Should I come to your house?'
'Why aren't you answering me?'
'You always reply to my messages in seconds, are you ignoring me?'
What in the hell? Why is he so adamant in his text messages? He has never texted me like this before, he barely even replies to my texts.
And did I always reply to his messages in seconds? Talk about a glorified simp.
As I was mauling over why Luke was suddenly a gracious texter, my phone dinged and I received another text message. This time though it wasn't from Luke, but from Addy.
Addy: Girl.
Are you okay? Luke is literally hovering around my desk demanding I text you to see if I get a response, and then ask where you are.
This is extremely strange, why's Luke so suddenly concerned about me right now? Should I reply to his text messages?
Just as I was about to open Luke's messages, a hand suddenly covered my screen.
"Are you okay?" Zayn asked.
"Hm?" I said looking up in mild surprise.
"You look upset, and I hate it when you're upset." The scrutiny on Zayn's face was burrowing into mine and I averted my eyes.
"It's nothing, just Addy and Linda texting me with some lame jokes." I scoffed, waving at the air in front of my face like it would disrupt Zayn's lie detection of an eye.
I don't know what it was with him, but he always somehow knew how I was feeling. If I'm happy, upset, or uncomfortable. He always knew. That's why right now I feel like he was reading my mind as we spoke.
To my relief, he didn't say anything as he turned his attention back to the road and continued driving.
The awkward silence didn't last for a while, as Zayn chose to break it with a question.
"Do you like horses?" He asked.
"Horses?" I arched a brow, the question completely unexpected.
"Yes horses, gorgeous. Do you like them?" he asked again.
"Well, I think they are cool creatures. I get pretty jealous when I see people riding one, they look so free and joyous. I've only sat on one but never actually gotten to ride one."
"Then there is no need to be jealous anymore," He said with a smile, without his eyes striving from the road.
Hm? Does that mean what I think it does? Surely we aren't going to ride a horse...are we?
Yup, surely we are.
After a while of driving, Zayn pulled into what looked like a rural area. There were fewer and fewer buildings the more we drove through the trees. Something about this place was giving me a feeling of Deja Vu. I felt like I'd experienced something of this sort, where I was driving into a secluded area with no highway or people in sight. Then something crazy happened that caused my nonexistent 'accident.'
Although I didn't get to quiz my memories as I got distracted by a magnificent lake that came into view when Zayn drove past a group of trees.
The lake had a water fountain, with what looked like an ancient Greek lady holding up a jar, and water poured from the jar back into the fountain.
On the other side of the lake was a huge, two-story building mansion with two strong pillars holding it up.
It was clad in white paint, with an equally white roof, looking magnificent in all its glory. Although it also looked like one of those isolated houses that typically have rumors of being haunted.
As I was still admiring the house and the lake. Zayn pulled into a parking space right next to a ranch. There were no other cars except for ours.
"I didn't know there was a stable here," I said with my eyes glued on the large field before me as I exited the car. The smell of freshly cut grass and dried hays were evident in the air.
The place looked as clean as it smelled. No horse poop or manure or stable tools laying around.
"This isn't exactly a public stable so it isn't a surprise you didn't know."
"Is it yours then? We aren't trespassing are we?" Panic set in on my last question. If I recall, he isn't from around here, so why would he randomly have a stable full of horses?
Zayn just laughed in amusement. "It belongs to a friend of mine, no need to be worried."
"Oh..." by that size mansion, his friend must be rich. Am I the only peasant in his life? The thought of it made me sob mentally.
We walked up to the pasture, and Zayn opened the gate, leading me in. To say the place was huge would be an understatement. There were only about five horses, but the pasture they were set in, spanned miles away. It's safe to say it was almost the size of a football stadium.
The moment we walked past the gate, the five horses that were playing around suddenly came to a halt and glued their attention to us.
I took a couple of steps back and hid behind Zayn. I don't think horses are violent animals, but the way they were staring at us right now was as if we were dangling pieces of fresh hay.
As if on cue, they all started galloping toward us when full speed.
"Zayn? Zayn!" I shrieked, pulling his arms and dragging him back towards the gate of the ranch. The way those horses were running was like they were out for blood, but apparently, I was the only one among the two of us that shared that sentiment.
Zayn made no attempt to move, even as I was pulling him with all my might. He wasn't budging, not even a little. Is this man made out of rock?
He turned around to face me and pulled me into his arms for a warm embrace. "Shh, gorgeous. Don't worry, they don't bite," he said, and as if someone switched off a light bulb, the panic in my body suddenly vanished.
For a minute I forgot what I was panicking about, as I felt myself relaxing in Zayn's arms. It's insane that every time he touched me, I could focus on nothing but the currents passing from him to me. He was like a drug to my body—a highly addictive one.
His back was to the horses, so he probably couldn't see what I was seeing, but the horses were now extremely close. One of them, in particular, was faster than the others. My head was sending out frantic signals that we were in danger and that we should run, but my body felt too good, too relaxed to move. I was in a tranquil state.
As the horses drew ever so close and within a couple of inches from me and Zayn, I closed my eyes shut and brazed for impact.
"Nel," Zayn said and I heard the sound of hooves dragging on the floor, followed by a loud neigh and snorts. The loud clopping had stopped.
Huh? I opened my eyes to see a black horse's face unbelievably close to mine and I jumped a little. The horse neighed and stomped on the ground repeatedly like it was excited and restless.
Zayn released me from his embrace and turned around to the horse. "Be calm Nel, you're scaring Mia anima gemella." He rubbed the nose of the horse.
After a few seconds, the other horses finally caught up, each of them neighing and prancing with excitement. A brown horse came to rub its snout all over Zayn, as it snorted, while the other two white ones circulated us in excitement.
"This is Nel," Zayn said gesturing to the majestic black horse, endowed with long mane and deep torso build. "You can touch her, she's friendly."
Nel stared at me for a while, then as if sensing my fear, she stepped forward and nudged me a bit. She nudged again as she rubbed her head around me. Her snorting tickled me and within seconds I was laughing.
I guess she wasn't so scary.
"Come Nel," Zayn said as he led her out of the pasture. The other horses were whining behind us as if upset by the fact Zayn didn't choose them.
Honestly, why is he so good with animals?
Zayn dawned Nel with a clean saddle and girth, as she surprisingly stayed still throughout the whole process.
"Okay. Ready?" He turned to me and I nodded. Nervous as I was earlier, I am axcited right now. It's been my dream to ride a horse like they do in movies.
But there was just one problem. How do I get on this tall as-shit horse?
As if reading my mind, Zayn said "Nel, down girl."
The horse immediately obeyed and crouched down on her front legs.
Well, that was impressive.
"Here," Zayn said grabbing my waist and helping me up onto the Nel's back, then he followed after.
As soon as we sat, Nel got up and suddenly the floor felt extremely far away.
She started to walk, and my excitement grew as her speed increased. Soon we were galloping off into the magnificent field.