Chapter 18
Cinnamon.
Maribel POV
Brushing my teeth in front of the bathroom mirror inside my room, I can't stop rethinking the whole day. It started as a nightmare as we buried our father in that cold ground. If I didn't have Robert with me, I would have been lost all day. I can't find the words to describe him, he is so...ohh.
He is in bed now, waiting for me as he finished his business early. The whole barbecue time went with the four of us sharing our funny stories. I actually stood in silence most of the time and let them speak. But I spoke too, about some funny moments that happened with kids in school. He always listened to me carefully, with his eyes glued to mine.
In the six years since that horrific moment, I am myself again. I speak, I laugh, I joke without trembling, without fearing that those monsters will hurt me again. Most importantly, I have a desire to live and enjoy life beside the man who effortlessly made a place of his own in my heart.
I take a deep breath, adjusting my hair that I left flowing freely over my shoulder. I borrowed a night dress from my sister-in-law, who came with a full package, unlike me who just went to buy food and changed into comfortable clothes for a night at the cottage.
I need to be honest with myself, I didn't know how things would go between us, but during dinner, I felt desire for him. Something so powerful that goes beyond sexual need. I know he wants me too, and I don't want those vultures' touch engraved on my skin anymore.
I want him to tattoo my body with his lips and hands.
I want him to claim me as his.
Robert POV
She has been in the bathroom for a long time. I am getting worried, so I get up and I am about to knock when she opens the door and my mouth drops wide open.
She can't be real. She has become an angel fallen from heaven in that white nightgown that slides over her perfect curves, showing an ethereal beauty that only I am blessed to witness. My inner self awakens and becomes a stone down there as I hear my heartbeat inside my ears.
“How do I look?” Her hand caresses my arm, shaking me from the numbness. Her whisper reaches my ear and I turn to her, raising her head with both my hands.
“Don't bow your head ever, not to me, not to anyone. You are a queen and your head will always be held high. You are my everything. Your beauty doesn't need me to measure it, my love, because you are divinity herself incarnated into human form. I am clear in my words ?”
I want her to know what she means to me.
I took her hand and lead her outside the room, where I arranged something cozy on the balcony, which thankfully is covered by a window, just like my small room at Calypso's place.
I lost all my romanticism 15 years ago when I lost my first love in the worst way possible, but now she's here, like a ray of sunshine illuminating my darkness. I know what she wants from me tonight, and I am dying to fulfill her request, but first she needs to know me.
“You want to tell me something, right?” She passes me a pillow and puts her back against another, as she questions and moves closer to make eye contact with me.
“Before we get more involved with each other, I want to be sincere and open with you. Something painful happened in my past that led me down a dark path. I have murdered and tortured for pure pleasure, seeking retribution for what they did to…” I couldn't finish the phrase as the pain overtook me. Her bruised face, those marks engraved by those monsters on her olive skin, clouded my mind once again and I felt trapped in my own darkness as I tortured those who hurt her in front of her grave.
Suddenly, I feel something moisturizing my lips, and I feel fingertips on my face, pulling me out of my darkness.
“I am here.” an angelic whisper.
“I accept you…
“I accept you and your darkness…
“You are my cure, as I am your fairy,”
“Remove my darkness so I can find the power to brighten your dark.”
I am back, witnessing my angel, my fairy, curing me. This is the second time she has been able to pull me out of my out zone in less than 24 hours.
This out zone happened more often when I first started working as a bodyguard, and then only in July, which is the month when everything happened. Luckily, Maya stays at home during those times, or surely something worse would have happened.
As I bring myself back to the present, when my enchanting fairy is chanting her love through her kisses, I feel alive. It has been 15 years without a woman in this proximity. 15 years without having the desire to be intimate with any woman. I feel like a teenager with hormones at their peak and ready for action.
I keep up with the rhythm of her lips.
The silk of her gown smoothly passes through my fingers, imitating the buttery feeling of her fairy wings.
Slowly, I fall back onto the bed, touching the pillow as she never leaves my lips. I am under her will, my hands resting on her hips as she has hers on my shoulders.
She leaves my lips like the leaves that fall from a branch in autumn. Gently, her tongue goes to my throat, and I feel her lips sucking, delighting in my rough skin.
I want her so badly, to be beneath me. Those sage eyes have been my beautiful cage since the moment I first saw them, and I wish to see how they will look writhing beneath me. But I can't make any moves that she might not like.
What clouds my mind is her cinnamon scent, and for me, who always has a sweet tooth, I know she will become my favorite dessert.
Engaged in my thoughts of her, I miss her touch, her kisses. I open my eyes to witness her hugging her knees, shaking like a leaf.
“My fairy, what happened? Did I do something wrong?” I plead as I approach her without touching her, fearing that a memory is hurting her mind.
But she is silently crying, her arms shaking as her autumn-colored hair has fallen in front of her, covering her knees.
I go behind her and rest my head on her revealed shoulder. Her cinnamon scent intoxicates my senses, and I deepen my inhalation into her neck.
“Leave me, Robert. I am dirt. I am a whore, thinking like a slut today, when I buried the one who defended me from those who marked me. This is how I repay him…” Every word she speaks holds the sorrow of her soul. How differently they express pain. Her brother is doing everything to express his pain in living actions, and she is regretting everything her heart wants. Those scoundrels have destroyed her and taken the man she looked up to since she was a child.
But what kills me is the insulting words she uses against herself.
I would teach her a lesson, but that will be left for another time. For now, it is better to calm her down, as her sobbing is becoming heavier. She isn't crying to let go of her pain, but to punish herself.
Without hesitation, I scoop her up in my arms, breaking the link of her arms with her knees, and her hair hits my face before falling over hers. I fear she might want to go away, but she remains as I position her legs to fall over my thigh and hold her waist firmly. I use my fingers to move her long locks away from her tear-stained face, revealing slowly her lips, her cheeks, her nose, her eyes that are watery. I trace her tears with my thumb, and she cries even more, opening her eyes. Grief is written there. Painful sobs fill the room.
“I killed him, Robert. I am a monster. I...I...” She clings to my neck with her slender arms locked behind my neck.
She pulled me from my darkness only to fall into her own darkness. I firmly believe she needs the reassurance that I am here.
The door opens, and he enters, followed by Maya. They both startle when they see Maribel in my arms, desperately crying, and I am crying too. She reminds me of my own pain too. I was meant to be tough when I lost my father, to be there for Calypso, but now I am taking my time to grieve.
Her sobbing stops him. I believe he thought he would catch us red-handed, just as we did.
“Leave us,” I mouth, caressing her back, and Maya takes him away. I can tell that he will join in our crying in the other room.
“Shh, my love, I am here. I will always be here for you.” I make her lie down on my chest, just like the night before.