"Marley, can I just-?"
"No," I quietly scolded Edward. "Stop saying that you're sorry. It's really okay. It doesn't hurt anymore."
Since the hot food incident, Edward has apologized way more than he should. Or, way more than a regular guy would. The skin on my arms and chest were red, and it stung a bit, but I didn't want him to continue feeling guilty about it. He was like a sad puppy.
We've been waiting outside for fifteen minutes now, Edward had called our driver back early, so it's taking him a bit more time to get there with the short notice.
"I'm sorry that it did." Edward says sadly. "It was all ruined, I ruined it. I was nervous and rushing, and I didn't see him. I should've seen him."
"I will pinch you, don't make me pinch you, Mr. Dean." I readied my thumb and index near him, eyes squinted.
"I deserve it." He sighs and holds his arm out closer to me, his lips pulling down into a slight pout and his eyes close, waiting for the sting of the pinch.
But the sight of his pout tugged at my heart strings and the hand I threatened to pinch him with moved up to caress his cheek. His eyes instantly opened.
"I accept your apologies. All the ones you've said or are going to say." I reassured him, a small smile forming on my lips.
Edward shifted in his stance, bringing himself closer to me before his arms wrapped around my waist so our food-covered bodies were flushed against each other.
"You're amazing, Marley. I'm sorry."
"Stop saying that you're sorry, I'm sure I can pay Perrie back for the dress."
"No, I meant that I'm sorry for- Wait. That's not even your dress?! Oh, my god!"
I laugh quietly and press my cheek against his chest, my eyes slipping closed before his arms move up to tighten around my shoulders.
"Don't feel bad. I'm sure her allowance is more than the cost of this dress."
Just as I finished the sentence, our ride pulls up in front of us, the doors sounding with a click to let us know that it was unlocked.
"Lets go back to the hotel and get cleaned up before I explode with "I'm sorry"s." Edward says, finally pulling away and motioning toward the limo before opening the door closest to his. "C'mon, you filthy little princess."
I chuckle and move around him to climb in, sitting myself down on the opposite side so he had plenty of room.
"Yeah? And who's fault is it that I'm all filthy?" I ask before he could climb in.
He ducked down before slumping in through the door, groaning out before the sound turned into a whine. "I'm sorry."
* * *
As Edward walked me to the room I shared with Zayn, he mumbled soft words under his breath, trying to come up with something to say to my brother about what happened that didn't make it sound so bad.
"Edward?" I asked, cutting him off from his soft mental conversation as we made it to the door.
"Yes?"
"Do you have a room in this hotel?"
Without speaking, he lifted his finger and pointed to a door just two rooms down.
"It'll be okay, alright? Don't worry about what Zayn will think. Thank you for taking me out this evening, even if it didn't turn out how you wanted." I place my hand on his shoulder and lean in the kiss his cheek softly. "We could always try again."
"I'll come by in a little bit."
"I'll be clean by then." I smile reassuringly and he turns away to walk toward his room, his card key drawn and easily sliding through the slot. He disappeared in his room and I let out a breath, realizing that Zayn didn't give me a key. I begin knocking on the door, softly at first but no one answered so I knocked louder.
Still no answer.
"Zayn? Zayn, c'mon. Open the door." I call through the barrier. But I heard nothing. I groaned and slapped my hand against the heavy wood. "Zayn! You never gave me a key!"
"Do you need to get in there?" A soft voice asks. I turn my head and see a small room service woman, her eyes tired. "I have a key."
"Are you allowed to do that? Let people in to rooms they're locked out of?"
"Well, tell me something about your items in the room, and if it matches when we open the door, I'll let you stay in and if you're wrong, I'll escort you out myself."
"Okay, well, my duffle bag is black with patches of brown leather and it sits on the bed closest to the bathroom. My clothes from when I checked in are neatly folded on the dresser next to my curling iron. The bathroom has my makeup supplies all over the counter- which I promise to clean."
"Okay," She says softly, slipping past me to slide her key card through the slot. We walk inside, her in front of me and she inspects the room. I could've told her about the extra towels strewn on the bed messily, but I forgot that bit. She walks into the bathroom and flips the light switch on, taking in the mess of makeup. "Welcome back. Marley, right?"
"Yes... How-?"
"Your brother and his girlfriend left about ten minutes ago, they went out for dinner and wanted me to inform you that they won't be back until late." She walks past me and turned in the doorway leading back into the hall. "You smell nice."
She closed the door behind her before I could respond. I look down at my clothes and, although I was wearing dinner, I couldn't disagree with her. I smelt like a well seasoned perfect dinner plate.
I walked over to the bathroom and shut the door, quickly unzipping the dress and sliding the material from my body, undressing myself the rest of the way before stepping into the shower and switching the water on.
The water ran cold for only a second before the heat took over, and it stung my chest a bit so I had to turn it down to a temperature where it wouldn't bother the burns on my skin. As I cleaned myself, I sighed in relief. The food on my skin and in my hair didn't bother me all too much while it was there, but now that it's being cleaned off of me, it feels so much better.
After thoroughly washing my body and hair three times, I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, searching for a towel. The only towels in the bathroom were large, and it wrapped around my body twice, hanging down past my mid-thigh.
I wrung out my hair in the tub before letting it fall down my back again, little droplets falling into the material of the towel around my body. I left the bathroom and walked over to my bag, but before I could ruffle through the items inside, a knock came on the door.
"Hold on," I call out, fixing the towel around myself before padding my way over to the door and bringing it open.
I didn't necessarily know what to expect but I was surprised to see two young girls, one younger than the other. Their faces held prominent similarities and they both had the same happy smile, though the younger one was missing her two top front teeth.
"Hi, I'm Stacey." The older one says first. "And this is Amanda. We heard that you and Zayn were staying here and Amanda really wanted to meet you two. So do I, if that's okay?"
"Of course it's okay." I step into the doorway before sinking down to sit on top of my calves. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but my brother isn't here. He left a little while ago."
"That's okay," Amanda finally says. "We saw you on the computer and I love when you sing."
"Thank you." I chuckle and smile softly. "Would you like to talk about anything in particular?"
"Our mum said we shouldn't bother you for too long, so we just wanted an autograph and a picture, if that's okay?" Stacey says, holding up a small floral notepad and a iPod touch.
"That's fine. I don't mind." I quickly look down to adjust the top of my towel again while Stacey set up the camera and Amanda stood right in front of me. I smiled happily at the reversed camera throwing the appearance of the three of us back at us and she snapped a picture.
I took two with each of them separately before I signed my name with a small note above it.
'To new friends xox', it said.
As they scampered off the down the hall, I smiled and rose to my feet. As I turned around to enter the room, the door closed in my face before I could stop it. My hand immediately jiggled the knob, but it was locked.
"Fuck." I curse in frustration as I slap the door in front of me. I fix the towel that hid my body from any hall cameras and looked down both sides of the hallway, my cheeks red when I hear deep voices coming closer. I cursed again.
I quickly pranced down two suites and knocked on Edward's room door, my head turning toward the sound of more voices. It sounded like a large group of men, all loud and laughing.
"Marley?" I heard Edward ask once the door opened to reveal me in my towel.
"Can I come in? I was alone and got locked out. Zayn and Perrie have been out for a while."
"Sure, of course. Come in." He reached his arm out toward me and guided me inside, shutting the door just as I made it through.
"Thank-"
"Don't throw up!" A deep voice bellows from a few suites away before running footsteps zoomed past.
"You think they would've harassed you?" Edward asks when there was no more noise from the group outside.
I turn my gaze toward him and shrug softly, ready to respond until I see that he's in just a towel as well.
"I didn't mean to bother you from your shower." I said quietly.
"You didn't, I got out a little while ago. Gracie called me. The twins miss you."
"When they call again, let them know that I miss them, too."
"Would you like some clothes? You could borrow some of mine." Edward averted his eyes to his bag, walking over to it. I didn't answer, but he began pulling out two outfits.
Seeing him in just his towel was truly breath taking. His bare chest, his tight core, his V-line, the little birth mark on his left hip. He was flawless in his own way.
He picks up a folded pile of clothes and walks over to me, his eyes on my face and mine on his. The silence in the room was deafening. He didn't speak for a long time and neither did I. He hold the clothes between the space of our bodies, but I made no move to grab it. His height made this situation even more endearing.
"Marley." Edward finally says, the word- my name, was softly spoken and deep. Deep like before, when he kissed me.
My gaze dropped to the clothes he held and I finally took it. "Thank you." My voice was weird and strained, my body's reaction to his presence right now wasn't showing him anything, but I could feel the difference.
"Of course. I'm gonna rinse down the tub, it still has food in it." He licked his lips and his Adams apple moved as if he swallowed really hard.
I nodded softly and watched him go, my eyes trained on where he turned into and the water started a few short seconds later. I took a deep breath to contain my thoughts, to clear my mind of how good he looked right then.
I closed my eyes and took in another calming breath, turning my back toward the bathroom. Although I tried to stop my racing mind, all it truly did was add on to the growing thoughts.
He's so beautiful. He's so.... Godly attractive.
There was a soft buzz in my ears, blocking out any other sound, but his voice in my mind molding my name in that deep passionate way that it did, it stirred me deeply as a careful sigh whispered past my lips.
I placed the clothes down on the bed, shaking my hands out before pressing the palms to my head, trying to push the sinful thoughts from my brain. I take in another deep breath, finally concentrating on dressing myself and everything was quiet again, no buzzing just silence.
I peeled the towel from around my body and let the white material fall to the floor at my feet before picking up the large deep forest green shirt.
Before I could slide the shirt on, I felt a soft touch on my shoulder and heat radiating from close behind me. I wasn't very scared, but maybe just a bit surprised.
"Marley." I heard Edward say again, his voice just as deep as before and his lips moved against the skin on my shoulder before he left another kiss there.
I felt his hands place on my hips and I was done denying any feelings I had for this man, for any reason. I felt my body instinctively react as it leaned back against him and his arms moved to secure around my waist, holding my back flush against his front. I could feel the towel that was still around his hips as he held me, and his lips moved toward my neck.
"Edward." I sigh out quietly, my eyes slipping closed as his lips press to the pulsing vein under my skin. "I want to."
(Okay, guys. I know it's been a little while, but 2016 has made me its bitch since the first of January. I've been trying to get better, though. And I will continue to try. This chapter was actually something totally different, but I wanted to spice it up, so I changed it around like 4 times. I hope you like it. Next chapter will be a continuation, so don't hate me <3
And if you could all do me a solid, and read a book posted by my good friend @yoursbrcken . It's Narry so show some looooooooove!
I appreciate all of you for being so patient with me and my updates. Thank you xox)