THEODORE
Was there a day she didn't look like she fell from the heavens? She had that honey brown hair in a single ponytail and some makeup.
She hadn't used her colored eyeliner but some black liner and her lashes looked longer.
She donned a denim skirt that made my heart skip. Her ass looked nice in that skirt and so did her thighs. She paired the skirt with a loose blue vintage shirt.
Imade began to walk to the counter and I wondered if it was okay to take her hand.
Fuck, no! Wanna scare her off?
I clenched my fists like that would stop me from holding her and settled for watching her hips sway. She was about to pay and I refused to let her pay.
"Just let me pay for it, sweetheart" I grumbled out but not because I was annoyed. I was nervous.
"Thank you, Theo. This means lunch is on me"
"We'll see" I mumbled pulled my wallet out of my pocket before pulling the card out of it, paying for her things.
I took the bags and Imade walked next to me.
"Where to?" I asked and glanced down at her before chucking. The middle of her head was all I saw. We walked round the mall until she had everything she needed.
Her phone rang as we headed towards my truck and she sighed, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. I enjoyed the view a lot from where I stood behind her.
"Yes, Aunty Shade?" She sounded tired and I wondered if...maybe we could cancel our 'just lunch' for today.
She said something in a different language before letting out a groan while I placed the bags in my hand in the back seat of the pickup truck, waiting for her.
"Now? Can't she take it tomorrow? I haven't even wrapped it up" she frowned, her accent standing out in her frustration and I walked towards her, unhappy with the frown on her face. She glanced at me and sighed, placing her hand on her waist.
"Okay. Just send me the location of her hotel and if I'm kidnapped, my blood is on your hands." Her frown disappeared as she laughed and automatically, my lips spread into a smile.
"Yeah. I'll get to her. Love you too" she hummed and hung up, walking towards me.
"I can drop you off?" I offered blindly and she shook her head with a small smile.
"Thank you but I don't wanna-"
"I'll take you" I grunted out and took her hand, leading her to the truck and I opened the door. I helped her in, holding her hand as her skirt seemed a tad bit too tight. But I wasn't complaining. The view was nice ad she struggled to climb in.
I crouched down till I was on the same eye level as her. She looked into my eyes and her lips slowly tugged into a smile.
"Thank you for today" she spoke softly and I nodded, stopping myself from cupping her face.
"The pleasure is all mine, baby" I pulled back and shut the door before walking around the car, I shut the door as I climbed in and began to drive.
Soft classical music began to play and Imade scrunched her glowing button nose up in disgust, making me laugh.
"You could change the song or connect your phone to it if you don't like the song playing?" I offered even if I really enjoyed the smooth and timely music playing.
"Really?" Her eyes widened as she turned to me and I chuckled, nodding, reversing and driving out of the parking lot.
The hard and definite beat started to play before a masculine voice began to sing.
She sang along, her voice trailing behind the singers' -only a few second too late. She was no Whitney Houston but it wasn't that bad. It was nice to listen to.
The music genre wasn't my cup of tea but listening to her sing and watching her move her hands and waist was more than enough entertainment.
Safe to say, through the thirty minute ride to her home, I listened to Imade sing, I laughed at a couple of her dances and listened to songs with words that I couldn't sing or they were just riddled with curse words.
I didn't regret it.
"Wanna come in?" She turned to me, closer than I had expected.
Was she doing that on purpose? Beautiful eyes darted form my eyes to my nose and then to my lips.
I ran my tongue over my lips and cupped her chin, leaning in.
She smelled divine.
"Do you want me to?" I whispered against the corner of her lips. They smelled amazing. Like chocolate. She gulped and I kissed her ear before nipping on her earlobe.
She surely hadn't realized how shaky I was.
"Theo" she whispered in a shaky voice, gripping the sleeve of my overcoat while I pushed myself closer and ran my nose along her neck. She smelled so addictive and nice.
"Tell me, baby...do you want me to?" I whispered and kissed her neck, releasing a small whisper from her lips.
"Louder" I felt her shiver, causing me to smirk.
"Y-Yeah" she gulped and I exhaled, praying for some restraint because whatever restraint I had, had gone to shit.
"Go in. I'll bring your bags in for you" I kissed the side of her head and smiled at her. She nipped on her lower lip like she was contemplating it before she grabbed her phone, jumping out of the car and shut the door like her ass was on fire while I sat down in the car with a raging hard on and the knowledge that what I was doing was wrong.
I wanted to stop myself before I came to a point where it would be damn near impossible to stop. From the minute, I set my eyes on her, I was already a bloody goner.
I glanced down at the bulge in my pants and sighed, taking deep breaths to calm myself down but that was even more difficult as her scent filled the car.
"What are you doing, Theodore?" I whispered to myself and shook my head. I rubbed my forehead.
After a while, I shrugged off my coat and folded it up before I climbed out, grabbed her bags from the backseat and made my way to her door.
I was about to step into her apartment but I needed to restrain myself before I pinned her against the wall.
I pushed the door and walked in. It smelled like lemon and lavender -an unlikely but beautiful combination.
Some sort of fantasy began to play in my head. I imagined her walking up to me, toes touching the floor softly and deep brown skin covered in pure white lingerie.
I realized how insane I sounded. Yes.
I spotted her at the fridge with a glass against her lips.
I walked to the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room and placed the bags on it.
"Thank you. Would you like anything to drink? Juice, water? I don't have any alcohol" she rambled and I looked at her intently.
"It's fine. Water is fine with me." I nodded and she gulped, clearly feeling disoriented by what had happened in the car.
I exhaled, feeling quite comfortable. I glanced at her living room and there was a plush white rug on the floor along with two light blue couches and blue curtains. The TV was turned off.
"Here" I turned to her as she placed a bottle of water on the table. She was too far from me and the distant look on face frustrated me.
"Did I do something wrong?" I leaned in, almost on eye-level with her even as she stood and I sat on one of those stools.
I pushed the bottle of water aside, staring into her eyes. Hoping they expressed the words that I didn't say. The words I was to afraid to say.
I wasn't one to express myself. I attributed it to my anxiety and slight depression. So, I relied on physical contact in every sense of the word. I hated talking about my feelings -it sounded like a stupid thing to do.
I feared that my 'feelings' when expressed would be invalidated. Like it had been whenever I spoke to Glenn.
"No. God, no. You didn't do anything wrong. I just..." she trailed off with a sigh and I stood up, the distance was simply frustrating and it wasn't doing it for me. I stood up and walked around the counter before standing only a hair's breadth away from her.
"Then why the long face? If you don't want me to do that again...I won't. I promise" I shrugged, looking down at her. It would be hard but it was much better than losing her altogether.
Her lips spread into a small smile before she stood on her toes and cupped my face, her fingers combed through my beard and I leaned into her touch, shutting my eyes.
My eyes opened when she pulled away. I pulled her back and swept her up, placing her on the counter. She exhaled, looking up at me -her eyes were wide like she wasn't expecting it but she didn't scream. So that was a good thing, right?
I buried my face in her neck, feeling even more comfortable. She sighed and like she understood, she wrapped her arms around me.
"I don't mind. How about we just start off as friends?" She whispered and I snorted. She laughed and I smiled, still inhaling her scent.
I said nothing because if that was what she wanted to call it -Fine as long as we both knew that wasn't what it was.
A little while later, I let her go to pick some tape to wrap up the things she bought so we both sat in the living room while I helped her tape up the bag filled with beauty products while she wrapped up the other bag that held chocolates.
"Would you like to have dinner?" She offered and I hummed, taping up the bag till there was all that could be seen was the tape.
"You don't talk a lot do you?" She asked and stood up, stretching. She yawned and I glanced at the clock handing over the door to the kitchen but it was clearly the wrong time since it was saying 2am.
"You wanna sleep? I'll wake you up when you get a call" I offered and she nodded before stretching her hand out for me to take like she could help me up.
I chuckled and took her hand, pulling her down, causing her to scream lightly as she dropped against my chest.
"Go to sleep" I mumbled, staring at her lips before I met her eyes. I ran my finger over her glowing nose and she squealed.
"What are you doing, Theo?!" She smacked my chest and I laughed at the sight of the makeup on my finger.
"Do you know how long that took?" She narrowed her eyes at me and I shrugged, kissing her nose.
"Doesn't matter. With or without it, you're beautiful. I was just curious" she shook her head and perched her head on my chest. She was unbelievably small.
"Curious about what, my makeup? That shit took me hours, Theo. Now, I have to do it all over again" she groaned and I smiled, enjoying the look of frustration on her face.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She whispered and I was so close to claiming her lips. So close to spinning us around so that I was hovering over her.
"Very much. Very very much. Now, go to sleep" I wrapped an arm around her waist and she smiled at me.
"Just friends" she reminded me and I rolled my eyes, closing them.
"Yeah. Like we had 'just lunch'" I replied grumpily with my eyes still closed and she laughed.
"Don't be so grumpy. Just friends" she reminded me again and I sighed, tired of hearing her say that when we both knew that was not it. We were never just friends and we could never be just friends.
"As long as I get to hold you like this, fine. It's whatever you want it to be" I kissed her jaw and she laid her head on my chest.