Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

Fifteen: Alina Starkov

Fifteen

Alina Starkov

Her head was pounding. Her eyes fluttered open. When she looked around she didn't recognize the room that she was in. The comforter was black, and the sheets were silk and black and----oh, saints. She did know exactly where she was. Somehow, she had wound up in the bed of Aleksander Morozova, her future husband. It shouldn't have sounded like the horror it was except she had decided that she hated the man.

She had also been drunk. She'd been drunk on wine. The last thing she remembered was.... "OH SAINTS!" She screamed loudly and the door to the room opened, revealing a half shirtless Aleksander Morozova. He was wearing only boxers. Her stomach knotted. Had something actually happened between them? They weren't even married, and if she wound up pregnant....

"What happened?" Lord Morozova demanded, as he stepped into the room. "Are you alright?"

"WHY AM I IN YOUR BED?" she demanded.

He smirked. "Well...."

"DON'T LIE TO ME, MOROZOVA. I WAS DRUNK BUT I WASN'T THAT DRUNK."

He chuckled. "You are a little testy, aren't you? Well, nothing happened. Although you did puke on me."

She winced. "I puked on you?"

He nodded. "You also fell and hit your head. I was going to take you to your room but I thought it would be safer to have you in mine in case something happened."

She reached up and felt her head. "Stitches?"

"Yes," he said, and he sat on the edge of the bed, "how do you feel this morning?"

"Like I don't have anything left in my stomach."

"I thought you might say that. Would you like some breakfast? I can have the chef whip something up for you."

"I don't know that I could eat," she said, "but I probably should. Maybe some water too."

"I'll see what I can whip up."

She frowned. "Shouldn't you be at work right now? You seem the early to rise, the early to bed kind of type you know?"

"I do," he said, "but you know that I'm my own boss. There's no one higher than me besides the King. I can go into work whenever I want. Or I can work from home if I need to. I thought I would stay home today so that I could watch over you to make certain that you were okay."

She blushed. "You don't have to."

"I want to," he said, "I know that none of this has happened the way that either of us expected that it would. But I had fun last night, Alina, aside from having to clean puke off my shoes. I think we could have a life together if you wanted. We could stay together and get to know each other."

Alina chewed on her lip. "You know.... I think that would be nice."

"Good," he said, "I'll go get us some breakfast. I'll be right back."

He left her alone, and she adjusted herself in the bed so that she was a little bit more comfortable. She was still in the dress that she had worn the night before. That didn't mean much of anything, but it comforted her at least a little bit. Lord Morozova was terrible, but she didn't think that he was terrible enough to try anything with a drunk girl. At least she hoped that. But he had taken care of her head wound and he'd carried her out of the restaurant....

Maybe there was something more to him than what she had heard. Perhaps the monster had a heart after all.

The door opened, and he came in carrying two trays with a played filled with waffles, eggs, and bacon along with two glasses of orange juice. He placed one over her lap and took the other one. "That smells wonderful," she said, and started eating.

"I'm glad you liked it," he said, "how are you feeling?"

"A little sore, a little bruised, a little bit like an idiot," she said, "I don't know why I drank last night. I don't normally do things like that."

"You needed to let loose," he said, "it's good to let loose."

"We didn't...did we...."

"I was a perfect gentleman," he said, "unfortunately for me. Although you didn't make it easy."

"What do you mean I didn't make it easy?"

"I mean," he said, "you came onto me."

"I came onto you?" Alina shook her head. "No, you're wrong. I wouldn't do that. I'm not attracted to you in the slightest."

"You poked my chest. You said it was rock hard. You said that you liked my eyes."

"I like absolutely nothing about you."

"I think you're starting to," he said, "and I think there's hope from us."

Alina took a bite of her eggs and she shoved them into her mouth to avoid saying anything that she could possibly regret. "I think you're full of it. I would never poke someone in the chest and talk about their abs."

"Perhaps not sober," he said, "but you definitely did it while drunk. It was quite endearing, really."

Her cheeks flushed. "I hate you."

"I know, my sun beam, but we are going to get married, and we've got a whole lifetime to overcome that." He took a sip of his orange juice and a bite of his eggs. "This really is an excellent breakfast. Although it's not going to compare to the breakfasts to come."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I, for one, am quite looking forward to the first breakfast that we'll have after we make love."

She blushed harder. "Not going to happen."

"I think it will," he said, "in fact I know it will, because you called me sweet and bitter, like the wine that you drank last night. And I for one, can't wait for it."