Growing Into You (First Draft; Unedited)

lvii.

Jayen

When I woke up, I was tangled in Alexandra’s arms. The sun had just started to rise, casting a beam of light into the room. The room was warm and Alexandra was even warmer, mostly due to her Fire ability I had learned. She let out a soft groan as I carefully untangled myself from her arms. Briefly, I thought about waking her up but after all she’d done for me yesterday I thought it would be best to let her sleep.

Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I stumbled into the bathroom. My shirt stuck to my back and my hair was plastered to my neck. Nothing a cool bath wouldn’t fix. I shut the door behind me but I didn’t lock it. The bathtub was nothing like the one in Alexandra’s bathroom but it was a good size and it was clean. That’s all that mattered to me right now. Perched on the rim of the bathtub, I waited at the bathtub filled with water before stripping down. 

I looked at myself in the mirror, I no longer had dark circles under my eyes and my skin glowed like morning dew. The cut on my neck was slightly red but other than that it was healing nicely. The surface of my Mark felt bumpy and raised underneath my fingertips. I sighed and dropped my hand. I carefully lowered myself into the bathtub, the water was cool and refreshing but not cold enough to make me shiver. I took a deep breath and stretched out my legs, leaning my head against the rim behind me.

It was good to be away from the estate even though we had only been gone a day. A pang of guilt washed over me and I sunk lower into the tub. I had left Aoife all alone with the garden and I had yet to fix up the garden like Alexandra wanted me to. Was she serious about renovating the garden area or was it an excuse to spend time with me? My face flushed at the thought. 

After the water started getting colder and colder I decided that it was about time for me to get out. My teeth chattered together as I wrapped myself tightly in the only towel I had in here. I silently cursed myself for not bringing in a change of clothes. I would have to go back into our bedroom wearing only a towel. Opening the door, I poked my head out. It was quiet and the sun shone in through the living room window. After a moment of listening, I quickly trotted to the bedroom and shut the door behind me.

Alexandra was lying peacefully on the bed, her long black hair forming a halo around her. Smiling to myself, I bent down and kissed the freckle underneath her eye. Her eyes fluttered open and she stretched, “Good morning, Jayen, how did you sleep?”

I smiled, “You were like a natural heater all night.”

Alexandra propped herself up on her elbows to look at me with her eyes half closed. “Did you take a bath?”

“Yeah, I was just so warm when I woke up that I had to take a cool bath. And then I forgot to bring in any clothes. . .” I blushed.

“Oh so you’re. . . oh, would you like me to leave while you change?” Alexandra was much more awake now. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. 

“No, it’s okay. You can stay,” I said.

The corner of her lips twitched upwards as she flopped backwards onto the bed, her eyes sparking mischievously. “Really?”

I nodded and started gathering my clothes for the day. Clutching the towel to make sure it stayed in place as I moved around. My stomach fluttered as I turned to face her before dropping the towel. Alexandra’s eyes widened as she took me in, a subtle pink blush falling over her cheeks. 

“You just keep surprising me, ma chérie,” she laughed softly, not taking her eyes off me. “You are stunning, my love.”

My heart skipped a beat as I tugged on a pair of underwear. “Are you just going to stay in yesterday’s clothes all day, Alex?” I teased.

She smiled before careful taking off her shirt and placing it on the foot of the bed, on top of the messy blankets. “Are you just trying to get me naked, my dear?”

I nearly fell over trying to get on a pair of pants. “Pardon?” I stammered.

She laughed before standing up and pulling off her own pants. “This feels familiar doesn’t it?”

I dropped the pants back onto the dresser and we stood there, facing each other. My eyes once more wandered over her frame and I could feel her do the same thing, except this time I reached up and tangled my hand into her hair and brought my lips to hers. She kissed me back and wrapped her arms around my waist. Dragging her nails gently over my back, I shivered in response.

She pulled away for enough time to ask, “Do we have anything important to do today,” right before going back to kiss me again.

I broke our kiss. “Yeah, just a few more things to clean up.”

“That can wait though, can’t it?” She pulled me closer to her.

“I wish, but we should use our daylight wisely. Besides,” I tilted my head and looked up at her in mock innocence, “what did you have in mind, poppet?”

“I guess you’ll never find out,” she purred.

I pouted. “I guess. . . we do have a bit of time, right? It’s still early. . .”

She gave me a sly smile and sat down the bed. “Oh really? We have some time, now? How convenient. . .” she teased.

My face flushed bright red as I straddled her lap, “I just took some time to um, do math and I realized that we do actually have a lot of time. . .” I ran my hand up her chest and straight to her cheek to pull her face closer to mine but I didn’t kiss her.

“Are you trying to seduce me, my love?”

“Is it working?”

She let out a loud laugh. “It is, yes.” She met her lips with mine and my heart swelled and in that moment all I could think about was how much I needed her. She bit my lower lip gently and I gasped against her lips. She broke our kiss and started placing strategic kisses down my throat and along my collarbone. 

“Alexandra,” I moaned out.

“Yes?” she replied breathlessly.

“I love you.” I whispered. 

She froze and opened her mouth to respond when there was a frantic knock at the door. She swore softly and I climbed off of her as we both rushed to get decent, I traded a button up for a string shirt before rushing to the front door.

 I didn’t bother to look out the window, only a few people knew where I lived and those who did were always welcome. Even if their timing was kind of terrible sometimes.

“One moment please!” I called out before opening the door.

And as soon as I did, my stomach dropped and my mouth went dry because there, in all his malicious glory, was the one person I never wanted to see. Especially not here. 

Jinan