Eternal Longing ✓

14. Prince Charming

FINLEY

I'm not sure what to do with her.

Scratch that. I'm not sure what exactly I'm currently doing with her.

Whatever notions I had of tormenting her seem to be slowly slipping from my grasp, the plan that I spent the last year obsessing over seeming simply irrelevant at the moment.

"Of course, you would live here," she mutters without any emotion, her head leaning against the wall as I try to unlock my door without losing my mind at the prospect of having her in my space.

Clearing my throat, I twist the key and push the door open for her to head in first. "What does that mean exactly?"

Her smile does not reach her eyes as she slowly walks inside the brightly lit apartment. "You're a smart boy. I think you can figure out what that means without my help."

Her steps are tentative, not as if she's scared, but as though my apartment needs to be carefully inspected for bugs and she's the best exterminator money can buy.

My eyes trail her back-from her hair to her perfect ass, then down to her ridiculously adorable socks-as I shut the door with an audible click.

"Is your statement an affront against the money I have?"

I take off my shoes, my eyes never leaving her as she walks around my new home, touching various knickknacks my mother placed around the space and testing the different furniture as if this is a mattress store and not my apartment.

I would usually be irritated by someone barging into my personal space and rearranging shit of their own will, but I can only smile at Jaya's behavior.

"An affront?" She picks up a picture of my whole family on vacation years ago that my sister placed on the coffee table, claiming that a family portrait was a must. "Nope. Never that. Was just making an innocent observation."

She sets the frame back on the glass table, a few inches to the left of its previous position, then winces slightly when she straightens back up. I grit my teeth at the sight of her in pain but hold myself back before I scare her.

I guess I only like her feeling pain when it's quickly followed by pleasure. Pleasure only I can administer.

"Let me get you some ibuprofen." I start heading to my medicine cabinet, then remember that the careless girl hasn't eaten anything yet, so I turn to the kitchen instead. "Actually, let me make you something first." I open cupboards to see what's available.

"Oh, you don't have to," she tells me, sounding uncomfortable. "I'll just take the medicine and make myself scarce."

Spying a box of pasta among the tons of food items Eleanor and my mother stuffed inside my cupboards, I reach for it. "Do you care for pasta? My sister has a great recipe that I've recreated several times before."

The possibility of pasta seems to intrigue her and she comes to stand closer to me, still keeping a wide gap between us as she peers at the pasta box I'm holding. "Pasta does sound really good right now."

Decided, I drop the box on the counter and grab a pot to fill with water to boil. Then I open the stainless steel fridge that's way too large for only one person and pull out the ingredients I need for Eleanor's infamous sauce.

As I work on chopping the tomatoes, Jaya stands next to me awkwardly, probably unsure of what to do with herself. I don't tell her to have a seat at the breakfast counter and simply relax, yet I enjoy her restless presence next to me a little too much.

"So you have an older sister, right?" The question is clearly meant to break the silence but I refrain from calling her out on it. Something about her wanting to find out more about me satisfies an internal need.