Side Effects

Chapter 17

Alaya was still almost in tears when we were done, and I was more than happy to pay the bill when I saw how amazing everything looked on her. Elvia had promised to make multiple pieces that could be mixed and matched, though they would also have coordinated pieces, and would give Alaya plenty of options while we travelled, and the only thing we needed to do was buy a garment bag so we could safely transport her new clothing.

"You spoil me too much," she told me while we were eating dinner that night. I'd let her pick, knowing she'd find some little neighborhood restaurant that I would never have found, and she proved me right.

The meal was delicious, and company even better, and I raised my glass of chianti up to toast her. "To spoiling the woman that I can't get enough of. Every day you make me realize how much better my life is with you in it, and I don't want that to stop."

She opened her mouth, perhaps to protest my statement, but instead just raised her glass and clinked it against mine. "You make this too easy," she murmured to me. "What happens when we get home? Are we going to stay together?" She looked down at her plate, unable to meet my eyes.

I reached across the table, avoiding the candle that would have made things messy, and lifted her chin a little. "We're staying together. I have no reason to believe that we can't keep making this work, even if we're not bounding from country to country. Even at home, I have little doubt that you'd help make my life better, and I would hope to do the same for you."

She smiled, some unshed tears in her eyes. "I'd like that. I really like you Kian, too much I think for this being so early. We've not been taking it slow, though I guess that isn't easy to do with this lifestyle, and it is hard to not keep falling fast and hard."

I nodded at her, keeping our eyes connected. "I know. You're right about that, I feel the same things. This isn't a one way relationship, okay? I like you so much more than anyone I've ever been with, and I sometimes think I'm like an addict when it comes to you."

She giggled a little before taking the fingers under her chin and putting them into her mouth, sucking lightly on them and swirling her tongue around my fingertips. My body reacted like it had been shocked, with my cock springing to attention and ready for more. "I would hate for you to go into withdrawal then. I better keep supplying you with everything you need."

"Luckily, all I need is you!" I pointed out. "All the time!"

"We better get the dessert to go then, because I don't think this lovely establishment would like me to get under this table and have my way with your cock. Because right now, I'm craving it!"

"Fuck! Okay, we can get dessert to go, that makes sense. But you have to let me finish the dinner if I'm going to have the energy to keep up with you all night!"

"I can agree to that. I don't want to fall asleep before round three!" she gave me a wink and then took another bite of her pasta. She had settled on a spaghetti carbonara, while I went for an agnello brodettato, a lamb stew that I'd never had but fell in love with after my first bite. The meal was fantastic, and the perfect way to end the day. Well, almost. I hadn't told Alaya that she'd need jewelry to go with her outfit, and that might be next on the agenda. Luckily, that wouldn't need to be altered! We'd do that shopping tomorrow, while we were out sightseeing, but I wanted to tell her tonight so that it wouldn't be a complete shock.

With Alaya's recommendation, we took some cannoli to go, if only because I wanted her to have some since they looked so good here. We were several blocks away from the hotel, and enjoyed the evening air while we strolled along the streets, nodding politely to other pedestrians and just enjoying the company of one another.

"Are you really going to give this up?" Alaya asked after a bit. "The travel, shopping, nice food?"

I was quiet for a moment as I tried to figure out the best way to answer that. "I'm willing to give up the forced nature of it. I don't want to have to fly from city to city unless I want to. I'd rather spend more time in each place, like we have on this trip, than move faster like in the past. If this was one of my typical trips, we would have hit at least two or three other cities before getting here to Rome. Honestly, I'm shocked my sister hasn't called to yell at me about Malaysia yet. She really wanted to get our product there, and she normally would have blamed me for being physical with the minister."