STOLEN SMILE

CATERINA

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated."

-Confucius

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BIRDS CHIRPED. SUNLIGHT STREAMED IN pleasant rays through the window.

And it felt like I'd been ridden hard and put up wet. A twinge of soreness ached between my legs, and my skin felt tender, as though Jenn's rough hands and scruff had rubbed me raw.

The reminder made me warm everywhere, though I knew it shouldn't.

My feelings toward her were flighty and annoying to even myself. I wanted a straight path to follow, with maturity and thoughtfulness, but I couldn't seem to find that with her. She made me hot and then she made me cold. She was soft and then she was intense. She was rude and then she killed a man so she could have me.

I wasn't using my brain when I thought of her, but another organ entirely.

One with a pulse.

I'd fallen asleep to still smelling her on my skin, in my hair, everywhere, and contentment had filled my chest. Though, there was a prickling sense of unease as well—at the crash that had come from her room shortly after I left, and the animosity seeping under the door. The violence was a normal staple in my life, but it was the cause of it that worried me.

Maybe Jenn was finally realizing I came with baggage I wasn't ready to give up. And I could only imagine she was regretting not getting a virgin wife. She didn't like to share—that much was obvious.

Maybe I wasn't what she thought she wanted.

Maybe she would return me now that she'd gotten me in her bed.

My papà would surely kill her if she tried that, but Jenn never did seem afraid of breaking the rules. However, if my father wasn't happy with the match, as I'd heard, maybe he would be glad Jenn changed her mind?

My throat tightened. I'd believed that's what I wanted—not to marry Jenn—but, now that I thought about it.....something wrapped around my lungs and squeezed. And it wasn't because it would obliterate my already marred reputation.

With a little pang in my chest, I pulled myself out of bed and padded down the hall. I took a long, hot shower. My arms and legs were sore, and I hadn't even done any of the work last night. I wondered if she still felt me somewhere. I wondered if she thought about me as much as I thought about her.

I hadn't seen her after she left late the night before, and I wasn't sure she'd even come home. If she had, she'd already gone to work. I didn't believe she was here; it was too quiet and neither did it smell like bacon.

I slipped out of the shower, dried off, and wrapped a towel around myself. As I reached for the door handle, it opened, and a body that reeked of cherry blossom bumped into me. It was a collision, my skull hitting hers before I fell back a few steps.

"Ow."

"What the hell?" a feminine voice muttered.

A woman's narrowed gaze centered on me. I rubbed my forehead with a grimace, but then that fruity scent hit my nose again.

Cherry blossom.

My throat closed up.

The shampoo.

I'd known there would be another woman in the picture, but I hadn't thought I'd have to stand face to face with her in a towel.

"Who the hell are you?" she snapped, rubbing her forehead as well.