Payb Takes Book 3

Haven

June 10:

I finally arrive home. I sigh with my hand on the doorknob, knowing you won't be on the other side because of work. I AM back to reality.

I slowly turn the knob, with all excitement lost from me. The whole point of going home is to have someone to come home to. I don't blame you, Love. There is no one to blame. It's just the way it is, such is the reality of our lives... for now.

I push the door open ready to see an empty home but being the wife of Richard Faulkerson Jr. of course I am in for a wonderful surprise because you are here to welcome me home.

There you are standing in the middle of the room with your handsome face and charming smile offering me ice cream.

Ice cream? Yes, ice cream.

That's you in an Alden standee, clad with a scarf around your neck, waiting for me inside a heart-shaped collection of red rose petals. The soft red flower leaves make a path that lead from the door to your standee where the trail breaks into two directions, one going to the kitchen and the other to the bedroom.

As I walk towards you (your standee), I look to my left where the living room was and saw golden alphabet-shaped balloons on the wall that read: WELCOME HOME MRS F while yellow and white round balloons float on the ceiling with golden strings that hold my pictures from Maldives. No, not the ones on Instagram but those I sent to you on Viber. Some that did not pass your "Quality Control" for posting that you tagged For Your Eyes Only and some you deemed were too tender and precious to share to the world. #DamotRJisLife

When I reach your standee, I see a note on your hand.

Miss mo na amoy ko noh? Miss na miss na din kita. Etong scarf mo, ka-amoy ako na.

"Lokong to. Ano ginawa mo sa scarf ko?" I ask you standee and poke your cheek.

I smell the soft fabric around your neck. It's true! It smells like you with the cool musky scent of your perfume and your sweat in the undertone. I suddenly feel my cheeks getting wet.

I glare at your grinning face and pout. "Siraulo. Na-miss kita lalo. Sugurin kaya kita sa Bulaga? Kala mo." I sniffle.

I take the scarf and drape it over my shoulders. I take one more sniff and follow the rose path to the kitchen with your scent on me.

I laugh when I get to the table where you laid your next surprise because on it is a large order of my favorite pasta, a basketful of prosciutto and cold cuts and cheese and a box of my favorite cake from Tagaytay. There is a vase of yellow carnations beside them with a note that read.

Kumain ka na, Love. Tama na yang bikini bod. Tag-ulan na. Di na uso. Next summer na ulit ha?

"Kunwari ka pa, Tatay Ricardo. Bothered ka lang sa abs ko." I grin and take a piece of prosciutto to eat on my way to the bedroom.

I gasp when I get inside. Our room's floor is like a sea of colorful flowers from wall to wall.

It's like I travelled from a tropical paradise to this floral haven of roses, carnations, daisies and mums in every possible color with the white ones carefully lined up in their midst to spell: MAINE.

Your classic pa-Dangwa just leveled up! Ibaaaaa...

Thankfully, there are narrow trails that lead to the bed and the bathroom. It would be a shame to crush a single bloom from this beautiful arrangement.

I slowly make my way to the bed to find your thoughtfully laid out pictures of us together on the fresh creaseless sheets forming a heart shape. Above them are letter cut-outs that say I MISS YOU and below are the words I LOVE YOU.

An invisible lump blocks my throat and I have no choice but to sob so I can breathe.

I miss you. I love you. Here, I come home to you.

I can only imagine how you yearned for me while you waited for my return as I basked in the wonders of an island far away.

I curl up on the edge of the bed and close my eyes. I nuzzle on the scarf with your scent as I let the tears flow and doze off.

But before I do, I send a message to you:

I'm home, Love. I miss you.

This time, I will be the one waiting here for you, dear husband, with my whole being wanting, throbbing and aching for you.

//

I am awakened by the sound and vibration of my phone ringing. I answer and hear your voice, hasty, raspy and breathless like you are running from something or racing towards something... someone... me.

Before I can even say hello, you bark two word. "Love. Door."

I immediately get up and run to the front door and as I swing it open, you get in and swipe me off my feet.

You crash your lips on mine, hungrily kissing, prodding, sucking, drinking from my mouth as I cling to you with my arms around your shoulders and my legs around your waist.

You kick the door shut and push my back against it, our lustful mouths never letting go of our passionate kiss, our eager hands, touching, groping, grabbing every inch of flesh they land on. We are lost in our desire to satiate our cravings for each other over the days that passed.

"Love... m-may... aaah... w-work... uuungh..." I breathlessly struggle to remind you between moans of an event we should be in a couple of hours from now when you finally let go of my lips only to fervidly trail hungry kisses down my chin and neck, sucking, licking, nipping.

"I know..." You whisper on my skin, your breath as hot as your kisses.

"H-how... mmm... how much time do we have?" I ask.

You stop kissing me and look straight into my eyes with your pupils fully dilated and your stare piercing through my soul.

"Fifteen minutes." You snarl. "Let's go."

You meld your lips with mine again and we passionately kiss as we try to fill in a few minutes what we hungered for in days.

Lost from the world around us, our love and passion take over us like a spell. 💛🍃

*********
Unbeta'ed and not proofread.

I can't promise an SPG version of this chapter in The Calculator because I have to write other updates to other stories and also start writing for AMACON 4.5 but if I do find the time before Friday, I will post one there.

Thank you for reading. xoxo