Love Of Lust

Chapter Five

Becky's POV

I wasn't sure if it was the sunlight or the noises from the kitchen that woke me up.

I dragged myself out of bed and down the hallway to the bathroom with some difficulty; I'd finally been able to drift off to sleep after hours of staring at the ceiling in the dark, but I definitely hadn't gotten any decent rest. After a quick shower, I felt slightly more human.

I wrapped up in a thick, fluffy robe and padded down the hallway towards the kitchen.

Riad turned around when he heard one of the stools at the elegant breakfast bar scraping along the floor. He was wearing jeans and a tee shirt that said something about a corporate fun run in 2008.

So he did know how to dress like a normal person. That was encouraging. I just wished the sight of it didn't make my mouth water. Well, maybe I was just hungry.

"Good morning," he said, smiling at me.

His eyes flicked up and down a few times, as if he hadn't expected me to come to breakfast in a bathrobe. But what the hell - we were going to be married soon, right?

"Hi," I said.

His hair was falling loose over his forehead, and I couldn't stop staring at it, wanting to push it back into its proper place.

"I like your…shirt." I'd almost said pants.

Clearly, I just needed to keep my mouth shut.

"Thank you," he said, taking it as gracefully as anyone might be expected to. "How do you take your eggs?"

"Over medium, I guess."

I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten eggs that I didn't prepare for myself. As it turned out, he made them just the way I liked - not runny, no uncooked whites.

I watched him eat the bacons and scrambled eggs he'd made for himself. There was a veritable rainbow of chopped vegetables mixed in, almost more than there were eggs. No toast. So this was how he maintained his figure.

For some reason, I'd always imagined him as one of those people who can eat absolutely anything and never gain an ounce. It was comforting to know he had a human side after all.

After breakfast, I got dressed in the surprisingly casual clothes he'd picked for me, and we settled down in the living room. Riad pulled out a small notepad and pen.

"We need to get our story straight on certain details of our relationship," he said. "Since we'll be living together, and acting as a couple, we ought to be able to give genuine answers to most of the questions. But there will be questions about the beginning of our relationship, about very personal things we might not know about each other.

They'll be the sorts of questions that are difficult to fake. When it comes to the time of the interview, if they ask you a difficult question that we haven't prepared for, simply say that you don't know or you can't remember the details of what they're asking about. Never try to guess or make up an answer." I nodded.

Just the thought of the interview was already making me nervous, even though it was likely to be months and months away.

"You'll probably be expected to describe the features, layout, and décor of this place," he said. "But that shouldn't be too difficult after a while. When it comes to those sorts of questions, make sure to be accurate, but not too thorough. You don't want to sound rehearsed."

"Jesus," I said, more to myself than him. He looked up, mildly startled.

"You're not having second thoughts, are you?"