just started the journey of this magic between us.
Still inside her, I lay us both down, spooning her as I draw the covers up over us both.
She trembles with tiny aftershocks of pleasure and her breath shudders and sighs as she finally gives in to the pleasant exhaustion of someone who’s truly spent.
I feel the same and even though there’s so much I want to tell her, so much more I want to do to her, I also just want to hold her. To feel her naked body against mine as we lay together, finally together and joined in the best way possible.
My queen crowned, my woman claimed in her palace, her life of luxury and happiness starting from now on.
We doze for a while, and I hear her mock sound of disappointment as I eventually slide out of her, making us both laugh.
“Do I have work in the morning?” she asks me, and I have to think, almost.
“I think we can have a little more orientation, maybe for the rest of the week. There’s nothing that can’t manage itself at the office for that long,” I reason aloud.
For twenty years, it’s all I’ve done. I’ve never had a day to just be me because the whole company is me.
Now there’s two of us, I can finally make some time for what really matters and I want Alyson to be hands on in the company as well.
But not all on her first few days, we have plenty of time for that.
I feel strangely alert all of a sudden, refreshed and renewed and extremely hungry too.
We skipped dinner and I remember how Alyson skipped lunch too, a habit I need her to curb, regular eating and eating well is what I want to see her do from now on.
“Medium or well done?” I murmur, planning what I’m having out loud.
“Rare and bloody,” she chimes, and I’m sure I hear her smacking her lips.
“How’d you know I was so hungry?” she asks me and I squeeze her tighter. “Who couldn’t be after that?” I remind her.
I lean over to the phone by the bed and order us some steaks and vegetables, a choice of gravy and sauces as well as a surprise request for dessert from the restaurant. “Surprise me,” I tell the kitchen before hanging up.
“No dishes, either,” I tell her and she shifts onto her back, sighing with contentment.
“Is this how you live every day?” she asks me, turning to meet my gaze.
“No,” I assure her. “Only since today. Every other day it’s just work, work and more work.”
I frown at the thought. So much time ‘wasted’ but if the end result, if my prize is Alyson, it’s been worth every second.
Chapter Thirteen
Alyson
It feels like Eric wants to stuff me all over again, but this time with food. I’ve never seen steaks so big, and cooked perfectly, melting in my mouth and making me feel double indulgent, eating in bed. Something I’d never normally do.
He tastes some of mine, then feeds me some of his from his fork, it’s all amazing and I have a hard time imagining anyone eats like this every meal.
Reading my thoughts, Eric reflects aloud.
“I used to go to bed hungry, feel hungry all day and then the same again at night some days… a long time ago though,” he tells me.
“Because you worked so hard?” I ask, not quite getting his meaning.
“Because I was so poor!” he exclaims but neither of us laugh. “It’s something I remind myself of as much as I can, but never to the point of obsessing about it.”
I almost feel guilty for eating so much, but Eric prods me with the blunt end of his fork.
“See? Guilt isn’t the same as gratitude. You can be grateful and still know half the world’s starving and sleep at night.”
I feel like I have a lot to say about that, it’s a pretty challenging statement, but Eric bites down on his and encourages me to do the same.
“I want to see you eating properly, Alyson,” he says firmly.
“You can do more good, and for more people when you have a good diet and a balanced mind.”
“But what about an unbalanced body?” I ask, feeling my size now that I’m so full, secretly wanting more than I’ve already had as I eye the platter I know has a dessert underneath.
“Your body belongs to me now,” he says, matter of fact. “It’s perfect and I won’t hear you saying otherwise either.”
I scoff and remind him