Translation of Love - By Alice Montalvo-Tribue Page 0,60

I know that much. I ask him what he’s doing here and he starts to yell. Screaming at the top of his lungs, his words are like daggers slicing me open with every lash of the tongue. I try to calm him down, apologize for whatever it is he thinks I’ve done. My words go unheard, his anger is too much for me to calm. I retreat, feeling the anger building, I try to run but a hand grabs my hair and yanks me back hard. I fall to the ground, then blackness.

I shoot up in bed to a sitting position in a cold sweat. Realization hits that it was only a nightmare. A nightmare that I haven’t had in a long time. I take deep breaths and try to calm down but I’m still a bit unsettled. Looking down, I find that I’m alone in bed. Maybe last night was a dream too. Maybe Victor never followed me here. I look down at my t-shirt, it’s the one I took from him last night. He has to be here. I move to get out of bed but the clicking of the doorknob stops me.

The door opens and in walks Victor, cup of coffee in hand. “Morning, Love.”

The tension starts to melt away from my body at the sight of him. “Good morning. I was afraid you weren’t really here.”

“I’m here. I haven’t gone anywhere.” He sits on the side of the bed and hands me my coffee. The smell is intoxicating. Nothing like a cup of coffee to wash away a bad nightmare. I take a sip and let the warmth envelop me. “Mmm, this is so good. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He looks as if he wants to tell me something but is holding back.

I put the cup down on my nightstand and tilt my head in his direction. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I just need to head back home soon. I’m due back for a meeting on an endorsement deal I’m supposed to sign off on. It’s one of those contracts I was reviewing yesterday.”

“Oh.” I look down to my lap, feeling deflated. How did I get to this point in the relationship where the mere thought of him leaving makes me sad? I hate it and love it at the same time. I love that I am allowing myself to experience the emotion but I hate the emotion itself. “It’s alright, I understand.”

“I don’t know,” he says, lifting my chin up so that our eyes are aligned. He shakes his head. “I just don’t know if I feel comfortable leaving you.”

My eyes squint in question. “What? Why?”

A slow grin creeps onto his lips. “I’m not so sure that you’ve learned your lesson yet.”

I blink up at him. “My lesson?”

“Yup.” He nods.

Fighting a smile, I ask, “And what lesson is it that you think I haven’t learned?”

He has that hungry look in his eyes. “The one where we agreed that you were mine,” he says, crawling up over me and pushing me down with his upper body. “I think it’s a lesson that needs to be reviewed.”

My heartbeat goes crazy, and I know it’s all his doing. “Maybe it does, but I thought you said you had to go.” I gasp as he pulls my panties off of me and tosses them on the floor. He lifts himself from the bed, strips out of his boxers and is back over me before I can recover.

“Yeah, I did, but in the grand scheme of things, this…” he says, placing his hand on my mound, “is just too important to put off.”

I spread my legs, encouraging him to position himself between them. “Then let’s review.”

He shakes his head. “It’s just that you didn’t get it the first time, so…” He bites down on my shoulder, causing a whimper to escape from my lips. “I think I have to give it to you a different way.” I squeal as he flips us over so that he’s on his back and I’m straddling him on top. “Take this off,” he commands, grabbing the hem of my shirt. I pull it over my head. He takes it from me and throws it on the floor.

I bend down, bringing my hands to rest on either side of his head. I bring my lips to his and we kiss, our tongues coming together in a dance that’s full of passion. The more we kiss, the more I want him inside of me. His mouth makes me drunk