There’s a lot to do before tonight. I wish I could just go home and fuck her senseless, but tonight will mark the first night of the rest of our lives together. I want her to remember it as a romantic night, like one where I treated her like a woman and not a fuck toy. We have the rest of our lives together to indulge in one another.
Tonight has to be something special, and that’s exactly what I have planned.
Chapter Ten
Amelia
I wake up alone and my heart immediately sinks in my chest.
Where is Leo?
He should be here beside me, keeping me warm. But his side of the bed is cold. He’s long gone.
It doesn’t make sense to me. We live in the same house. This is his bedroom. He can’t just run away from what happened. And yet I’m the one waking up confused and alone. I wish I had some way to contact him, but I don’t have his number. I look out of the window and see that his car isn’t in the driveway. He must have had somewhere more important to be.
I sigh, wrapping my arms around myself. I’m being unfair. I don’t know what reason he had not to be here, but I’m sure it’s a good one. I’m just so insecure. I’ve never had a man want me before. I’ve never once had someone care about me enough to stick around. I’ve been alone in this world for as long as I can remember, and now, it feels like I’m being left behind again.
I know deep down that Leo isn’t that kind of man. He’s a good person, and the way he treated me last night with so much respect. So much respect, in fact, that he refused to have sex with me because of everything that I’d been through. I know that he was trying to do a good thing, and yet now, I just feel rejected again. I know that’s my problem and not his, but now that I’m here on my own, it just makes me feel like this is how it’ll always be.
Maybe I’m crazy. I’m not used to affection and love so I assume that I’ll never have those things. But Leo has been so willing to give me everything. Last night was so incredible. I went from feeling scared and alone to being held in his arms, pleasured beyond belief by his touch. I slept beside him all night and he held me protectively in his arms. But I guess that’s why this morning feels a little hard to swallow. Because now that he isn’t here, there’s no one around to convince me that it wasn’t just a figment of my imagination.
I get out of bed and dress slowly. I’m supposed to be working today. Rachel will probably be wondering where I am and what I’m doing, seething because she’s not in my shoes. But right now, I have no smugness in me. Until I’m certain that Leo and I are solid, I can’t allow myself to feel happy. Not until I’m sure that this is all going to work out the way.
I’m about to leave the room and begin work when I bump straight into Leo. He smiles down at me, a real smile with so much affection, holding me close in his arms.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he says.
I stare up at him in shock.
“I...I thought you were gone.”
“I had some things to take care of this morning, and later today,” he says. “But later, I want you to have dinner with me. We can talk properly then.”
I just want to talk to him now. I don’t want him to leave me again. But the fact he wants to have dinner with me is reassuring. The fact that he called me beautiful is comforting. Maybe I’m letting my paranoia get the better of me.
He cups my cheek in his hand. “I can’t wait to see you later,” he growls.
I nod. “Okay...I should get to work…”
“That stops right now. You don’t work for me anymore,” he snarls. “You’ll never work again if you don’t want to. Do as you wish today. Spend some time painting or whatever you’d like to do. But you won’t be doing a single chore. Leave it to the staff.”
I can barely believe it. Did I just get the nicest firing in the world? My head is all over the place. But right now, I don’t have the energy to question any of it. A day to paint and gather my thoughts sounds like exactly what I need.
“What time should I meet you?” I ask. He smirks at my question.
“You’ll receive a delivery at six o’clock. Meet me for dinner at seven in the dining hall.”
Now I really am overwhelmed. I’ve been in the dining hall many times before, to clean. To think about having dinner there is baffling. I’ll be served by all the rest of the staff...this is going to be beyond strange.