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I nodded, holding out my hand for another slice. “With Magda, the sparks?”
“Once, no longer.” He leaned forward, capturing my outstretched hand. “Only you. So, Magda helped you find me?”
“Yes, she… She said you made a mistake, but that you didn’t fuck her and that you were…upset.”
The last word brought him up straight. He cut me more cheese, another offering to keep me occupied while he contemplated an answer. “Can you forgive me?”
Too early to speak those words. The jury remained out because I had one key question unanswered. “Why, Stefan? Why did you end up on the floor with her?”
He put down the knife. Across his face, a shadow fell. The darkness around his eyes deepened. The sadness I’d once glimpsed returned. “I’m ashamed to say, I simply followed my impulsive needs.”
I didn’t understand. Would I ever? “How can I trust you?”
“We’ve made it this far. It would be like giving up halfway to the finish line. We’re going to have to work on it. I said I would never let you go. I meant it.”
Those words, spoken with his eyes fixed on me, reawakened it all. My suppressed desire for him and the passionate craving in my loins. Each element of my sexual being sprang to life in response to his ardent words. My heart jolted, waking me up. I couldn’t let him see my joy. I covered my smile with a hand. He had to earn my affection again. All I wanted him to know for now was that I’d opened the door for him.
I wiped the smile away and removed my hand. “Could I have some bread to go with this cheese?”
He leaped up. “Sure.”
For the next few minutes, Stefan concentrated on feeding me. He laid out soda bread, an apple, crackers and tomatoes.
“These look delicious.” I bit into the tomato and the juices squirted out around my lips. Tasted yummy too.
As soon as the last mouthful had slipped down my throat, I yawned.
“You’re tired. I’ll make up the guest bed.”
Alone in a bed in a strange house didn’t thrill me. As he walked past me, I grabbed his arm. “I would like company.” I squeezed his forearm.
He halted. The muscles under my fingers tensed. “Are you sure? I’m not going to touch you if you don’t want it.”
“I do want it, but just your embrace. Nothing else.” My exhausted body would not take much more of the day.
“I understand.”
He relaxed and I let go. I more than let go. Fresh salty tears formed unhindered. These I allowed after the ones I’d restrained all day. They filled my eyes, tipping over the brims, cascading down my cheeks. So different from the ones I’d shed on Monday night.
“Oh, Mausi.” He wrapped me in his arms, held me tight, stroking my back and kissing my hair.
I sobbed into his chest. “I need you,” I whispered.
“I’m going to work hard to regain your trust. No rush. When you’re ready, I’ll be yours again and you’ll be mine.” He tilted my chin up, held my face in his palms and kissed away my tears. “That’ll do for now,” he murmured.
He picked up my holdall and I followed him to the stairs. He flicked a switch and the steps lit up individually. The staircase swept around the walls, climbing the three stories.
“How old is this house?”
“A couple of hundred years,” he replied, pausing on a step. “My father modernized the interior ages ago. He kept the place after he split with Mum. I spent many a school holiday here.” He resumed his ascent.
I tried to picture a young Stefan chasing about the house, perhaps laughing. An endearing image.
The bedroom continued the contemporary makeover with fitted wardrobes and an en suite.
My skin prickled with the residue of anxious perspiration and the grime of a long journey. A shower would be ideal, but upon seeing the bed, I merely wanted to descend into oblivion.
I undressed. Stefan hovered, uncertain, fingering the belt of his trousers. I dug about in my luggage and found clean panties and a plain T-shirt. No nudity. No tempting flesh on display. As much as I wanted him—the telltale pulse of arousal at the apex of my thighs buzzed relentlessly—patience remained my goal. Sleep too. Stefan slipped out of his clothes, leaving on his boxers.
