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CHAPTERELEVEN
DÉSIRÉE
It takes me a little while to figure out what to do today now that Malcolm has had to leave. When he’s not here, I start to feel a little lost with what to do with myself. It’s not that I need him to be with me all hours of the day, but when he’s not here, it gives me a lot of time to think. I think about what I endured at the hands of Dimitri and the fact that my family still has yet to find him. I think about the fact that I feel so safe here in Malcolm’s house. Also, I think about the fact that Malcolm and I have basically been sharing the same space for the past two weeks, and nothing more than sleeping has happened. It’s exactly what I feared. He’s never going to see me as anything more than the woman he saved, even if he does try to convince me it’s not the truth.
I’ve slept in the same bed with him the past two weeks, and there are some nights that I can feel his hard cock pressed up against me. Just when I think he may actually want to take our relationship out of the friend zone, he just rolls over to his other side and continues to go to sleep.
I guess I should be happy that he’s even allowing me to be with him in this capacity, but I can’t help but want more. This is the same man that I’ve had a crush on since I was a schoolgirl, and those feelings haven’t gone away.
I walk into the kitchen and pull out some grapes. I’ve already tidied up and read a few stories, so I’m out of things to do. Just as I’m about to start eating, I hear the lock of the front door clicking, and it’s being pushed open.
A small spark of fear shoots through my system until I see Malcolm walk in. No matter how long I’ve been away from that hell, every time a door opens, I fear that it’s Dimitri behind it.
“Hey, how was your day?” I ask him, walking closer to him. He has a bag in his hand along with what looks like a box of paperwork. I reach out for the box, but he just pulls it out of my reach. “What’s that?”
I tilt my head, trying to read the logo on the bag to see where he went shopping, when I hear the sound of scratching. There’s something in the box that he’s holding.
“Um, Malcolm, what’s that? That’s not a cat, is it? I’m allergic to cats.” I back up a few paces, not really wanting to have to deal with the itchy eyes and runny nose that I’ll get when he opens the box to let the feline out.
“I know you are. I make it my business to know as much as I can about you. It’s not a cat,” Malcolm says as he puts the box on the table. I walk over to where he is, my curiosity taking hold. I kneel up in the chair and open the flaps of the small box.
“Oh my God! Bunnies!” I scream, clapping and smiling so hard it feels like my cheeks my just rip from my face.
“I take it you like them?” Malcolm asks a bit uncertainly.
He knows how much I care for animals, even the cats. I can’t be around them, but if there was ever one that needed to be helped, I’d deal with my allergies until I got it to the vet or into safe hands. “I love them, Malcolm! Where did you get them? How old are they?” I pepper him with so many questions, but at the same time, I’m already looking in the box, trying to examine them on my own. They seem a little small, and their eyes are closed. They don’t look little enough to be newborns, but it seems like they haven’t had anything to eat in a while.
“I don’t know anything about them. I found them in this box.” Malcolm shrugs slightly and puts the bag he has on the table. I look inside to see a bunch of things that we can use to take care of the rabbits, but there’s one thing missing. The heating pad. “Did you get them any warmers? A heating pad or anything?”
“Heating pad? No.” His eyes squint as he looks in the box.
“I need it! They’re going to be too cold.” I pout slightly but don’t bother to look up. I’m too focused on the bunnies.
I hear keys, and then Malcolm rushing to the door. “You going to be okay for fifteen minutes? I’ll get one from the pharmacy.”
I lift my face to him and give him a big smile. “Yeah, babe, I’m good.” His breath catches in his throat, and something soft passes over his features for one second before he shakes it off.
“Right, I’ll be back.” He walks out, leaving me to fuss over the bunnies.
If they’re as young as I think they are—I know it’s not good to touch them very much. I saw in the bag Malcolm picked up a large rabbit enclosure. I can set this up to make sure the bunnies will be as comfortable as possible. I quickly get to work, and before Malcolm even comes back, I have the hutch set up and the hay placed in the bottom of the large enclosure. I hook up the water bottle and the small area where the pellets are supposed to go. The hutch is actually two stories and will take up a nice chunk of space when I push it where I want it to go. I make a small bedroom for the rabbits, so it’s away from their litter box and only when I feel like it’s fixed up enough for me to transfer them out of the small box do I go back for them.
When I open the box back up this time, I’m happy to see that the bunnies do have their eyes open now, and they’re moving a bit. This is great news—it means they’re not as young as I thought. I carefully pick up the box and place it near the hutch to wait for Malcolm to come with the heating pad. While I wait, I pick up a small bit of hay and put it in the box for the rabbits to nibble on. They take to it right away.
“You guys are going to be so happy here. I’m going to make sure I take good care of you. You don’t have to be afraid.” I softly pet one of them on the top of ’its head. Something about being able to take care of these animals makes me feel stronger. Like I’m not the weakest thing in the world. These rabbits are so fragile and alone. If Malcolm didn’t bring them here, they’d surely have died. It makes me so happy to know that I’m going to be able to play a part in keeping them alive.
The door opens, and Malcolm rushes in out of breath with a bag in his hand. “They’re okay? They didn’t die, right?” He looks at the box on the floor near where I’m sitting.
I chuckle softly. “No, calm down, they’re alright.” I put my hand out for the bag and pull out the extra-large heating pad. I take it out of the box and slip it under the bottom of the hutch, only to realize the hutch would be better suited near a window. I push it until it’s against the back wall of the living room.
Malcolm has to help me, and we end up laughing as we maneuver the awkwardly shaped hutch against the wall. I really should have built the thing where I wanted to keep it. After a few minutes of sliding things around in the living room, I get the hutch set up right by the window where some heat should transfer through the wall. I plug the heating pad in and set it to the lowest it will go. Finally, I grab the box and transfer the small bunnies into their new home. At first, they don’t move around much, but after a few minutes, they start taking in their new surroundings. When they really start to move around, I clap and look up at Malcolm, who is staring down at me with a big smile.
I jump up and wrap my arms around his neck, giving him a big hug. “Thank you so much.”
I’m sure he didn’t know that I was feeling like I didn’t have much of a purpose here, but by bringing me these rabbits to take care of, I feel a bit more reinvigorated.
“Of course,mon trésor, I’m happy if you’re happy,” he says against my ear, and my entire body responds to the sound of his voice.
I pull back slightly but keep my arms wrapped around his neck, “I believe that. I believe with all I am that you’ll do whatever you have to in order to keep me happy and safe.”
