Aris: A Sexy Romance Novel (Thief of Hearts Series Book 1) (14 page)

Chapter 11

It was early when she opened her eyes.  She didn’t think she’d been that tired, but maybe she was.    The sun
hadn’t quite risen yet.  She curled up against the pillow.  She didn’t know if Khar blamed her for upsetting their operation or not, but she didn’t really care about that.  She did know that Noah was definitely going to blame her for Aris getting cut.  It was bad enough facing him all the time knowing he didn’t like her, but now that he had a genuine reason to be upset with her, it was going to make things worse. 

She threw the comforter back.  Shuffling to the bathroom, she let the water run in the shower til the bathroom was steamy.  The heat felt good this morning.  

There was a light knock on her door before Anaya stuck her head in. 

“I heard what happened yesterday.  Are you alright?”

“I’m fine Anaya.  It was Aris that didn’t come out so good.”

“I talked to Noah late yesterday night.  He said Nicholas said everything was going to be fine.  The blade missed all the major organs so it was just stitches.  Noah said that Nicholas was teasing him that Aris just likes to bleed.” Anaya chuckled.

“He bled quite a lot in the alley.” 

“What happened?” 

“Hmm.  Don’t say anything yet.  I want to hear this too, but I need some coffee.”  Denise was yawning in the doorway.  She returned from the kitchen a minute or so later with a cups of coffee for all of them. 

She spent the next hour listening to Soairse talk about what had happened.  Seer was fumbling around looking for something clean to put on.

“Anaya, have you seen this room?  Seer has more clothes than I have ever seen.”

“No, but I was there one time when Aris bought a couple of outfits for her.”  Anaya smiled.

“Come on.  Seer is going to get dressed.”  Denise pulled on Saoirse’s arm.

“I don’t want to go through the closet.  I nearly had a heart attack when Aris went through the swimsuit drawer the other day.  There’s a reason men shouldn’t be allowed to shop.”

Saoirse walked over to the dresser pulling out the blue bikini that Aris had suggested to her.  She held it up on her fingers for Anaya and Denise to see.  “You really think I want to see what’s in that closet when he thinks I will wear this?”

“He likes what you got.”  Denise tilted her head.

“It’s not that bad.  He bought some nice things when he was with me.  Let me look.” Anaya flipped on the light in the closet.  There were racks of clothes between shelves with accessories like handbags and scarves. 

“What’s that one?  The one with the batik pattern on it.  That’s pretty.”  Denise was leaning in the door jam pointing.

“It’s a sarong.  He must have picked it up in Singapore.  Oh, here, how about this?  Not that I’m partial to Indian pant suits or anything.”  Anaya teased.  “This should be comfortable.  The tunic is shorter than the traditional one, but that’s fine, it should still sit just over your hips.  It’s not grey, but red is his favorite color.  Seer?”

“Let’s see what it looks like.”

“Go try it on.  Did he give you the key to the jewelry case?”

“Jewelry case?”

“Yes, those locked drawers in the middle of the wall right there, that’s a jewelry case.”  Anaya was giggling at what Soairse didn’t know.  “He wouldn’t fill a closet for you and not think about the jewelry.  A woman isn’t dressed without jewelry.”  Anaya held out her arms demonstrating several various sized gold bangles.  “It’s probably in the dressing table if he didn’t mention it to you.”  She walked over to the dressing table while Saoirse was trying on the suit. 

“I think this is it.”

Denise followed Anaya back into the walk in closet.  “Seer, you know these are all Jimmy Choo in here right?”

Saoirse rolled her eyes.  “I know.”  She looked at herself in the mirror.  It didn’t look bad on her.  It was kind of flattering.

“Oh my god!  Oh!  Those are beautiful!  Oh, look at those!”  Denise couldn’t stop carrying on.

“Denise since when have you ever liked Choo?”  Seer was still standing in front of the mirror.

“Who’s talking about Choo?  Get in here!  You’re going to try some of this stuff on!  Ooh!”

Saoirse shuffled into the closet.  Denise was sitting in the chair by the jewelry case while Anaya opened each drawer looking through the velvet cases inside them.

“I don’t care if you don’t like green or not, these are beautiful!”  Denise was holding up a pair of delicately cut, deep green emeralds surrounded by diamonds.   Seer was wrinkling up her face.  “Smile, giggle, be a girl.”  Denise reminded her.  “There’s pearls in here too, as if he has no clue what makes you happy.”

Anaya noticed the look on Saoirse’s face.  “Seer, in some cultures women wear jewelry.  There are pictures of me with my mother as a little girl, 2 maybe 3 years old, already I had several gold bracelets and earrings.  Not wearing jewelry would embarrass my father the way forcing you to walk around barefoot in court would embarrass you.  It’s just part of how you take care of your family.”

“Alright, pick something and let’s get this over with.  I’m starting to crave my shorts and tennis shoes.”

Anaya pulled together a couple of items while Denise ran to get showered and dressed.   Saoirse was putting on a pair of gold lace design earrings when Denise came back in.  Seer frowned at the sundress Denise was wearing.  She put her hands on her hips pointing to the closet.  “Smile, giggle, be a girl!”

“I don’t know that Aris would appreciate my wearing clothes he specifically chose for you.”

“Tough.  We’re about the same size.  Get in there.”

“I don’t think he’d mind Denise, Aris isn’t sensitive like that.”  Anaya was pulling out the batik patterned sarong that Denise had been looking at earlier.  

The three women walked into the kitchen to find Noah sitting with Mata.  Noah sat staring at the three of them.  Anaya scolded him in yet another language neither Seer nor Denise spoke. 

“Don’t stare at her, you’ll make her self conscious.”

Noah said something back scowling at her.
“She should be!  He dresses her better than she dresses herself, and she wasn’t even there when he chose that!  She could be a show stopper if she wasn’t so busy being a high strung mess all the time.”

Aris was dozing lightly in the outdoor room on the side of the house.  “Hm.  I get cut and suddenly all the beautiful women come to see me.”  Everyone had carried breakfast items in with them. Mata was busy putting it all in order on the table.

Mata kissed Aris’s forehead patting his cheek.  She was all smiles at him.  She sat down in the chair beside him.  Noah leaned on the wall behind her chair.  Anaya sat in the chair opposite Aris while Denise and Saoirse got comfortable on the couch. 

Noah crossed his arms.  “Has Nicholas said when the stitches can come out?”

“No, but it can’t be more than a few days.”  Aris responded to Noah’s questions, but his eyes never left Saoirse.  She was avoiding his gaze, nervously twisting around one of the gold earrings.

“I take it you didn’t sleep so well last night.”

“Minor pain.  It’ll pass.”

A figure appeared coming down the walkway.  “Aris, love, when you gonna start listening to me?  You think I say things to you for my health?  Marley listens better than you!”  Celeste shuffled over playfully tugging at his ear.

“But Celeste, if I listened you’d be bored.”

“Hmph.  Ain’t no bored on this island.  I heard about how much fun you’re having.  I brought you your favorites.  I thought they might keep you out of mischief.   Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.  What are you thinking?” she addressed Saoirse, who sat with a look not unlike little kids get when they know they’re in trouble.  “He made his own decisions.  You might have put him in that situation but he’s the one that made the choice.  You’re just a woman, you’re not handing out life and death.  Good Lord girl, don’t take on the burdens of the world when they’re not yours for the trouble.  Speaking of trouble, Nise, we gonna have to talk sweetie.  Two waters is one thing, four is almost impossible.  You’re not going to do this again.  No, no four is going to be hellacious as it is.  Mmm.  Mmm.  Mmm.  I’ll check on you later Aris, love.”  Celeste shook her head as she went up the walk.

“What were you thinking about Seer?”  Denise frowned.

“Me? I wasn’t thinking about anything.  What about you? 
‘Two waters is hard but four is hellacious’?
  What have you been doing?”

Denise shrugged her shoulders.  “Filing?”

The room filled with laughter. 

“What are you ladies up to today?”  Aris smiled at them.

Denise and Saoirse looked at each other.  “Filing.” came out pretty much in unison.

Everyone chatted for a little bit longer finishing up breakfast.  Anaya had worked to do, Noah had information to run down with Khar, Mata headed back into the kitchen.  Denise and Seer stood up to go to Martin’s office.

“Saoirse?”

She looked back at him calling her name. 

Denise whispered in her ear, “Stay.  You need to talk to him.”  Seer nodded her head.

“My beautiful love.”  Aris held his hand out to her when everyone else had gone.  “You are very quiet today.”

She took his hand as he pulled her into his lap wrapping both arms around her.  He kissed the side of her cheek and her temple.  She didn’t say anything.  She just let him hold her in his arms.

“Jerith and Khar came by last night.  I was told my bedroom was torn apart by a very angry woman.”

“Yeah.  She trashed your office too, and isn’t the least bit apologetic about it.”

“Khar was concerned she might kick my ass while she was still seething.  Ling was pretty upset too.”  Aris smiled, “He didn’t appreciate his work being
‘mislabeled and under valued’
as he put it.  He said crossing mine fields in the dark was less nerve wracking than minding you.”

“Yes, I know I got the lecture on being
‘stupid dangerous’
yesterday.  I’m surprised Noah hasn’t exploded in my face yet.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Why not?  Khar and Ling did.  Jerith isn’t letting me go anywhere until he gets assurances that I won’t have someone coming after me.  You and Noah are the only ones that haven’t gone off yet.  Although I think he considered it this morning and Anaya bit him.”

Aris chuckled.  “No, I don’t think that’s what that was.  No one puts a muzzle on Noah’s temper.”

“Khar was ticked over being questioned about the Minder.  Ling was angry that I messed up all the work he had done.  Noah was already ticked at me yesterday in Hong Kong.”

“Noah was in a panic.  We’ve never been in a situation where any of us has been hurt without us being together.  He wasn’t angry at you, he was just thrown off his balance.  He didn’t know anything about the situation, there was a lot of blood, and Noah couldn’t get it to stop either.”  Aris looked down at her as he played with the ends of her hair.  “You don’t listen to Celeste either.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means what happened yesterday was not your fault but you’re reacting to everyone like they think it is.”

“Okay, you take that idea up with Khar and Ling.”

“I don’t doubt that they were upset, but I think it was probably more to your reaction to them than anything else.”

“My reaction to them?  What were they expecting?  A pat on the back?  A resounding ‘atta boy!’?”  her blood pressure was starting to rise,  “And you!  You never once mentioned anything about having people watching me.  It was upsetting finding all that stuff hidden in the house.  Like finding my hair in your watch box wasn’t completely unnerving?  Photos of me in court, which is completely illegal by the way, that I had no idea were taken are on the wall of your bedroom.  There’s pictures on that wall that I don’t even know what they are, or when they were taken, and I’m in them!” her voice was getting louder as she talked more rapidly,  “And Ling wants to be commended for writing scads of notes on me for years!  Why?  I’m sorry, I tend to think whether I’m on the rag or not is my business not everyone else’s!  It’s my fault you get stabbed, so I’m trying to do what I know how to do, but that’s not good enough for Noah.  Khar and Ling act like I’m supposed to be grateful my privacy has been violated.  Oh, and there’s Jerith out there that’s being inconvenienced because he has to figure out whether anyone is coming after me before he can let me go anywhere.  I’ve been kidnapped by a psycho that’s used all the information he’s ever gotten on me, whether it was accurate or not, to build his own personal little life for me, right down to what I wear and I’m supposed to be just charmed stupid by that?  I don’t think so!”  tears started down rolling down her cheeks.  “I have to go.”  she tried to stand up from Aris’s lap but his arm wasn’t moving from her waist.

Aris tightened his grip on her pulling her back down to him.  She sat in his lap with her back toward him leaning forward. “I have been called a lot of things, but I think ‘psycho’ is a first. 

Your argument, counselor, is well presented but it’s fraught with inaccurate information.  You haven’t been kidnapped.  You agreed to spend twenty-one days with me, getting to know me, so you could decide for yourself who, and what, I am.  No, I didn’t let you say no, but in the last couple of years, everything that you’ve run into that you couldn’t control, you’ve run away from.  If I had let you make the decision, we would not be here talking to one another.  So, yes, I had to exert my will over yours.  Am I sorry about that?  No.  I was willing to be the bad guy for a chance. 

Yes, I’ve had people watching you for seven years.  That was not the initial intention when it started.  It was supposed to give me some peace of mind so I could concentrate on what needed to be done.  If I had ever thought then that it would be seven years before I could see you again, I would have taken you off the helicopter with us and tried that path instead.  I thought about checking up on you myself many times over the years.  There were just too many things that had to be accomplished before I could do anything else. 

Ling and Khar are proud of the Minder program.  I know you don’t understand that.  You, and Anaya, and Denise, are unique in the world.  If you think about Mata, or some of the other women you’ve seen in the market, they don’t have the education that you do, or the motivation, or intensity that you and Anaya do.  They have always had a husband, or father, or brother to provide for them and look after them.  They need a guardian angel if their husbands don’t come home.  Over the years, Ling and Khar learned alot about what they’re doing from minding you.  I’m sorry it upset you, and you think about it as a negative thing, but you helped them find a way to take care of dozens of families over the years without making their situations worse.  They are proud of that, and rightfully so.  Ling feels like he knows you.  He can probably predict with a fairly high amount of accuracy how you’re going to respond to things because he spent so much time minding you. 

When Eugene Witrif committed suicide, he sent a message to Khar for immediate back up.  He knew it would put you in a tail spin, and it did.  You walked out in front of a truck one day.  I was almost on a plane myself when I saw his report.  I was almost on a plane again when you were in that accident with the taxi.  I understand Ling’s point entirely.  I had quite a few heart attacks myself just reading it off a sheet of paper hours after the fact.  I already knew you had to be fine, they would have notified me immediately if you weren’t, but it was still a royal scare.