Underneath It All (6 page)

Chapter VIII

This Kiss

Where the hell am I?

Confusion chased away my lingering sleep; my mind was struggling to clear as I continued to stare at the unfamiliar room while sitting up in the huge, unfamiliar bed.

I glanced around the room quickly. It was very luxurious with glamorous furnishings and rustic details that blended seamlessly. It had crisp white walls, bedding, and curtains. The vaulted ceilings exposed wooden beams and a large doorway led to a spacious veranda overlooking a lush garden. I shoved the sheets off and froze, staring down at myself.

Why the hell am I wearing an oversized t-shirt?

I slowly sat up and hauled myself out of bed, the pain in my head quickly returning. I crept timidly out of the room and down the corridor, unsure of where to go.

I heard music coming from somewhere and followed the sound. It led me to the kitchen and I paused at the entrance when I saw Reeve in only his boxers. He had a full back tattoo of
St.
Michael’s The Archangel
, nice ass, bronzed olive complexion, and unruly, tousled hair.

He was singing and dancing as he cooked. Reeve’s hips swayed back and forth as he sang along with the music.

The beat paused, and so did Reeve before belting out, “I’m sexy and I know it!”

I giggled to myself. I didn’t want him to notice me yet. I was still enjoying myself watching him. The bass bumped back up and my smile grew into a grin. By the time the last line rolled, he spun around and saw me standing at the kitchen door.

“Agata!” Reeve was startled, his face nearly purple from mortification.

“Hi, just keep dancing. It’s fine with me.”

Reeve chuckled and reached out to turn off the music. He walked up to me and brushed my hair away from my shoulder. “How are you feeling? You shouldn’t be moving around so much.”

I stood silent, still feeling awkward at the moment.

“You okay?” He was staring hard at me.

I opened my mouth to say something but no words came out. When my eyes fell on his tight boxers I quickly averted my eyes; I wasn’t sure on where to look. I could feel a blush rising to my cheeks.

Reeve noticed my uneasiness and he carefully stepped back. “Oh shoot, sorry. I’m not used to wearing clothes inside my house.” He spun back around to face the stove and switched it off. “I will put some clothes on; you sit and wait for me. We need to talk.”

I thought about asking
what about,
but then I realized that saying that would be stupid. I knew what we had to talk about.

He came back with his white t-shirt on and a pair of loose jeans hanging low on his hips. My wide and nervous eyes met his.

He walked up to the counter and prepared a glass of orange juice. He grabbed a bowl and poured butternut squash soup into it. He prepared a cup of coffee and reheated a box of pizza and a bowl of spaghetti.

“Let’s eat.” He ordered and sat across from me. He stirred his coffee without taking his eyes off me.

“Thank you. It smells really good.” I gave him a grateful smile. Knowing he cooked for me, intentionally, on a day that meant nothing to the rest of the world, meant everything to me.

“Are you feeling better now?” he asked and shoved a spoonful of spaghetti in his mouth.

“Yeah, thank you.”

“If you were wondering if I was the one who changed your clothes, no. It wasn’t me, Tatiana did that; she was here earlier.”

“Oh, I see.” I nodded and began to sip my soup. I felt the liquid pour down my throat. The warmth of the soup enveloped my lungs and felt so good. “You shouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of bringing me here. You could have dropped me off at my dorm and left me there.”

“If I want to fucking spend time with you, I will, okay? I wanted to make sure you’re fine.”

There he went again changing moods. I swear there had to be something mentally wrong with this guy. No other person in my life frustrated me as much as he.

“Well, aren’t you sweet?” I smirked.

“So you want to tell me what happened this afternoon? What were you doing out in the storm, Agata? Are you trying to kill yourself?”

One quick bite then he got down to business.

My breath caught in my throat. I really didn’t want to tell him.

“I was…” I paused and bit my lip. I wasn’t sure how to phrase it, “…finishing a task.”

Reeve paused with a fork halfway to his mouth. “Task?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. I didn’t answer. “Sorority task?”

I mentally face palmed and nodded in confirmation. “How long did I stay out there? You think I lasted thirty minutes out there?”

“I knew it,” he stated, shaking his head. “Agata, I don’t give a damn if you finished that fucking task or not. You scared the shit out of me; don’t you know that? You’re not joining the sorority.”

“I have the right reasons for joining.” I bit my lip.

“Reasons?” He gave me a confused look.

“The sisterhood is important to me.” I thought of giving him some lame excuse.

The room grew still. He stared at me, his face blank, and I couldn’t move.

“Are you kidding me?” His gaze was unyielding. “You think the sorority will save you from dying out there? They don’t give a damn, Agata!”

“It’s part of the process,” I reasoned out.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“You should have known it. You’re part of the organization.”

“That’s why I don’t want you in!” He threw his napkin on his plate and shot up to his feet. I remained silent and gazed at my food. “Agata, what’s gotten into you?” His words almost forced me to look at him.

“I’m leaving.” I stood from my chair but he grabbed my hand and pinned me to the wall. “For once, I wanted to do something for myself without thinking of whatever people might say,” I spat.

He released a heavy sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “Agata, after three and a half years you thought of joining a sorority? For what?”

My chest rose and fell erratically as I met his eyes. “Once I finish my task and pass the initiation, I’ll be one of them. By that time, I can tell if this guy who keeps giving me mixed signals really feels something for me. They say he
only
dates sorority girls. If he will not date me, then it’s confirmed—he’s only messing around with me.”

I didn’t move a muscle as his eyes burned back into mine. A shaky gasp escaped from my lips and I flinched as he reached for my face. After pausing momentarily to observe my reaction, he went on to gingerly brush my tangled hair from my face.

“Agata, you’re not the type I want to date.”

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. His words grated against my ears and it hurt like a bitch.

“You’re not someone I want to take out for dinner, walk home, kiss goodnight, nor say goodbye.”

He didn’t stop tearing with the knife, and pierced through the walls of my heart.

“Because you know what, Agata? I don’t want to just date you and walk you home. You’re someone I want to come home to, someone I want to cook dinner with, to sleep with, to kiss hard, and fuck harder.”

The words snapped out of his mouth quick enough to petrify me. I looked up at him; his plump lips were pursed into a stern frown. His eyes were darkened, no time for bullshit. I bit my lip, and with every second that I didn’t reply his face grew more and more serious.

A small smile crept upon my lips and I looked away to hide my flushed cheeks. I couldn’t contain my happiness. I wondered how my mood had changed so drastically in this conversation.

He smiled, bringing his thumb up to graze my cheek. “You’re blushing.”

I reached up and quickly wiped my cheeks.

“Now, are you still joining the sorority?”

He came closer. Our noses were almost touching, his eyes never leaving mine. I held my breath. I closed my eyes. He was going to kiss me. I could almost feel the touch of his lips on mine, his breath in my lungs. He leaned down, then I heard my stomach growl in hunger, which caused Reeve to chuckle.

“Hungry? Come on, let’s continue to eat.”

We kept glancing at each other in silence while we ate.

“So…” Reeve started. “How’s the soup?”

“Smells good but tastes even better. Can I have some of your pizza? I feel like I could eat a dinosaur today.”

“Help yourself.” Reeve smiled, making me go weak in my knees.

“Do you usually cook?”

“No, just today. I usually eat outside, order, or eat whatever I see in the fridge.”

“Don’t you have maids who can cook for you?”

“I do, but they only come on the weekend.”

“Are you living here alone?”

“Nnnope.”

“Where’s the rest of your family?”

I noticed I started to get nosey.

“You are very inquisitive, Agata. You sure you wanna meet them?”

“Uhm…I don’t know, it’s up to you. Of course, I mean, It’s your family…yeah…whatever.” I babbled like an idiot.

“Let me get them for you.”

I was very nervous to meet his family.

A few minutes after Reeve stepped out of the kitchen, I heard dogs barking.

Reeve emerged in the kitchen with five huge dogs. I am fond of dogs, but man, a pack of giant dogs really scared the hell out of me.

I quickly ran into the corner. “Oh my God! Those are
huge
dogs! I thought I was meeting your family?”

Reeve was laughing at me. “Yeah, they are my family. I want you to meet Ares, my two-year-old Saint Bernard. This is Optimus, my two-year-old Rottweiler, Tiny, my three-year-old Great Da—”

“Tiny? For the love of God, he’s even larger than you!” I pointed, quite hysterically.

“Correction—she’s a she. This is Conan…” He pointed at his Bullmastiff. “…and Nana. She’s the youngest, a Newfoundland.”

“Nana?”

“Yeah, Nana, as in the Peter Pan dog Nana. Come on, they won’t bite and they smell nice. They are giant dogs but they are softies. Come on…” Reeve held out his hand to me.

I grabbed his hand and slowly walked over to where his dogs were. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the worst. They jumped on me, causing me to fall down the floor. I braced myself for a vicious bite, but the dogs seemed friendly, licking my face, covering it with slobber.

“Hey, hey, get off her.”

I felt the huge weight of a million pounds of dog leave me as Reeve dragged them off by their collars. They bounded back and ran into the house just like kids playing hide and seek.

“I’m sorry about that.” Reeve helped me up. “Did they scare you?”

“That’s all right; they’re really cute.” I grinned while wiping my face to get rid of the saliva.

Reeve quickly put his palm on my forehead. “Your temperature is still high. So, you ate dinner and met my family; it’s time for you to rest. You should go back to your room, drink the medicine that is on the night table, and go back to sleep.”

“Huh? But I just woke up.” I protested.

“You need to rest and gain your strength back.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Reeve placed his finger over my lips.

“No ifs, no buts.”

I conceded.

***

The incessant rain kept pouring so hard outside that I could hear it pelting the ground. The howling sounds of the wind made the little hairs on my arms stand upright. A flash of bright light lit the room for a moment before the thunder sounded afterward.

“I hate thunderstorms,” I whispered to myself.

The sudden knock on the door made my head jerk up before I quickly whirled around and opened it.

“Hey.” Reeve appeared before me.

“Hey.”

“I thought I should check you out. I know you’re afraid of thunderstorms.”

“I’m fine, I’m really fine, thank you,” I told him, trying to convince myself that I was.

He watched me and my defiant stance to prove I was unafraid of thunderstorms, “All right, then.” He turned around to take his leave.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my room,” he simply answered without looking back.

“Ree—” my next words were cut off as the gruesome sound of thunder was heard, this time without a flash of lightning as a warning. A squeak of horror escaped my lips as my hands immediately reached forward and gripped the back of his shirt.

“Nothing to worry about, huh?” he spoke, with humor laced in his voice.

Another lightning bolt cut across the window and lit the room in a blinding glow. I lunged for Reeve.

“Do you want me to stay?”