After I finished proposing, I carried Jane back down to the first floor and walked out to the car to collect all the blankets, pillows, and the large picnic basket I had packed.
Even though the house was completely bare down to its walls, without a single piece of furniture, I thought it would be romantic to stay in the empty castle all by ourselves for the night. It was one of the few moments where it was just Jane and me, not that I didn’t enjoy little Theo’s presence, but it was a rare moment where we could be as intimate as we’d like with each other.
It was pretty dark by the time we came down, so I decided to stay near the living room fireplace and set up a fire to keep us warm through the night. Jane’s eye’s sparkled as the flames grew bigger and bigger until they reached a roaring fire.
Although she tried to keep her voice quiet, I heard her mumbling about how it reminded her of a scene in one of her romance books where a couple snuck into a barn to hide from the rain and started a fire to keep themselves warm as they stripped out of their clothes. I didn’t catch the rest of the description because her voice started to trail off at the end, but I knew that it was something sexually intimate with how brightly her cheeks shone, nearly matching the color of the flames flickering before her.
To be honest, I wasn’t surprised that it reminded her of her books. I did it on purpose, after all. I had gone through all her books on her overflowing shelf and picked out the romance books with the most worn-out covers in the prior week. I spent most of my nights leading up to this day reading her books and picking out the most memorable scenes to recreate, in particular, the scenes where the pages in her book were the most smudged.
I even knew what scene she was referring to. The couple had stripped out of their soak clothes and huddled naked together in an effort to stay warm as the night temperature continued to drop. It was the book’s turning point, where they confessed their feelings for each other and became one for the first time. It was a classic trope, but based on the condition of those particular books, Jane seemed to like the cliches.
But if that was what she dreamed of, then I had no trouble making her dreams come true.
I had even picked out dishes from her books and personally recreated them early in the morning before work. I was a pretty good cook due to my mother’s persistence to have sons who could cook for their wives, so I had no trouble recreating the dishes, and it was well worth the effort after I watched Jane’s eyes light up with bite.
How she would whisper the name of the dishes, the title of the corresponding book, or the names of the lead characters in that scene every time I revealed a new dish. Like linguine with clams from an Italian mentioned in one of her books. Or the roasted salmon made by the male lead in a different book.
How she would close her eyes and hold her cheek in delight, moaning with each first bite and turning me on so badly that I could barely think straight.
How the warm light flickered against her pale skin, dancing along the creases of her smile.
How she huddled up against my side with several bundles of blankets as the night got colder and eventually ended up climbing into my lap with the excuse that I was a human radiator.
How she hummed in contentment and leaned back into my chest with heavy eyelids after filling her tummy up to the brim.
The way she dozed off in my lap without another worry in the world sent a burst of warmth through my chest, making my heart flutter at the sight of innocent features. The light rise and fall of her chest with every breath. The adorable little snores as she snuggled deeper into my embrace. The way she wrapped herself around me as if was her safety blanket.
It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep with my love curled up so cozily against my body. Even though the temperature at night had fallen several degrees further, I barely even noticed it, with my angel sleeping soundly in my embrace for the first time when I was still conscious enough to comprehend the situation.
With Jane by my side, I had no trouble with my insomnia despite resting on the hard floor. I ended up sleeping all the way to morning until my phone decided to wake me up.
I had turned my phone onto silent mode the night before, but it still buzzed with each notification. Every time I thought it had finally finished buzzing, it would only stop for a few seconds before starting again.
I irritatingly cracked an eye open, making sure not to jostle Jane, before reaching for my phone and glancing at the screen. At the top, the time read 11:13 AM, and the large words “Mother” was just below it with the usual green icon for an incoming phone call.
I sighed as I picked up the phone and placed it against my ear, wincing as my mother’s voice came blaring through the speaker.
“Rafael Achilles Cordova, where the hell are you and my daughter? We were supposed to be at the salon at 11!”
Keeping my voice low so as not to wake the sleeping angel in my arms, I greeted, “Good morning to you too, mother.”
I could practically hear the vein in her forehead bursting before she replied, “You better not tell me that you are planning to skip another one of your own events again. I will be highly upset if you flake out again and steal Danary from me.”
I rolled my eyes. Mindlessly twirling a strand of Jane’s hair around my finger, I reassured her, “I’m not skipping. Jane and I went out of the city for our date last night and stayed overnight. She’s currently still sleeping, but I’ll bring her back in an hour.”
“An hour!? The event starts at 5 PM, and you know that- Wait a minute, you two went out of the city overnight? Alone? And she’s sleeping? Does that mean I’m going to be a grandmo-”
“No, it’s nothing like that… and don’t you dare say such things to Danary. She’s still-”
My voice dropped off when I felt a slight shift in my arms and a soft voice sleepily called out, “Achilles? Who are you talking to?”
The corners of my lips naturally curled upward as I took in her morning appearance. She was still in her clothes from yesterday, all crumpled up from sleeping through the night, but she still looked adorable with the way her little head poked out from underneath the multitude of blankets, adorning a messy nest of hair on top of her head with eyes that were still slightly puffy from her sleep.
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I leaned down to press a kiss on her forehead and greeted, “Good morning, darling. Did you sleep well?”
She nodded mindlessly and mumbled, “Achilles is a good pillow.” Only after her words escaped her lips did she realize what she had said, making her cheeks turn a scarlet red. She turned her head away sheepishly and attempted to change the subject, “So, um… Who’s on the phone?”
I tilted my screen toward her, showing the name of the caller.
Her eyes widened as she worriedly exclaimed, “I’m supposed to be with your mother right now. I can’t believe I’m making her wait for so long. I need to-”
Before she could climb off of me, I pulled her back down with an arm around her waist and reassured her with a little white lie, “Darling, there’s no need to panic. My mother was just calling me to tell me that your appointment was changed to 1 PM, so there’s no rush.”
My mother obviously heard my words and started yelling through the phone, but I lowered the volume before Jane could notice.
She looked up at me nervously. “Are you sure?”
I nodded and pressed a soft kiss on her cheek. “Of course, darling. Today is all about you, and I don’t want you to feel stressed out in any way.”
Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “But today’s gala is for the opening of your new building. So shouldn’t it be about-”
“But you were the one who was in charge, so technically it’s your success.”
She side-eyed me and shook her head exasperatedly. “You know that’s not how it works. People will be coming to see you, not me. Plus, I doubt I would ever be able to handle it if so many people wanted to see me.”
“But I wanted to introduce you to everyone as my fiancee tonight…” I shifted over onto my side to face her better and glanced down at her worriedly. “Would it be too much for you if I did?”
“I… don’t know…” She chewed on her lower lip before diverting her eyes and softly mumbling, “I’m still worried that people might not think I’m good enough for you. I know that I’m already attending as your partner and that you proposed to me too, but everything still feels all too surreal…”
I pursued my lips and harshly bit out, not liking how she looked down on herself, “I don’t care what other people think. I don’t want to hide you like you’re some mistress. I want you to stand next to me as my equal.”
“I… uh…” She let out a heavy sigh before cupping my cheeks and placing a soft kiss on the tip of my nose. “Please don’t be upset… I’m just a bit nervous…”
I pressed my lips into a thin line as my eyes drifted across her feature, noting the tremors in her eyes. I hated seeing her uncomfortable, but at the same time, I couldn’t just not show her to the rest of the world. It would feel as if I was trying to hide something that I thought of as a mistake.
In one swift motion, I rolled over her and caged her in between my arms before leaning down and roughly capturing her lips, catching her completely off guard as I hastily deepened the kiss. Forcing her lips to part and immediately tangling our tongues together. Stealing every last inch of her breath until she was left panting and unable to think about anything else but me.
Her cheeks were completely flushed when I pulled away. She looked up at me in a daze as if she had just been thoroughly fucked, even though we had only shared a kiss. An innocence that I ached to demolish with my own two hands.
“If you’re ever nervous or scared, just think of me and only me and nobody else.”
She nodded breathlessly, “Okay…”
I smirked, eliciting another blush from her.
But our little moment was short-lived when my phone started to buzz again from another incoming phone call from my mother. Giving Jane one last peck, I grabbed my phone and climbed off of her as I walked off into the garden outside of the living room, putting myself out of Jane’s range of hearing.
“Yes, mother?”
“Next time, please have the courtesy to at least end the call before you start doing inappropriate stuff with my daughter.”
“No one told you to stay on the phone,” I retorted. Running my hand through my messy hair, I continued, “Also, Jane and I won’t be back until 1 PM.”
“Rafael Achilles Cordova, do you not know women at all? You’re only giving me 4 hours to get her ready!”
I rolled my eyes. “Only you take that long to get ready. Jane only needs to get into her dress.”
“But there’s makeup, hair, accessories-”
“Minimal to no makeup. Leave her hair down. And I’ll handle the accessories.” I glanced back at Jane through the window as she adorably struggled to untangle the knots in her hair with her fingers. “I don’t want you to make her feel insecure about herself by trying to dress her up so much.”
“Humph.” I could practically hear her pouting from the other side. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit too overprotective? I’m just trying to make my new daughter so gorgeous that all other women would be put to shame.”
I sighed heavily and tiredly pinched the bridge of my nose. “That’s great and all, but I don’t care what other people think. She’s already more than beautiful enough for me, so please…”
A few sniffles sounded through the phone. “I never thought I’d see the day to hear my heartless son could say such sweet words…”
My eye twitched as I abruptly hung up the phone, not wanting to continue the conversation any further. Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I walked back into the living through the side door.
Jane looked up from the knot in her hair, faltering slightly when she caught my expression. “Is everything alright? Is your mother upset at us for staying here so late?”
I swiftly shook my head and kneeled down next to her. Taking the knot from her and gently unraveling it, I replied, “It’s nothing. I just have trouble keeping up with my mother sometimes. She’s very excited to see you when we get back since I never brought a date to any of my events before…”
Her eyes rounded at my confession. “Never?”
I shook my head again. “It would only give the media material to make up untrue scandals. Besides, I never had time for a girlfriend and only ever went on blind dates set up by my mother. Even then, I never lasted past the main course and always went home early.”
Her legs shuffled as she squirmed in her seat, making me pause momentarily from untangling her hair. She fiddled with her fingers for a moment before mumbling, “It’s just a little hard to believe since you seem to know how to woo me pretty well and have no trouble finding time to spend with Theo and me every day.”
She was so freaking adorable that the sight set off fireworks in the back of my head.
I leaned down and gently held her chin between my fingers, tilted her head back until she was looking me in the eye. Her lips parted innocently, taken aback by my sudden gesture, but it only spurred me on more.
Tilting her head up even more, I placed light open-mouthed kisses up along the side of her neck, eliciting delightfully sensual moans from her until I reached the back of her ear. In a low voice, I reassured her, “You’re worth much more than a few hours of work, so I purposely cleared my schedule for the two of you every day-”
“You make more than 500 grand per hour. How can-”
I nipped the tip of her ear, efficiently silencing her before she could try to demean herself again. I continued, “And the only reason why I seem to know how to ‘woo’ you is simply that you bring it out of me. Sebastian had always been one to talk a lot, so I must’ve unconsciously absorbed all of the random information he spewed out, whether it be what his dates liked or how he preferred to be treated.”
Despite the light blush on her cheeks from my previous action, a small giggle escaped from her at my last sentence.
I pouted and asked, “What’s so funny?”
“You can’t be mad when I tell you, but…” She bashfully diverted her eyes. “When I was younger and just started out Mr. Serman’s company, I often saw you coming in and out of his office with flowery goodie bags of popular bakery shops around the around… And I thought that he must’ve been very lucky to have such a doting boyfriend…”
“I’m not and was never his boyfriend…” I frowned. “I don’t care if he calls himself my girlfriend, but we were never in such a relationship. He’s just very dumb and-”
She giggled again and cut my ramblings off with a peck on my lips. “I know you weren’t. It was just something funny I remembered…”
I pouted and turned my head away, trying to hide my heated cheeks and ignore her giggles. But I eventually gave in and turned back to her, taking in the glorious sight of her full-blown smile.
I dropped my hands down her waist and pulled her into my lap. Trying to tease her back, I questioned, “So… you’ve been watching me since you first started at his company? Why didn’t you ever come up to me?”
She blushed at my actions and quietly mumbled, “You were very tall and intimidating, so I was too scared to go near his office whenever you visited. The only reason why I went in that one time was that Mr. Serman insisted that I give him the contract the moment I finished because you wanted it finalized as soon as possible.”
“You don’t find me scary anymore, right?”
She shook her head as she leaned into my chest, laying her head right above my heart.
“You’re my safe person now.”