“Jane, I just finished putting Liam to bed,” I called out softly from outside her bedroom door.
We had just gotten back to Jane’s house from the gala. It was pitch dark outside when we left, so I wasn’t too surprised when Liam fell asleep in Jane’s arms just minutes after we started driving.
She didn’t talk much on the entire way back, which made me worry that she might have regretted her original plan to marry me.
The silence felt deafening.
But that worry didn’t last too long when she tiredly leaned against my arm halfway through the drive and mumbled in a half-awake state, “Thank you for standing up for me, Achilles.”
My heart warmed as she snuggled deeper into my chest in her half-conscious state, like how an exhausted kitten would curl up. I had carefully wrapped my arm around her shoulders, keeping her pressed firmly against my side until we got back to her house.
By the time we arrived, she was already partially dozed off in my arms. I told my driver to wait outside for me as I gathered the two sleeping beauties in my arms
However, to my unfortunate luck, Jane woke up before I could pick her up. She stubbornly insisted on getting out by herself despite having a bruised ankle and no shoes. With a lot of effort in trying to persuade a half-coherent Jane to let me carry them inside, I managed to, at least, get her to let me carry the dead-asleep Liam instead.
As she haphazardly wobbled up the front steps of her house, I followed closely behind her with Liam in my arm, ready to catch her at any moment with my free arm. Once we got passed the front door, Jane then insisted on also going up her stairs by herself, which shaved a couple more years off of my life.
Luckily, she somehow managed to reach the top of her stairs without falling. But then she wanted to take Liam from me and personally tuck him into bed, even though she was barely awake and he was more than half her height already.
With a few soft promises of getting the unconscious boy into a pair of pajamas and remembering to close his windows, I managed to get Jane to let me take care of Liam instead while she gets undressed from her formal wear.
I had no trouble undressing and redressing the little boy before tucking him into bed, but I didn’t know how I was to handle his dazed-but-still-somehow-standing mother.
I waited for a good minute in front of her bedroom door without any answers, but I also didn’t hear any sounds of the shower running inside her room either. So what was she doing?
Did she fall asleep while getting undressed? Should I go in to check on her, or would that be an intrusion of-
THUD!!
My eyes widened at the sound. I frantically jiggled her locked doorknob and called out, “Jane?! Are you alright? Please say something!”
Several bone-chilling silent seconds passed by without any answer.
Right as I was about to reach my limit and break down her door, it suddenly swung open, revealing a pair of teary violet eyes. She was still in her makeup and dress. The only difference was the new red bump ordaining the left side of her temple.
“Oh, Jane…” I reached up to cup her head and gently rubbed her bruise. “Do you want some help?”
She nodded quietly with a few sniffles. Her fingers adorably pinched onto the end of my sleeves, lightly tugging me into her room.
I hadn’t been inside her room since the first time when I brought her back home after she got harassed at work. Something about it was always so too intimate for me to be intruding on her safe space.
I wasn’t sure if she fully understood what she was doing at the moment, but I couldn’t really argue against her when she was acting so cute.
She released my sleeve after leading me to her bed and plopped down on her bed with a small oomph. A small smile replaced her previously pained expression as her light body wobbled with the little bounces of her plush mattress.
I watched as she slowly pulled out a few pins of her hair before reaching toward her nightstand, pulling out a packet of makeup wipes, and nearly falling off the bed in the process if I hadn’t had caught her fast enough. She shot me a sheepish smile as I set her back down on the bed and took the wipes from her,
I gently rubbed the damp cloth under her eyes and over her cheeks. She hummed in delight as I ran the wipe over her lips, removing the thin layer of pink. “There you go, darling. All you need to do is change your clothes now and get some sleep.”
Dropping the used wipe in a nearby trash bin, I turned to leave, but I was once again caught by the end of my sleeves. I turned to look back at my little girl in confusion.
My eyes widened as she slowly shifted her legs underneath herself ad turned around to face her back to me. Her dress pooled around her legs, temptingly sitting halfway up her thighs. She pulled her hair to the front, revealing the entirety of her bare shoulders and back to me.
I gulped as I stammered, “U-um, J-Jane, are y-you not able to u-unzip your dress b-by yourself?”
She peered over her shoulder back at me and innocently nodded, tempting me with her bright violet eyes.
I knew that I tended to push how far I could display my affection with stolen kisses and always trying to maintain some sort of physical contact when in private. But I never dared to touch her as intimately as undressing her or even allowing my hands to travel any further than her waist.
She would usually tremble whenever I got a little too close or went a little too far, so I already knew where I could and could not touch her. I never held it against her because I knew that she had been unfairly harassed by men all her life.
But here she was now, displaying herself in such a vulnerable state to me.
Hesitantly giving in to her demands, I reached out and carefully pinched her tiny zipper between my fingers as I slowly dragged it down her back. I clenched my jaw as her dress slowly peeled open, inch by inch, revealing her pale skin.
My breath hitched when I went halfway down her back and realized that she wasn’t wearing any bra underneath this dress.
Her body shivered under my touch every time my finger brushed against her bare skin. It was as if she was trying to test what little self-control I had left.
I released a sigh of relief when I finally reached the bottom of the zipper and quickly removed my hands from her before I did something I’d regret. Even though she said it was alright right now, she might not feel the same when she’s fully awake tomorrow.
I immediately turned around and tried to excuse myself, but I was stopped by another tug on the back of my jacket.
“Jane, I should really be-”
“Am I not pretty enough?” Her voice was small, barely above a whisper. “You don’t seem to want to touch me like the others… even though I’m giving you full access to use me at your will…”
My body instinctively swiveled back around at the mention of those filthy beasts who dared to touch her without consent. I immediately refuted, “You are the only woman that I consider beautiful in my eyes, but you should never feel like you have to offer yourself up to me like a piece of meat.” My hands rubbed soft soothing circles on her shoulders as I continued, “I can tell that you’re not actually ready yet right now despite your words. You’re practically trembling under my hands, and I promised that I would never touch you until I knew that you were fully ready.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line as she clutched her loosely hanging dress to her chest. “I-It’s just that those girls w-were saying that you w-would eventually leave me when you realized that there were b-better girls out there…”
I slowly reached up to cup her cheeks in my palms, gently lifting her head up to look at me. “My love, I thought I made it clear that I wouldn’t want anyone but you. It pains me to see you think so lowly of yourself when you are the smartest…”
A kiss under the corner of her right eye.
“Kindest…”
A kiss under the corner of her left eye.
“Most caring…”
A kiss on top of her button nose, eliciting a cute little wrinkle of her nose.
“Most adorable…”
And finally, one last kiss pressed against her forehead as her comforting sweet scent filled my senses.
“And the most lovable soul I have ever met.” Resting my chin on the top of her forehead, I pulled her into my embrace and continued softly, “I don’t need sex to know that I love you. All I want is to see you living happily with a carefree smile on your face.”
Jane hummed quietly as she leaned further into my arms. “I’m… I’m just worried that you might get tired of waiting for me…”
I sighed. “Jane… I don’t think you understand, but when I said that I never really had relationships before you, I really meant it… I may not be a virgin, but I’ve only had sex once in my life. It was just a drunken one-night stand with some woman I don’t even remind since Benedict insisted on forcing me to drink until I was completely out of it for my 21st birthday… I didn’t even remember any of it, and I never had time for any other women after that… I’m basically as inexperienced with the concept as you are…”
Her head snapped out of her hiding place. Her shining violet eyes stared up at me in disbelief. “How can that be possible…”
I diverted my eyes out of embarrassment. “I was a pretty serious workaholic before you came along. If it weren’t for Benedict’s extroverted personality or my mother’s meddling, I probably wouldn’t have even left my office at work.”
“But you’re so pretty!” she suddenly exclaimed, catching me completely off guard with the unexpectedly loud sound coming from someone who was usually so quiet.
With her free hand, she splayed her fingers across my chest before jabbing her finger into my chest. Her eyebrows scrunched up as she muttered, “Your face always makes me blush whenever you get too close because you’re just that handsome. All the other girls also say so. And you’re the tallest man I have ever met. And you’re so buff and toned with muscles that it puts the Greek statues in museums to shame. Like today’s suit. You looked so yummy in your waistcoat, carrying us around like we weighed nothing. How could someone like you be inexperienced?”
My cheeks instantly heated up at her words. Even though I knew that she was complimenting me, it was still just all too embarrassing for me to handle. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone say such things to me so explicitly before. Did she even realize what she was saying?
I hesitantly glanced back at her, only to realize why she had the courage to say such things. I didn’t notice it before when she still had her makeup on, but her cheeks shone a light pink color under the rays of moonlight shining through the window curtains.
It could’ve easily passed off as mere blushing, but combined with her uncharacteristic words, the alcohol was probably just settling, very late, in her system. She couldn’t have had more than a glass of some light champagne during the entire time I was with her at the gala, but she must have been a much lighter weight than I expected.
“My love, I wouldn’t lie to you for no reason.” I gently eased her off me until she was sitting in from of me and pulled one of her loose bed sheets over her shoulders. “I truly felt no attraction toward others until you came along. You make me feel things I’ve never felt before, including an overwhelming desire to take you as mine, but I know how to control myself until you’re ready.”
She hummed softly as her body slowly gave into my motions, allowing me to lay her down on the bed gently. She pulled the sheets closer to her chest and peered up at me innocently, “Even if my boobs are smaller than other girls’?”
Yep, she was definitely drunk, and even if she wasn’t, she was at least tipsy enough for me to consider it unsafe to leave her to her own devices.
A fully coherent Jane would’ve said breasts instead of boobs, and I only knew this because Jane once mumbled to herself “Why do people make up icky words for those things?” when we passed a group of college boys on the streets who were lewdly talking about a girl they hooked up with the night before.
And the reason why I remembered such a thing was because I distinctly remembered thinking about how adorable it was that she thought those types of words were as bad as actual curse words.
Grabbing a loose nightgown off of the end of her bed, I pulled it over her head and down her body, covering her completely before tugging her formal dress out from underneath her. Jane pulled her blankets up to her chin and stared up at me adorably, patiently waiting for the answer to her question.
I sighed and replied, “I think you are beautiful the way you are now, my love. I don’t care about your size, and neither should you. Small things can be just as good as big things, like how you like berries more than melons.”
Her eyes sparkled at the mention of fruits, and she nodded her head rapidly in agreement. As her mind drifted off, I stood up from her bed and walked across the room to hook her dress on a hanger in her closet.
When I came back, I found her muttering about berries and melons under her breath, something about strawberries being the “supreme champion” and melons being the “big losers.”
I chuckled at her adorable antics.
Leaning down to place one last kiss on her forehead, I whispered, “Goodnight, my love. I’ll see you tomorrow-”
“No!” interrupted Jane. She swiftly wrapped her arms around my neck and nearly pulled me down on top of her if I didn’t catch myself quickly enough. “I don’t want you to go! Why can’t you stay with me? We’ve slept in the same bed before.”
She wasn’t wrong, but I felt like it didn’t count. The last time we shared the same bed was when I was sick and wasn’t even fully aware of my surroundings actually to comprehend any of it…
I hesitantly glanced down at her and gulped when my eyes accidentally drifted across the neck of her nightgown. Even though her gown covered everything from her shoulder down to well past her knees, the mere sight of her bare collarbones was enough to make my sanity start to slip. Something about her drew out the barbaric side of me that just wanted to sink his teeth into her untouched flesh, marking her as mine.
Her grip tightened around my neck. Though I didn’t budge, she ended up pulling herself closer to me, bringing her bare neck even closer to me.
I clamped down on my lip as I tried to control myself and quickly agreed to her request in hopes of unhooking her arms from me.
Her eyes lit up almost instantly at my reply. She happily released me from her hold and scooted across the bed to give me room, staring at me expectedly as she waited for me to join.
Unable to resist her, I sighed and slipped my suit jacket off of myself, not wanting to contaminate her with any of the germs from the bastard that I pummeled earlier in the evening.
Jane’s eyes widened as she drank in every inch of my features, reminding me of her earlier statement about how I looked so “yummy” in my waistcoat.
I smirked at her reaction and teased, “You know that I can’t go to sleep with it on, right?”
She nodded mindlessly and mumbled, “I know… It’s just that it hugs the shape of your body so well…”
I chuckled as I unbuttoned the waistcoat and tossed it aside. Though this may not be the usual Jane, tipsy Jane was still just as adorably amusing.
Hopefully, she won’t feel too embarrassed when she wakes up tomorrow and recalls everything, or at least not embarrassed enough to avoid me. I would hate to have my love avoid me such a thing, but I couldn’t help myself from teasing her a little bit more.
I leaned down right in front of her eyes and playfully asked, “Would you like to help me take my tie off?”
She nodded timidly as she released the blankets in her hands. Reaching up, she slowly leaned in closer to me as she started to work on unraveling her tie, leaning in so close that the top of her head brushed right up against the bottom of my nose, flooding my senses with her delightful scent.
Once she pulled my tie off, I popped the top two buttons of my shirt open before lying down on the bed over the sheets. With only a full-sized bed, I had to curl up around Jane’s little body to prevent my limbs from hanging off the bed, not that I minded cuddling my little angel.
She looked up at me curiously and asked, “Are you not getting under the blankets with me?”
“No… I’m a little too warm for blankets, but thank you for asking.” I wouldn’t have been able to control myself if we were to share a blanket. That much intimate contact would be too much for me.
She nodded understandingly before snuggling into my side, burying her nose into the crook of my neck with her eyes closed. She took in a breath before releasing it with a contented sigh.
She whispered sleepily, “Promise me you like berries more than melons?”
I silently chuckled at her overwhelming level of cuteness and promised, “Of course, my darling.”
I wrapped my arm around her body and pulled her closer to me.
Why wouldn’t I love my adorably tipsy berry the most? The sweetest little berry in the world.