“Achilles, you need to get up. You’re going to miss your flight at this rate.”
I groaned and tightened my arms, burying my head deeper into my plush pillow.
“I’m serious, Rafael. You already ignored your last two alarms.”
I grumbled incoherently, still mostly half asleep as I nuzzled up against my pillow.
“Achilles!”
I begrudgingly cracked an eye open to look up at the owner of the voice. “Love, I’m taking my private plane. They won’t leave without me.”
Her hair was a mess like all other mornings, completely splayed out around her head. But I still found it to be a comforting sight to wake up to every morning,
She pouted as I propped my head up on her stomach, my previous personal sleeping pillow, “Still… Joseph said that I shouldn’t let you talk your way out of going. He told me that you have a dinner meeting tonight in France that you can’t miss.”
I groaned and buried my face back into her stomach, cursing Joseph on the inside for getting to me through my fiancee.
She gently raked her fingers along my scalp in a soothing manner and consoled me, “We’ll only be apart for a week, and we can still video chat every day, so please don’t feel so down. You’ll be back before you know it, and we can spend Christmas together.”
I hummed softly, giving in to her words as I sunk deeper under her warm aura.
I knew that, but I still didn’t like the idea of leaving her even though I knew that I had to.
With a heavy sigh, I reluctantly lifted my head off of her and rolled out of bed with a few cracks here and there in my body. I gave Jane a quick peck on the side of her temple before making my way into the bathroom.
I quickly got ready for the day, brushing my teeth and taking a short shower. I stepped out of the bathroom with only a towel hanging around my hips as I searched for my outfit for the day.
Ever since we moved into the new house, I had been staying in Jane’s room every day, even though I had my own room. We had unspokenly decided on sharing a bedroom, so it was a good thing that I gave her the master bedroom.
Most of my clothes were in her closet, while all my work items were in my office on a lower floor, leaving my bedroom almost completely untouched from the day we moved in. Not that I had any intentions of going back to sleeping by myself anyway.
I wandered into our shared closet and thumbed through a couple of my suits as I dried my hair with my free hand.
It would be almost a 7-hour nonstop flight to reach France, but I had a dinner meeting right after my plane landed. I had planned my trip to be as crammed as possible such that I would be able to come back to my angels as soon as possible, but it also meant that I didn’t really get much of a break any time during my entire trip.
Lost my thoughts, I didn’t realize that someone had come into the room until I heard a loud thud from behind me. I turned around in surprise and found Jane standing in the doorway of the bedroom with blown-out eyes and a suit in her arms with a box lying at her feet.
Remembering how she was still uncomfortable with us being without clothes in front of each other, I quickly grabbed a random outfit off the hangers and hurriedly tried to excuse myself, “Sorry, Jane. I was only trying to get some clothes, and I thought you’d be out a bit longer.”
However, a little hand caught my arm before I could dart back into the bathroom.
I hesitantly looked down at my little fiancee, unsure of why she would stop me. Although we shared a bed every night, we had never gone any further than heated makeout sessions, especially not after I nearly sent her into a panic attack the last time I thoughtlessly slipped my hand under the edge of her nightgown.
The act of losing clothes seemed to be a trigger for her, so I always made sure that I wouldn’t make her feel uncomfortable by staying clothed in front of her and only ever touching her over her clothes.
Her cheeks were bright red as her eyes slowly trailed up my body until they finally reached my eyes. Stumbling over her words a bit, she nervously explained, “I… um… It doesn’t scare me when Achilles looks like this. It’s just that… It makes me feel flustered because um… Achilles is very um…”
Her eyes drifted back down my bare chest. An audible gulp sounded through the still air.
Realizing what she meant, I gently eased her hand off my arm and brought it flush against my left pectoral right over my heart. Her eyes grew even wider as her palm pressed against my bare skin, feeling every beat of my fluttering heart.
“Jane, darling, you can do whatever you want with me because I’m all yours. I was just worried that I would make you feel uncomfortable again by being almost completely naked in front of you.”
She nodded mindlessly without any verbal responses. Instead, her focus was almost entirely glued to her hand that was on my chest, feeling my every heartbeat under her fingertips.
I watched as her hand slowly slid down my chest, tracing my abs along the way. It felt like her fingers were leaving a trail of fire as they glided down my body.
At that moment, I was more than grateful for the fact that I used to use the gym as a form of stress relief. It gave me a body that my little darling couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of and gifted me with the delight of feeling her fingers trailing dangerously low on my abdomen.
Realizing where her fingers were going, Jane swiftly pulled her hand back with a bashful look on her face. She raised the suit that she brought in with her up in front of me to hide her face and shyly replied in a small voice, “I-I brought in a suit that I thought you might like to wear for today. It’s not as stiff as your other ones for your long flight, but it’s still formal enough that you can attend your meetings in it.”
It warmed my heart that she thought of all these little things. She knew of the things that I was worried about without me saying anything and even went out of her way to offer me a hand.
Gratefully taking the suit from me, I gently lowered her arms to uncover her face and pressed a kiss on her forehead. “Thank you, love. It’s perfect.”
She looked so adorable, getting flustered by the smallest of actions. With her hands slapped over her forehead, covering where my lips once were, she stuttered, “Y-you’re welcome. I-I’m glad you like it.”
She then immediately turned around and darted out of the room with a blush on the back of her neck that was so bright that I could see it from a whole room away.
I chuckled softly to myself.
Tossing my towel aside, I changed into the suit and quickly brushed my hair back, opting to let it air dry for now.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and grabbed my travel bag as I made my way downstairs. As usual, soft giggles echoed through the stairwell as I got closer to the kitchen.
As I rounded the corner, I found Jane and Liam still dressed in their pajamas, surrounded by several bowls filled with things ranging from a pale-looking batter to mounds of berries.
I dropped my travel bag off by the front door before making my way into the kitchen. I walked over to Liam and glanced over his shoulder to take a look at what he was making this time.
Noticing my looming shadow, Liam looked up at me with a bright smile and greeted, “Good morning, Mr. Rafael! I asked Ms. Jane if I could make waffles this morning before you leave, and I think I’m finally getting better at it. It’s the same recipe that Ms. Jane always uses, but I’m getting better at mixing it thoroughly.”
I gently ruffled his hair and praised him, “It looks great, Liam. I’m looking forward to trying out your waffles, but remember to ask Ms. Jane or me to cook them, okay? I don’t want you to burn yourself again.”
He nodded happily. As he started to stir his batter again, he asked, “You’re going to be back in time for Christmas, right?”
“Of course, Liam…” I knew that he was trying to hide it, but I could tell that he seemed a bit saddened by the fact that I had to leave close to the holidays. “I plan to come back as soon as I can. A week at the max. You know that I wouldn’t miss spending our first Christmas together, right?”
He hummed softly and gave a light nod.
Trying to divert his attention, I offered, “Maybe I could get you a souvenir? I’m visiting my branches in London, Paris, Berlin, and Rome, but I can step out for an hour or two to find whatever you may be interested in.”
His hands stilled as his eyebrows scrunched up into a hard-thinking face. “Can you bring back a tomato plant from Rome?”
I faltered. I was expecting something like an archaic book or a special piece of machinery from one of the famous institutes in those cities but definitely not a… tomato plant.
He continued, “Ms. Jane and I were thinking about setting up a vegetable and herbal garden in the empty plot at the back of the house, and I read that Italy makes the best tomato sauces, so they must grow the best types of tomatoes, right?”
His logic wasn’t completely right there, but it was still adorable to see him derailing in the wrong direction. Although he was a genius in all things engineering and business side of things, he was still quite lacking when it came to normal things, but that was where Jane came in for him.
I ruffled his hair once more with a soft smile. “Sure, I’ll bring you some tomato seeds back from Rome, but I have to warn you that our climate is different, so it won’t turn out exactly the same.”
A flash of realization crossed his face as his lips formed a little o-shape. “I had completely forgotten about that!”
I chuckled softly. “It’s alright. They’ll still be good because I’m sure you’ll put in lots of hard work to take care of them, right?”
He nodded eagerly as he hopped off his stool.
I followed him as he carried his bowl over to Jane, who was standing near the waffle maker, surrounded by plates of fruits. I greeted Jane was a kiss on her forehead before instinctively wrapping my arms around her waist from behind and resting my chin on the top of her head out of habit.
She pouted, “Achilles, I’m not that short…”
“Love, you are a foot and a half shorter than me. I have to bend my back just to rest my chin on your head.”
“But still…” She huffed as she took the bowl from Liam.
Liam climbed up onto the stool next to her and interjected, “But you are short, Ms. Jane. Almost everyone is taller than you when we go out together.”
I chuckled softly as Jane playfully gasped in offense as she worked on pouring the batter into the waffle maker.
I kissed the side of her head reassuringly. Changing the subject, I reminded her, “When you go out while I’m gone, please remember to take Watson and a few of my guards with you. It would make me feel a lot better to know that you will still be safe when I can’t be there.”
She stiffened in my arms but nodded silently.
I knew that she was still uncomfortable with the idea of having my guards stationed just outside of our property, patrolling the premises 24/7. But I couldn’t risk letting her get hurt, especially when I had the resources to keep her safe.
I trusted Watson, my head guard, to keep her safe while I was gone.
“Love, I know that you are still uncomfortable with being alone with other males, but I promise that Watson would never do anything to hurt you. He’s been with me for almost a decade already.”
She nodded quietly.”I know…”
I sighed and continued, “You know that you can always tell me if he does ever make you uncomfortable, right? I’m just a phone call away.”
She nodded again. “… I’m sure he won’t… I need to learn to get over my fear someday anyway…”
“You don’t need to push yourself. I could always find you female guards instead if-”
“No!”
I looked at her in surprise, not expecting such a strong refusal.
She bashfully diverted her eyes and explained, “I just… don’t want female guards around us all the time… There are already more than enough girls staring at you with googly eyes, and I just don’t want to give any of them more of a chance to stare at you in our home… especially not if you’re going to be walking around the house without a shirt all the time…”
My eyes widened. Was Jane feeling jealous of other girls? Because of me?
An unfamiliar feeling fluttered in the pit of my stomach at the thought. Some sort of mixture of pride, happiness, and adoration.
I leaned down and lovingly kissed her under the corner of her eye. I reassured her, “No female guards then… I’ll just tell my usual guards to give you some more room then, and you can feel free call me if anything is wrong. Even if it’s a little thing. There’s no reason for you to hesitate because you will always come first in my books.”
She hummed softly in agreement understanding as she leaned into my touch. She quietly asked, “Are you sure you don’t need to bring your guards with you?”
I shook my head. “I would rather have Watson and my main force saying here… I don’t think you understand, but it would hurt me more if I ever found out you got hurt because of me. I have too many enemies… Besides, I have a separate set of guards in Europe.”
She sighed and turned around to face me, wrapped her little arms around my torso, and pressed her head against my chest. “Okay… I guess I’m just needlessly worrying about you even though I know you can take care of yourself.”
I reassuringly stroked her head. “It’ll be alright, love.” I gently tilted her head upward and pressed a hard kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back before you know it. We will spend Christmas together. Drinking hot cocoa, curling up in our new library, decorating cookies, whatever you want.”
A small smile appeared as she leaned up on her toes to leave a quick peck on the base of my neck, unable to reach any higher but still eliciting just as stimulating of a shiver from me.
I was really going to miss feeling her touch once I was gone.
An entire week without my little Jane…
I could handle at least that much, right?