I laced my fingers through Achilles’s hair, twirling little strands here and there as I waited for him to finish the paperwork that he had brought to bed with him.
He was dressed in only his sweatpants, as usual, but he normally tried not to bring work back with him and definitely never brought them straight into bed before. He had papers scattered across the bed as he laid stiffly in between my legs, sorting through the papers one at a time with deep crease lines etched into his forehead.
I gently rubbed his frown lines away with my thumb and asked, “Did something happen at work?”
He shook his head and set aside the papers with a heavy sigh. “I just got distracted thinking about something else at work today…”
I carefully eased his reading glasses off and pulled his head back to rest against my stomach. Stroking his head soothingly, I asked, “Would you like to tell me about it? It’s alright if you don’t.”
He melted instantly under my touch, closing his eyes with a soft contently hum. After a moment of silence, he eventually confessed, “I’m worried about Liam. He’s been… eating less and… isolating himself more and… working harder on his school work than before… Maybe I’m just overthinking, but what do you think? Do you think it’s because we haven’t been giving him enough attention?”
I hummed in thought, pausing momentarily to really think about it.
We had both been so busy with work and the wedding that we barely got to spend any time with Liam. I tried to talk to Liam about it before, but he said that he was alright and insisted that we continue with the wedding instead of pushing it back for him.
Achilles continued, “Then, I thought it might be because school was becoming too much for him and that I made a wrong decision to enroll him into Princeton so early. But when I spoke to the professor, he said that Liam had no trouble finishing the assigned work and actually asked for extra projects to work on.”
My eyes rounded in surprise, not realizing how well he had been doing at school. All Liam told me when I asked was that he was acing his exams and had no trouble with anything. Blunt and to the point without much explanation.
But there was one thing he did ask me about after anything he told me: was I proud of him?
Of course, I was proud of him. Even if he wasn’t a little genius, I still would’ve been happy with whatever he accomplished, but he never seemed satisfied with that answer.
Achilles rubbed his head tiredly and sighed, “After that, I couldn’t think of any other reason for his change in behavior, but there was a little voice in the back of my head that kept bothering me about what had happened last week.”
I raised an eyebrow in concern, “Something happened last week?”
He nodded quietly and explained to me, “He bumped into some stranger when I took him to the florist last week. Liam said that they only bumped into each other lightly, but the guy was unusually bothered by the sight of Liam for a stranger, and Liam seemed quite afraid of him for some reason. And it kept bothering me how much they looked alike except for their eyes. I just can’t help thinking that there might be something more than just an accidental bump between strangers. Do you think Liam knew him from somewhere before? Maybe an old relative or something?”
I pursed my lips. I had always been worried about Liam’s old family someday trying to take him away from me, but he always assured me that they wanted nothing to do with him. I never thought that they would ever accidentally meet like this again.
“Jane? Is everything alright?” Achilles reached up and cupped my face worriedly.
I nodded and tried to quickly wipe my eyes before any tears could fall. “Liam never told me who his biological parents were or what they were like. All he said was that they didn’t want him… But do you think they would try to take him away from us?”
Achilles immediately sat up at the sight of my tears rolling down my cheeks. He quickly cupped my face between his hands, wiping away the tears with his thumbs, and reassured me, “Oh, love… Please don’t cry… No one’s going to take our son away from us. We don’t even know if that man was truly related to Liam, but even if he was, he has no legal right to take Liam from us. We followed all the proper procedures to adopt him when they abandoned him like trash on the road.”
I nodded understandingly as I tried to reign in my tears, sniffling every few often.
He gently kissed the corner of my eye as he pulled me into his warm embrace. “We can take the day off tomorrow and spend the day with him, okay?”
I nodded silently again as I leaned into his chest.
He kissed the top of my head reassuringly as he tucked me back into the bedsheets. “Go to sleep, love. I’m just going to finish a few more papers first, okay?”
I nodded quietly as I pulled the blanket tight around myself.
“Goodnight, love.”
“Goodnight, Achilles.”
He smiled softly as he ducked out of the bedroom with a stack of papers in his arms and gently eased the door closed behind him.
I sighed as I wrapped my arms around his pillow. I had gotten so used to sleeping with Achilles by my side that it now felt weird without his heavy arms wrapped securely around my body.
I stared blankly at the wall in the pitch dark as my mind floundered about in my overwhelming pool of thoughts.
How could I not have thought more about Liam’s odd behavior when he clearly had something eating away at him? I felt like a failure of a mother for not asking him more about it, to at least try a bit harder to get him to open up. Even Achilles, who had known Liam for less time, was doing a better job at being a parent than me.
To add on, he also had to deal with the mess that is my emotional self. Even though he was extremely busy with work, he still had the patience to deal with me and help calm me down ever so gently. If I were him, I would’ve surely been fed up with me a long time ago.
I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice the door open back up until I felt a large hand carefully slide over my waist, making me flinch in surprise. But my body quickly relaxed once I realized that it was just Achilles.
A raspy voice whispered tiredly in my ear, “Love? Why are you still awake? I’ve been gone for more than an hour already.”
Had I been lost in my thoughts for that long?
He gently eased into bed from behind me, making the mattress dip under his weight as he carefully rolled me into his warm arms. Tenderly tucking my hair behind my ear, he pulled my head closer to plant a soft kiss on my forehead. “Go to sleep, my sweet little girl. Everything and everyone will still be here tomorrow, so no more overthinking.”
My body relaxed under his touch, making my eyelids slowly grow heavier with each passing second. He really did always know the right things to say to make me feel better.
I eventually fell asleep tucked away in his arms with my head buried in the crook of his neck. By the time I woke up the next morning, I was completely plastered against his bare chest, and my hair sprawled out all over the bed.
Achilles’s hand slid down my back as I shifted in his arms as if he was trying to keep me from escaping. He groaned softly as he leaned closer to me, slowly cracking one eye open at a time. “Did you sleep well, darling?”
I hummed quietly in affirmation as I mindlessly traced my fingers along the outline of his abs.
Before my hand could travel any further, I found myself flipped over on my back, and a pair of plump lips smashed against my own. Achilles ground his hips against the heat between my legs with a soft groan as he whispered quiet warning against my lips, “You are truly trying to test my self-control, love, but as much I’d love to continue this, I think it would be better if we can sort things out with Liam today first.”
I hummed softly, still half-dazed from his previous kiss.
He chuckled lightly as he gave me one last peck before rolling out of bed.
Pulling a shirt over his head, he told me, “I’m going to go make Liam’s favorites for breakfast. Feel free to take your time and join me when you finish getting dressed before we go up to Liam’s room to have breakfast in bed together. It’s been a while since we last did that, after all.”
I nodded silently as I watched his back muscles flex before they disappeared behind a shirt.
He smirked as he looked back at me and teasingly sang, “Darling, you’re drooling.”
My eyes widened in embarrassment as I quickly turned my head and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, only to find that there was no drool, to begin with.
A deep chuckle echoed through the room as he smoothly eased himself out of the bedroom, closing the door silently behind him as he went.
I flushed at the realization that I had been tricked.
I shifted myself onto my knees as I made my way off the tall bed. I didn’t know when he stripped me down last night, but I only had one of Achilles’s loose t-shirts hanging off of my shoulders, with my previous set of pajamas and panties nowhere to be seen.
I padded into the bathroom and examined myself in front of a mirror curiously. I knew that Achilles would never try to touch me inappropriately without my consent, but he knew where my limits were and liked to play with them.
He preferred to keep as much skin contact as possible between us and probably stripped me of my long pajamas with some sort of excuse about it being too restrictive. To add on, the new marks along the base of my neck were probably also his doing. He liked to refresh his marks quite often, which left many several tender spots on my body quite sensitive, not that I minded.
I blushed when I found a new hickey resting near my left hip, just above my pelvis. How he did this without waking me up, I would never know.
I quickly brushed my teeth and changed into a more appropriate set of clothes consisting of a loose pair of sweatpants and a comfy hoodie to fight the cold winter chill blowing about outside.
I hurriedly made my way downstairs, wanting to help with making Liam’s breakfast, but Achilles was already flipping out the last few chocolate pancakes by the time I got there.
As I wrapped my arms around his narrow hips, he greeted, “Good morning, love. Did you like the gifts I left for you?”
I shyly confessed, “I did…”
He grinned at my answer as he set the pan aside. Turning around with a plate stacked high with pancakes, he told me, “I think Liam is still sleeping, so I think we still have a few more minutes to spare for a good morning kiss, right?”
His eyes sparkled as he leaned down closer to me, with his eyes raking hungrily over my features.
I blushed at his blunt display of desire and quickly leaned up to peck his lips.
He pouted playfully, “That’s not what I mean.”
I giggled from how adorable my giant man looked and leaned up to give him a “proper” kiss according to his definition.
He instinctively leaned into me, deepening the kiss even more. His tongue traced my lips, asking for permission to enter. Though he didn’t need to wait long for entry as his hands trailed down my waist and unexpectedly cupped my bottoms, eliciting a small squeak in surprise and unknowing parting my lips for a beast to devour me.
Only once he was thoroughly satisfied did he release me from his grasps, leaving me completely breathless as I leaned against him for support.
He pecked my lips once more as he slowly set me back down on the ground, mindlessly mumbling, “I think I like the taste of you more than anything else.”
I flushed under his heavy gaze and frightfully ducked out from underneath his arms, unsure of whether or not I would be able to stay conscious if he decided to steal another kiss from me.
Trying to switch his focus, I darted over to the opposite side of the table and quickly picked up the bowl of sliced fruits that he had prepared earlier, stuttering, “W-we should go check on Liam now!”
His deep chuckle echoed through the house as I scurried up the stairs.
I smiled at the sound.
To think I used to be once frightened to the core by the mere thought of being left alone in a room with a towering heathen. And now, I was the happiest only when I was with him, a man who turned out to more understanding and patient than anyone I had ever met.