Page 76

Valeria
(Valeria first person, Khalid third person)
My body kept tensing and relaxing as I tried to control my breathing, sitting naked in front of Khalid while he painted me. I didn’t know what to do. I felt nervous with anticipation. My skin was prickling with anxiousness. My fingers clenched the soft suede of the armchair he had asked me to sit on.
Even the air seemed thicker and boiling with tension in Khalid’s room. It had been like that since Zara left us alone. I had told him that I was feeling much better than before, and he had asked me to have a painting session.
I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to talk to him.
But all my courage left when I had to expose myself for the umpteenth time in front of his piercing eyes in his childhood room. Which smelt of something musky with his signature masculine scent.
Khalid dropped the paintbrush with a sigh as he stared at her face. “Valeria, what is troubling you?” He asked, wanting to know what was causing her so much discomfort that she couldn’t even stay still for a few seconds. He wanted to comfort her.
She looked down on her lap, her hands entwining with each other. Khalid suffered and tried to fix the bulge in his pants and scolded himself. She was anxious, and he was getting hard, for fuck’s sake. He couldn’t help himself. She was naked and sweet and looked so alluring with her red hair glowing, caressing the soft alabaster skin.
“I am sorry. I have a lot on my mind. I can’t seem to relax.” Valeria offered him a sweet smile, which made his heart beat faster.
“You don’t have to apologize, my sweet one. Is there something—anythingthat I can do to help you relax?”
Khalid didn’t mean to make his voice deeper and almost teasing, causing her to blush. Oh, what he wouldn’t do to lick her sweet neck and thrust inside her, feeling her tightness as she softly gasped his name over and over.
He was hard as steel now.Fucking great.
“I… I wanted to talk to you about something,” I said, my voice wavering, looking in his direction.
“What do you want to talk about?”
By the way she was tensed, he knew it was important and a serious matter for her.
I took a deep breath.Just ask him, Valeria. “About our relationship.”
“Relationship?”
“Yes.” I continued with a firm but soft voice. “I don’t want to be confused regarding where we stand in all of this. Where I stand in your life. What is it that we are doing, Khalid? I… I want to know.”
Khalid wasn’t expecting that. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes to take a calm breath. “You know I like you, Valeria. You are special to me. I want you in my life if you feel the same.”
“I do,” she said. “If not more.”
He gazed at her, his lust long forgotten. That woman, with a kind heart and kinder spirit, had feelings forhim? He rubbed the sore spot on his heart and looked away, not understand the why.
Why would she do that to herself?
Khalid clenched his fist. “I am afraid I don’t know where we stand, my sweet.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He didn’t like the way her voice had lost its softness, as if she was pulling away from him.
“I want to wait and see whether whatever we have right now blooms into something else. Something more important.”
I didn’t reply for a while, letting my thoughts process his words. Khalid wanted to wait and see how everything turns out for us.
“What if I don’t want to wait?” I whispered to myself, heartbroken and wanting to sort out what I wanted.
Khalid didn’t hear what I whispered, the sudden change in air making him worry. “Valeria… what is it? Say it, sweet,” he coaxed her, wanting to know what was bothering her.Was it his reply? Did he say something wrong?He wanted to stroke her back, inhale the sweet scent of roses from her hair, and talk to her.
I abruptly stood up. My hand wrapped around the flimsy robe as I tried to push my hands through the armholes, my actions frantic. “I am sorry. I need some space right now,” I mumbled. I needed some space and time to think, which I couldn’t do if he was in my presence.