Chapter 23
Merlyn finished her snack and licked her fingers sitting on the loo seat. Her hair began to stick at her back and clothes she was putting on now looked dirty. She desperately needed a bath.
Opening the shower, thankfully the water was warm. Merlyn started scrubbing her hair when the warm water started getting cooler. Hopping out of it, she waited for the water to heat but nothing of such sort happened. In fact the water went cooler and cooler that her fingers began to ache.
Picking up the only towel situated on the towel stand she ran out of the bathroom and began to shiver standing beside the TV stand.
The blanket slid beside in a simple flex and at once Stephen squat up to look at her. “You’re freezing. Get inside the blanket. Otherwise you will fall sick this way.”
Merlyn knew the man was dangerous for her heart. He was only a stranger whom she met during the course of travel. By tomorrow evening, he would drop her Minneapolis and disappear from her life. But man, did he not look charming? Probably she would never see him again. He is just an acquaintance who she came across during the passage of time. But her heart seems to disagree with everything her mind stated. She was slowly falling in love with him which should never have happened.
His extending arm to pull her into the covers seemed to be the most welcoming thing at the moment. Merlyn slid under the covers and took every bit of the warmth that he could give her. She did not understand why she felt so comfortable in his embrace. Her mind kept giving her warning signals but body moulded into him like a second skin. Her leg went between his reaching for the warming comfort. His arm enveloping her body seemed to work miracles in giving her all the heat that he could possibly provide but soon he was shivering too.
She closed her eyes and sighed. Very soon a low groan went out of him. She opened her eyes and looked up at him digging out her head from the covers and then she could notice what got him so irritated. The power was gone.
“What the fuck!” Things turn out to be the most unexpected and longer than he could imagine. He was absolutely stunned with the road trip he was having with this unknown woman who appeared to be like an antique piece in the museum yet a delightful change for his fucked up mind.
Merlyn was grinning like always. “The power will come back soon.”
“I think your positivity is kicking in again.” He sighed, peeled of his shirt and pulled her to his chest.
“Why? Are you annoyed by my positivity? Merlyn was slightly reluctant for the intimacy he was providing her. But his body was like a magnet which pulled her more and more towards him. She knew his skin touching hers directly would make the fire ignite in her. But sweet heavens, could she deny having it?
“Concentrate on my body heat, Merlyn.”
‘Oh yes, she was doing right that and could say her body was setting to flames of lust.’ She would have called him emotionless with clothes on his body but with shirt off, he was a virile, caring and passionate man.
Merlyn moved away from the wet spot created by her hair and in the process got more closer to him that not even air could go between them.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
He slightly dipped his head and his lips brushed from her forehead to her cheeks tenderly.
Somehow his care for her made her change her decision. She looked up at his turquoise green eyes that swept her away into the field of assurance. She wanted to reduce the weight that she had been bearing on her kernel since long. Maybe a little loosening up and giving him a tiny bit of information about her may not be wrong.
“My parents died on a drunk and drive case. They had actually gone for a friend’s marriage anniversary party. I and my brother were supposed to go with them but since I had a school assignment next day I refused to accompany and my brother followed me in a tow. At two in the mid-night I got a call from Breach Candy hospital. My mother died on the spot. And my father….”
With every piece of information, Merlyn was giving him, his body stiffened and cells began to go riot. This cannot happen. This shouldn’t be happening. “More than the one who died in the hospital along with my parents, his older brother was a tyrant. To save his family and business reputation in the public he bribed the cops and buried the justice in age old case sheets of the judiciary. During my fight for truth, my dad died too.” She sobbed softly in his chest.
That’s it! She was the one. He is almost sure of it. Why is life playing such a torturous game with him? She is his father’s best friend’s daughter, the girl he fell in love when he was hardly sixteen. But will the feeling ever be mutual after her knowing the truth? He was a sinner in her life, the betrayer of her happiness and the cause of tears in her eyes. How was he going to amend this irreparable mistake of his life?