Clothes lay on a colourful heap on our bed with a suitcase open, my footsteps echo as I saunter to the wardrobe to get the rest of my things. I return to the bed with my set of lingerie and start folding clothes into the bag. The heap disappears into the box, I straighten up and sigh when Brandon’s arms wrap around my waist from behind.

Brandon tucks his head into the crook of my neck, his breath fans my ear and my body thrums in response when he says, “If it were in my power, we would have stayed back.” I smile and nod. “I’ll make it up to you.”

My head bobs up and down again, already tired of hearing his apology. I understand; it’s not his fault. The call he received when we were at the restaurant requested his presence today and I can’t help but be glad that we were able to bond before that happened. My dream of seeing the Eiffel tower with him, the place we saved for the last of our sightseeing will come true but some other time. I purse my lips, if we knew this would happen, we would have gone earlier instead of saving it for our last day

Turning in his arms, I place a wet kiss on his cheek to reassure him and he chuckles. I bite his nipple through his shirt, he smacks my ass and I pout. His nipples are so tiny. His hand moves from my waist to under my armpit, I freeze, prepared to swat his arms when he starts tickling me. Laughter spills from my lips, I wheeze, trying to catch my breath but it encourages him to continue.

We tumble on the bed with him on top of me, his weight rests on his arm and he shifts to the side. His fingers sink into my hair, he starts with massaging my scalp, I moan and my eyes close until I feel him tug on the end of my braided ponytail. I shake my head to stop him from letting my hair loose but he continues tugging at the band. Brandon loves my curls cascading down my chest but if we will travel, I have to be in the best state of mind, my hair stays in a ponytail.

Our eyes meet when my hands circle his wrists to stay his movements, the room grows quiet, my chest rises and falls as we continue staring at each other. The gold of his eyes has nearly overshadowed the brown, my gaze wanders to his pink lips and I gulp. His head dips, my lips part open to welcome his in a slow, sensual kiss.

I arch my back and gasp into our kiss when he kneads my rock hard nipples, weaving my fingers through his hair. My legs move to his waist, his tongue thrusts into my mouth, touching and tasting every corner like it’s our first time of kissing. I sigh when he bites the soft sensitive flesh of my lower lip, sucking on it with a tenderness that has me falling harder for him.

We separate to catch our breath; I cock my head to the side as a relaxing feeling settles on my shoulders. I giggle and ruffle his hair when he pouts, it would seem as if all the love in this city has seeped into my heart rather than his alone, I adore him more than I did on our arrival. He has wormed his way into my heart with his actions and kisses, I don’t want this moment to end.

A glint creeps into my eyes, I smile, does he love me now?

With my fingers running in circles on his chest, I push my worries aside and say, “We will miss our flight if we keep up with this.”

His hand moves under the spaghetti strap ankle-length gown I’m wearing. “We can’t miss our flight if the jet belongs to me.”

Those words barely register in my head when his fingers begin to rub the surface of my panties. The friction causes me to moan, I sink my teeth into my lip to avoid begging him to slide his long digits into my warmth. He pulls on the waistband of my underwear, I swallow when he lets go of it without notice, resulting in a snap against my taut skin.

Brandon’s hot breath tickles my ear and he whispers, “If I were you, I will take this off.”

His voice holds promises and the thought of getting fucked on a jet has me giddy with excitement. A week more with him and I will have enough stories to match Clarissa’s sexcapades. My mouth parts open to reply him but I am cut off by the shrill ringtone of my iPhone. Brandon reaches for the ringing phone on the bedside drawer and a closed look takes over his face when he hands it to me.

Understanding dawns on me when I see the caller’s ID, there is a love emoji beside Joshua’s name. Brandon stands, I wrap my hand around his wrist to stop him from leaving the room but he points to the door, mutters something under his breath and walks off without a backward glance at me. A longing sigh escapes me, the corner of my lips rise, I take another look at the phone in my hand and swipe right on the screen.

Joshua’s exuberant voice fills my ear and a smile flits to my lips. He is always in a good mood and it’s contagious. “Video call?”

He doesn’t wait for my response, I giggle at the request for a switch to video call which pops up on my screen and accept it. Joshua’s cute face fills my screen, he grins with a wink and I chuckle.

“Hello love,” he murmurs and we burst into laughter at the wave of memories his greeting unleashes. “How are you today?”

“I’m good, darling,” I reply in the same tone I used when we fake dated to scare one of my admirers off and he snickers. “Hey, hey, Josh.”

“Hey. Are you back?” My head moves left and right, I stick my tongue out at him and he laughs. I bring the phone down to my knees, a lazy smile on my face as we converse.

His request for me to stop by his crib when I get into town almost has me choking on my spit and I hit my chest repeatedly to calm myself. The days following my mention of starting a loan business saw us spending more time than normal together, sleepovers became a part of our routines and Clarissa even hinted at him liking me. As if. We have been friends for a while, I am not his type. He prefers thick, curvy and experienced women.

My subconscious reminds me of my status as a married woman, I chuckle and start coughing again. This is the wrong time to think about my old crush on Joshua. I take one look at his scrunched face and realise I haven’t given him a response. My head shakes without control, the answer is no. I can’t go to his place. Hell will be let loose if I catch some random girl in our house with Brandon, I have to practise what I preach.

“El, are you alright?” I hit my chest and nod.

“I’m fine,” I murmur and bite the insides of my lips. “I’ve something to tell you.” No one knows about Brandon and I want to change that. I want everyone I care about to meet him. “But we have to meet at the coffee shop, yeah?”

“Yeah?” he replies. His brown hair falls over his face and his tattooed knuckles come into view when he swipes at it. “Are you okay?” I smile at him and nod. “You seem off.”

“I’m fine. Perfect,” I murmur. And that’s the truth. The days spent here with Brandon feels like heaven on earth. I reassure Joshua again to ease the frown on his lips, we bade each other farewell and my body goes cold when I see Brandon standing by the door.

Placing my phone on the bedstand, I take slow, tentative steps towards Brandon, heart thumping and eyes searching his face for any sign he overheard our call. I stand before him, a smile creeps up my lips but it vanishes when he continues staring at me with aloofness. My head angles to a side, I bop his nose in hopes that he will loosen up but he remains stiff. Dread crawls up my spine and I pout, I want the caring, naughty man who was kissing me a while ago.

“Who was that?”

I blink twice and swallow. “Josh. Joshua.”

His gaze keeps my hands glued to my sides, the thinly veiled emotion in his eyes sending chills to my bones. “Is he your boyfriend?”

“No,” I say. My hands move around his waist and I bury my head in his chest. “I don’t do boyfriends, I do husbands.” The chuckles die on my lips when Brandon doesn’t share in my humour and a small yelp leaves me when he retracts my arms from his body.

A strand of hair falls over his face, he ignores it to ask, “Hello love? Darling?”

“Josh is my friend, that’s how we greet each other,” I murmur in my defence. He arches an eyebrow and I start spouting answers to questions he never asked me. “Josh is my friend, we call each other sweet names but there’s nothing to it. It doesn’t mean shit.”

Fear grips me when he makes to sidestep me and I cry out, “Stop. Please.” I grip his hand and gulp. “I’m serious, it doesn’t mean anything. You can ask Clarissa, it started when I was trying to get someone off my back and he helped out by pretending to be my fake boyfriend. Now we just say it for fun. He’s just a friend, I promise... Brandon.”

My hands fall to my side; I remain still as Brandon caresses my face. “Just a friend who calls you sweet names?” I nod. “And he invited you to spend the night?” I nod again, failing to mention our new arrangements. “El, do you sleep in all your friend’s house?”

“Yes. We are friends and friends spend the night at each other’s houses sometimes,” I mutter in exasperation, not at all comfortable with the accusation in his voice. I have only slept over at Josh’s place a few times and on those occasions, we were working on a school project together, I had no choice. He is not attracted to me, neither am I.

Brandon tilts his head to one side, crosses his arms on his chest as if asking me to go on with my talk, he doesn’t believe me. My shoulder sags, I gulp and say, “I am not going to his house anymore, we agreed to meet at the coffee shop in school. Okay? It’s fine.”

“Does he know you are married?” I respond in the negative. “I’ll go with you.” I shake my head with an intensity that makes me dizzy. That can’t happen, I don’t need him to escort me when I go to see my friends. “Elna. I am going with you to see this Joshua.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No,” I murmur and jerk from his grip. With my eyes cast down, I say, “I’m going alone.” My chin raises in defiance. “I don’t follow you to see those women at your office and you don’t see me whining about it. I’m going alone and I will let him know I’m married.”

“Whining? I’m whining about it?”

I shake my head, close my eyes and take a deep breath, we are treading on slippery grounds. “No, sorry for saying that.” Closing the distance between us, I try to cup his cheeks but he stops me. I sigh, my hands return to my sides. “Josh is helping me out.”

“With?” I avoid his eyes. “With what, El?”

“My business.” I make circles on the tiled floors with my feet and twiddle my fingers, this will not end well but I can’t stop myself from talking, he needs to know. “I told him about my business idea and he has been helpful, we’ve been working on it together.”

Brandon’s feet disappear from my sight; I raise my head to see the gap between us. “You refuse my offer to help but you will gladly accept help from another man?” he screams at me and I jump back in fright. He notices and his face softens. “What’s in it for him?”

“Nothing,” I pause and sigh. “He’s not another man, Josh is my friend and course mate.”

“A friend who calls you sweet names, acted as your fake boyfriend in the past and now, he is helping you out with a business he has nothing to gain from and you think there’s nothing to it?” I nod and he scoffs. “Are you listening to yourself, Elna? He likes you.”

“Yes. Yes, I am.” Brandon arches an eyebrow and I smile, his reaction doesn’t surprise me. I know Joshua more than he does but he doesn’t want to see that, he is so focused on acting the role of a jealous husband. “He doesn’t like me; we are nothing but friends.”

I close the distance between us, I don’t want us to fight on the last day of our honeymoon. “Please trust me on this one.” He shakes his head and I let out a suppressed sigh. “You told me Sophia is no longer your sub but you are keeping her for reasons you refuse to tell me. I didn’t question that because I trust you, why can’t you do the same?”

“Because you haven’t given me a reason to trust you. I’m going with you to see him.”

My ears burn at his words; tears prickle my eyes and I stagger backwards like I have been hit. I raise a hand to stop him from coming close to me, ignoring the tears that trickle down my cheeks. Ten days of us being here together with me baring my heart and soul to him, trying to get to know each other yet he doesn’t trust me. I square my shoulders and nod, that’s fine, that’s okay.

“El. Elna.”

“Get away from me,” I shout when Brandon attempts to take a step forward. A cold look crosses his eyes but I don’t care, I suddenly feel tired. “You are not the boss of me, I’ll go alone to see Joshua and if you don’t like that,” I shrug, “you can go fuck yourself.”

I start heading towards the bathroom when he calls me back. “Don’t walk out on me, El. We are not done talking.” I reply with a long hiss, banging the bathroom doors for effect.

* * *

The door to our bedroom bursts open, I step inside with the guy holding our luggage in tow. Brandon comes in as the guy is about to leave, his phone plugged to his ear. I let out a low hiss, he has been on a call since we landed, not as if I care, we haven’t spoken a word to each other since our argument. He owes me an apology for saying that to me.

I set to unpacking and the boy stands by the door as if awaiting further instruction. It’s my first time of seeing him here, I have a lot to ask but I doubt Brandon will appreciate me querying the lad in his presence so I swallow my questions. His call goes on for a few more minutes, by the time he slips the phone into his pocket, the suitcase is empty.

“Thank you, Jamie,” he tells the boy who offers him a curt nod and departs the room.

A feeling of dread settles upon me as I look around our big, empty bedroom, it’s double the size of the hotel we stayed in and it is bereft of the intimate moments we shared in France. I shiver from Brandon’s intense stare and rub my palms against my hips, unsure what version of him is present. My back presses against the wall, I stand there, immobile as we stare at each other, waiting for him to talk. My lips tremble, I miss my husband.

Brandon starts towards me, I swallow and sink my teeth into my lips, ready to apologise if it means we will return to our honeymoon phase. For some reasons, I reach for the ends of my ponytail but he stops me with a glare. I sigh, a heaviness descends on my shoulder. This is my fault; I should have tried to end our discussion like a mature adult.

“Your safe word is rose,” he says when he’s standing right in front of me. I gulp and nod in my confused state, afraid to question him. “What’s your safe word?”

“Rose.”

A set of keys dangle in his hand, he throws it up in the air and catches it. The simple act fills me with so much fear and I can’t help but swallow uncontrollably. “Follow me.”

~~~

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