Chapter 85: Moonlit Melancholy
Moana
Much to my surprise, the aloof Alpha billionaire almost began to open up for a brief moment… Almost. “Yes,” he admitted when I asked if the person he was arguing with tonight was the same person who I overheard him arguing with before all those weeks ago. His voice was low and strained, like there wasn’t enough room in his throat to get everything out in one breath. “Someone from my past. They’ve been bothering me; they usually start up again around this time every year, because…”
The dark kitchen fell quiet after Edrick suddenly stopped himself from saying more. He kept his eyes fixed on his hands as they sat clasped together on the kitchen counter, but I could tell just from the look on his face and the way his body suddenly tensed that he already felt as though he said too much.
I didn’t know who this mysterious ‘Olivia’ woman was or why she apparently popped back into Edrick’s life to supposedly harass him around this time every year, but I decided not to pry any further. Clearly, whoever she was was a sore subject for the Alpha billionaire — and if I learned one thing about him over the past few months since I’d met him, it was that it was just better most of the time to let him decide to open up to me in his own time. Prying wouldn’t get me anywhere, and it would likely only make him distance himself further from me.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence as the water slowly came to a boil in the kettle behind me, I finally spoke.
“You don’t have to tell me any details if you don’t want to,” I said quietly. “But just know that I’m always here to listen if you need advice or even if you just need to vent.”
Slowly, Edrick raised his eyes to meet mine. His face had softened, and there was a sense of melancholy behind his gaze that I couldn’t quite understand. He simply nodded in response, then quickly looked away.
The tea began to boil, causing the kettle to start whistling behind me. I took it as my opportunity to look away and maybe change the subject, so I quickly turned around, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach, and turned the burner off. I then filled the tea infuser with two scoops of chamomile tea leaves, then set it in the teapot and slowly poured the hot water over it. As I did, I felt the aromatic steam rise up and dampen my face… But I also felt something else.
Warm, soft hands around my waist.
I suddenly stopped pouring the tea, feeling Edrick’s hands slowly slide around my waist. He pressed his body up behind me, his hands resting on my belly, feeling how it was beginning to protrude slightly. At first, I thought that he was just feeling emotional about the baby and wanted to touch my belly, but as his body pressed more firmly into me and I felt his breathing deepen and thicken, I knew that it was something else.
I set the kettle down on the counter, then slowly turned my head to look up at him. When I did, I saw that he was gazing down at me. His eyes were no longer gray, but were glowing silver again, just as they did in the mall — only this time they weren’t glowing from anger, but rather from arousal. They flickered down to my mouth then, and I saw him lick his lips.
“Edrick—” my voice was low and thick. I felt the butterflies in my stomach travel down further, into my groin, as his hands gently tugged my hips closer to him.
Without a word, Edrick slowly bent down and pressed his lips against mine. His lips were warm and soft, and as he kissed me deeply and his tongue began to work its way into my mouth, his right hand slid up my belly, over my breasts and up to my neck while his left hand lingered over my stomach. At that moment, I swore I heard a low, aching moan rumble in his throat, as though something stirred inside of him to take our kiss further. I wanted to take it further, too, and I could feel Mina’s presence strengthening for the third time that day.
But then, just as suddenly as it happened, Edrick suddenly pulled away. He almost stumbled backwards, taking me by surprise, and passed a hand over his face as he shook his head vigorously.
“I’m… Sorry,” he muttered, backing up against the kitchen island behind him and then sidestepping to get around it, all while keeping his gaze averted to the floor. I kept my back turned, staring down at the half-filled teapot in front of me as I felt my heart palpitate and my face get hot and red. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing would come out — and by that point, he was already by the door.
“I’m tired,” he said, his voice ragged. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
I spun around then to face him and went to say something as Mina pleaded inside of me to make him stay, but I knew that whatever I said would fall on deaf ears. Edrick seemed to have made up his mind, and besides; I knew that he would never make the mistake of sleeping with me again. I was, after all, still the nanny.
“I’m going to bed. I don’t want tea anymore, but thank you for the offer.”
Without another word, Edrick abruptly turned on his heel and stormed off, leaving me alone in the dark kitchen. I listened to the fading sound of his footsteps, followed by the sound of his bedroom door clicking shut. Finally, I let out a ragged breath and blinked rapidly to diffuse the tears that had already welled up in my eyes.
Deep down, I knew that he could never really be with me because of the vast differences in our social classes. I knew that. But it didn’t mean that it hurt any less when we so clearly wanted each other, and our social classes were keeping us from even being intimate in private. I wanted so badly to storm over to his door and burst into his bedroom, demanding that he make love to me tonight, but I knew that it would get us nowhere.
As I stood there, frozen in the dark kitchen, the only movement I could feel was the pained fluttering in my heart. Mina’s strength quickly faded as she came to the realization that I wouldn’t be intimate with Edrick tonight.
Finally, I felt as though my own energy had been sapped. When Edrick walked away, it felt as though the rug had been pulled out from underneath me, and I was now teetering in my spot. I didn’t even want tea anymore; I only wanted to crawl into my bed and cry myself to sleep.
And so, I left the half-filled pot of tea on the counter and returned to my bedroom. That night, I curled up beneath my blanket, feeling oddly cold for such a hot night.
