KIERA.
The slightly up putting doorbell pinged. He was home. Where I'd also been all day, but the sense of his presence on the other side of that gigantic door brought a foolish smile to my lips.
Giggling like a twelfth grader gifted a natural bouquet by her shy boyfriend on Valentine's day, I darted to answer it though the butler protested. I couldn't be deterred nonetheless.
"Missing me already?"
Dylan filled up my line of sight, handling two brown paper bags printed Croissant in fancy gold lettering, a navy blue backpack slung on his shoulder.
Lost for words to explain how I felt, I gave in to the tornado whipping me whole as I rushed to hug him which, unfortunately, resulted in a brief moment of hesitation on his part. He popped his eyes wide, fixed on me without flinching.
The last crumbs of bravery I mustered vanished into thin air. I realized the implications of my weird impulses: he must assume I'd drunk too much champagne for my own good during his absence.
"Dylan, I'm..." I attempted to salvage the little confidence I had left.
Next thing I knew, he engulfed me in a special bear hug with only one of his arms, all traces of astonishment gone. I needed to chill out and enjoy his appetizing warmth soaking me in. The most awesome part was the tantalizing perfume that relaxed my nerves completely.
I tasted a bite of home like no other. Dylan made me want more. I might have conveniently swayed and prolonged the embrace if he hadn't withdrawn sooner.
"I missed you," I admitted abashedly.
"I take it that's why you're avoiding my stare so soon?" He queried.
Reaching out, he touched my arm tentatively. I flinched as if he'd used a blazing hot iron.
"My eyes are up here," he snapped, "Look at me. It can't be that bad an opportunity to gaze endlessly at a big shot in Hollywood, right?"
There went the grand idiot. Praising himself. If he were God, things might have been easier for us mortals. But he remained the Dylan testing dangerous waters in my territory.
I did as he bade me. Sure enough, those burning eyes stood firmly up there, spinning my mind round and round on an invisible Ferris wheel.
"I was about to tell you that I missed you too. Listen up, you don't have to draw lines which I must not cross beyond because I break through boundaries, Kiera. It's my job."
I thought his voice was imbued with lethal poison because it made me so weak all the time.
Dylan politely excused himself to shower and freshen up, afterwards emanating a dusky aromatic scent wafting around his lithe body clothed in a deep grey t-shirt over casual white shorts, as he crossed the space into the sitting room, grinning only for me.
"I had a little more over my usual check today so I assumed it would be nice of me to not be an asshole for once and buy us dinner," he announced.
I eyed him suspiciously.
"What?" He defended, taking the large sized paper bags from where he'd placed them on the centre table earlier, "Can't I just be a nice guy without wanting something in return?"
"I guess you should step up your new attitude by first serving whatever poison you packed in there to your damsel in distress," I shot back.
He handed me a plate of sticky chicken spaghetti.
"Thanks."
I speared the food with a fork, took in his intense watch studying my moves as he left his pasta untouched. He swallowed hard, springing my attention to his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat sumptuously, I tore my stare away from him before the matter went too awry.
"There's some spicy apricot ginger-lime chicken here too. If you happen to need more," he informed me when the awkward moment lapsed.
We both knew it had been stored up in our individual memories for rewinding during the safety of private quarters. We mutually agreed, without actually agreeing, to sweep it under the carpet.
But the moment adamantly objected to being downplayed, and from then on, something significant switched between us. I couldn't identify what it was outrightly but I knew we were climbing a higher terrace.
"I really missed you though."
And I loved the manner of his voice coming out. Modulated. Calm. Confident.
"You missed me?" I piped up.
"Is that the only thing you heard?" He laughed softly as he took me by the hand.
Amazingly, I didn't flinch. In fact, our palms were key and keyhole, fitting just naturally.
"It's the most important thing," I insisted.
"How did you spend your day? Besides ditching your home before I woke up?" I cleverly changed the subject to a lighter note.
"On set," he shrugged.
"On set?" I echoed stupidly.
"Wait a minute, like a real set? In the company of celebrity actors and stuff?" I cried.
"Hey, it's not that much of a big deal. They're pretty normal people off television and social media, you know. Plus, some of them can be pretty annoying."
"Are you serious?"
"Totally. One of them kept flopping his lines until the director forced me to rewrite that part ten times."
"Poor thing." I laughed. "That's why you should take me along with you everyday so I can fill in for you when any actor chooses to be an asshole. I'd make a great assistant," I taunted.
But the idea of him seeing those celebrities alone really irked me. It was unfair.
"And lose my precious job? No thanks," he scowled.
"Says the guy who sends his loyal maid packing when all she did was nothing," I sneered. "Did you even pay her any extra fees?"
Dylan rolled his eyes and groaned out loud. "She treated you badly. After that, I hated seeing her face."
"You can't determine the way people treat others, Dylan."
"Not if it's in my power to protect the ones I truly care about. And I think anyone who treats you like scum is messing with me. Get used to it."
Since I understood how to brush my teeth, I set high standards for any man that crossed my path. I made it clear that I did not like them lording their decisions on me in the name of over protectiveness. Dylan's concluding words ignited fire in my bones; the last thread of patience I reserved for him snapped in pieces.
"You arrogant, vain, spiteful vermin," I lashed out. "Just because you saved me doesn't give you the bragging rights to dictate my life. You don't own me. Need I remind you that I'm a fully mature lady and I can choose what is right for myself? And if I say that the right thing is allowing others to treat me like dirt, you shut your big mouth and suck up to it."
He merely shrugged. "I was only trying to protect you, that's all. Quit acting like a little girl."
That did it. I stomped my feet, shaking from rage spilling within.
"I'm not a little girl and I hate you!"
Hardly had I marched up to the staircase when I was whipped around easily as if I weighed a feather. Dylan's taut nude chest stood out in it's evening glory. An aphrodisiac display of caramel abs layered to tempt my spirits and make me forget my anger. Where did his t-shirt go?
"I knew you wouldn't miss a chance to check out this handsome body," he grinned, worsening the terrible trap as his dimples showed up.
He moved closer, closer, consuming the little space around me with his being. I watched him breathe then I started to envy air kissing his most intimate parts for free.
Now I teetered on the brink of frustration from my non-existent sex life.
"Back off," I spat.
But my uncomfortableness set his male ego on the high.
"Is that what you actually want me to do? Back off?" Dylan muttered, currently closing up the distance between us.
He lifted up his palms and rested them on either side of the wall. I was leaning on it.
"Or do you want me to do something different? Something... You're dead afraid to ask? Something more... Physical?"
There was absolutely no way I could demolish his firm control of my raging hormones. The former times I had attempted to, I had failed terribly. Soaking in his taunts, I realized that I was failing. Again.
"What? Cat got your tongue now, huh?" Dylan derived joy from seeing me helplessly cornered.
"Maybe I'll pity you this once," he changed his mind abruptly, sauntering to the sofa where he removed a wrapped object from his backpack and returning to me.
Shudders played a game of tag in my anatomy, I was mesmerized on the spot just by the sight of him shirtless alone.
"I got you something," he whispered as he pushed the object into my palm.
It's unusual coolness broke Dylan's charms.
"What's this?" I unwrapped the gift as I couldn't help wondering if it was another bait or a true gesture from his scheming heart. In the next few seconds, my eyes filled with childlike happiness, staring at a new Samsung Galaxy S6.
"I wasn't sure of the brand you were using before, you know, that happened but if you don't like this one, I'm ringing up the store owners and ordering a new one this minute," he offered.
The idea of him being worried about whether or not I'd appreciate his present pleased me beyond a doubt.
"Oh my goodness! It's amazing. But don't you think it's too... Much? This baby here must have cost you a couple of hundred bucks," I fretted.
"And I assume you're considering repaying me?"
Against better judgement, I nodded, "Every single dime."
"Then kiss me."