The Lion's Den
By evening, Anna and Paige got back home completely exhausted. They had ended up buying both items Paige believed she wouldn't be wearing anything soon. This wasn't because they didn't look good. It was because they were too good to be worn just anywhere.
"Have my brother been downstairs since he got back?" Anna asked the maids that helped with their bags.
"No Miss Ann, he only requested for a cup of ginger tea couple of hours ago" One of the helps replied.
Anna heaved a deep sigh looking at Paige with pleading eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Could you please check on him when you get upstairs since the both of you stay on the same floor." Anna pleaded in reply.
"Sure." Came the innocent reply from Paige.
Once they got inside the mansion, Paige and Anna took the stairs and drifted to their various floors when they got to the floor Anna shares her sister and Emily.
The maid helped Paige with her bags and had them packed carefully into her wardrobe before leaving the room. Alone in her room, she rushed through shower and made sure to take her time with her face, paying attention to it and scrubbing it delicately gently moving her hands to the fold of her ears and her neck.
As she was bathing, she thought of going to Simon's room and it honestly felt like she would be walking into the lion's den. So she made up her mind to prepare as much as she could.
She smiled weakly at the thought of Simon's room being described as a lion's den. Carefully, she stepped out of the marble tub. Applied a reasonable amount of body cream and splashed a dash of lavender oil on her hair.
Quickly, she pulled on a long pink gown that practically covered every inch of her ebony skin and slid her slender legs into a fur loafer.
Closing her door gently, she made her way to Simon's room. The door was slightly open when she arrived and for a second she wondered if he was serious when he said he was going to leave his door open for her at all times.
Unable to believe that he would seriously do such, she knocked on the door and waited. After waiting for a few seconds with no reply, she knocked again, yet nothing.
Since the door was open, she peeped inside the room just to be sure Simon wasn't sleeping but she saw no one. So she turned to leave for her room.
"Leaving so soon?" She heard him ask as he appeared at the door with a towel round his waist.
"Sorry I was in the bathroom." He explained opening his door wide. "Come in."
Paige stepped into the room and was struck by its orderliness and amazing fragrance.
"Is there something you want?" He asked standing close to the door still with a towel on and not making a move to put on his clothes.
When Paige thought about his appearance, she noted that he was not looking sick in anyway.
"Anna said you weren't feeling fine, something about a stomach upset. How do you feel now?" She asked him.
" I feel better." He replied playing along.
Now realizing that the sister obviously told a lie to get Paige in his room for God knows what. Even at that, he wasn't mad at Anna, he was literally grateful to her for being so thoughtful and smart!
"Please sit down." He offered his bed.
"I can get you something for your stomach." She told him, attempting to head to her room to get a medication for him. But was stopped midway by Simon.
"Not to worry, I'm way better now." He replied.
Hearing him say that, Paige drew back and sat down on a single sofa in the room. A few seconds of awkward silence followed. Before he finally excused himself.
He opened the translucent door that led to his wardrobe and change into a short. The fact that Paige could still make out his naked figure behind the closed doors didn't even bother him.
"Man whore." Paige murmured quietly turning her face away from the door.
"What can I offer you Sunflower? I would love to offer myself, but something tells me you will reject all of this and that will break my fragile heart." He told her as he showed off the gorgeous abdominal muscles that he failed to cover up with his unbuttoned shirt.
Paige ignored him and went ahead to ask the question that have been on her mind for a while.
"The other day," she started. "Someone came to my room and dropped a bunch of sunflower. That was you right?" She asked him. Simon nodded and stood facing her.
"You enter people's room in their absence, without their permission. Is that some habit of yours?" She asked.
Simon sat on the floor beside her and slipped one of her legs down his shoulder to his thigh.
"I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to do something nice and maybe, surprise you too. I actually knocked, but there was no response. So I opened the door and dropped it off. I didn't touch anything, I swear." He said, giving her leg a gentle massage.
The sweet feeling of the foot massage made Paige close her eyes briefly as the wonderful sensation swept through her body. The feeling was out of the word for her. But realizing how vulnerable she might look, made her wriggle her feet out of his grip.
"Don't do it again." She said the only thing that came to mind.
"Go to your room in your absence or the foot massage?" Simon asked, a sweet smile across his face.
"Both," she forced herself to say. "I'm fine, I really do not need a massage." She lied and Simon nodded again with a knowing smile.
He knew she was lying and her response to his touch alone betrayed her but he didn't want to push the topic further.