CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Someone was shaking me vigorously. I moaned and rolled on my other side, and my hand hit a hard surface. Moving my hand around with closed eyes yesterday's event flashed before my eyes.

Arcadio!

Instantly I open my eyes and find him smiling at me. "Are you feeling me up, Tesoro?"

I realize my hands were moving all over his chest. My eyes widen, my hands were all over his chest and abs, I try to move my hands back, but he stops them. He pulls my fingertips to his mouth and kisses each of them. Gasping at his action, I turn my head to the other side.

Arcadio moves on top of me. He lightly touches my chin. "Don't hide now, Tesoro."

He kisses me slowly. I feel goosebumps all over me. Then I don't know what came over me. I put my hands in his hair and pulled it slightly. He groans in my mouth. Every inch of his body was touching mine.

Pulling away, he looks at me so intently. He pushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. The act is nothing sexual, yet it gives me butterflies in my stomach.

Suddenly his phone rings, interrupting the moment. He moves away and answers it. "Yeah."

He replies nothing more, attentively listening to the person talking on the other side. While he is talking to the person on call, he gives me a cunning smirk. I try to get out of bed.

His arm suddenly pulls me to him and shakes his head, indicating me not to go. Getting close to him again, I lean into him. Shutting my eyes, I get comfortable in his touch. Arcadio keeps replying in one-word sentences.

Slowly I feel his fingertips lightly brushing over my nipple. I moan his name again. Then I realized he was on a call with someone while he was doing this. I am unable to moan because the other person might listen. Covering my mouth with my palm, I bite back my moans. He gets close to my ear then murmurs, "I love hearing your moans, Tesoro."

I whisper in reply, "but they can hear it."

The smirk broadens, "that is why you're on mute. You are mine, Tesoro, and so are those moans of yours."

Everything goes into a blur after that.

"Someone's happy this morning," Nora comments. Maybe after the morning I had, I was smiling like a fool.

After the call finished, Arcadio finished what he started. I was afraid that he was going to have s*x with me. But he didn't. Why was I disappointed?

I was not afraid of the s*x. I was scared because it was my first time. I knew it was not Arcadio's first time, and he had a lot of experience. I might be immature, opposite to him. He might not like that.

Oh, God! Now, why was I thinking of having s*x with him? My heart still flutters at the memory of us. His hands touched me all over, kissing his mouth tasting me. Damn, I was getting turned on just by mere thoughts.

But it is my bad luck because Arcadio is in his study working. After our little session, I showered and changed. I called my parents just like every day. They still didn't know about the marriage. To be honest. I was scared about their reaction and slightly anxious. I will face it when the time comes.

We had breakfast together, not sitting apart this time. Holding my hand, we walked to the dining table, surprising Nora and Richard. Though, they never uttered a single word.

Then he pulled out the chair next to his. Like a gentleman, he settled me, then himself. We ate together, talked about any random thing that came into our head. I learned that Arcadio had training in three forms of martial arts, and he spoke six languages. Italian, English, German, French, Russian, Japanese. The Japanese one took away. He told me about his childhood, yet I could tell there were few things he held back from me. Like he did not talk about his work. I didn't push him further.

Later after our breakfast, he kissed me on the lips and said, "Tonight, be ready by seven. I want to take you to a special place."

I was astounded that I only could nod in reply.

So, here I was spending my wee hours with Nora because I was bored watching television, and sitting in my room for the next four hours was not an option.

"Just like that."

"Don't say that. I saw you two, and I have to say it was the first time I saw Arcadio smile. In fact, after you, I've seen a lot of first time after you came in Arcadio's life."

I inquired immediately, "like what?"

"Like how he has started smiling today. He started having his meals on the dining table instead of the office. He asks about you. Also, you're the only girl he has brought to this house," she explains.

I was gaping by the end of it. How did I not know this before? Maybe because we were on a full-blown silent war since the day we came here. Hearing her say that I was the first woman to enter this house makes me somewhat glad for no reason.

"Well, tell me are we cooking for lunch?"

Finally, my time passed. Now here I was sitting in my room, getting myself ready for dinner. I had two hours left. So, the time has to be planned accordingly for each task. First, I have to take a shower then, do a little makeup, and last, I have to find a dress. I hope Leo has packed something for me.

After showering, I opened my suitcase. I have been here for weeks now and have still not placed all the clothes inside the closet.

Found it!

I was shocked to see the dress. It was a maroon slip dress with a slit on the side.

It was a beautiful dress. The only problem was that it has straps. I have never found the courage to wear such dresses ever in my life because of my forearms. I have always been conscious of them. Today, something in me was different. I felt a rush of confidence. I remembered the look on his face, and my heart shouts a yes to the dress.

Taking a deep breath, I look at myself. I have applied eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick. The dress fitted perfectly. Beneath this dress, I was wearing the black lingerie that I had sworn to myself. I would never wear it. Yet, today I wanted to be more confident. I wanted to feel special for Arcadio.

A knock comes on the door. Thankfully, I was fully ready. I take a deep breath and open the door.

Arcadio stood in front of me wearing a black tux. His fitted body looked so dashing in the tux.

Nervously I ran my fingers on my arm. The way he was looking at me. I feel insecure under his gaze.

Raising my chin with his finger, he makes me face him. He comes close to me, then surprises me with a long, deep hard kiss. His hands pulled me in close to him. He whispers in my ears, "you look beautiful."

"Th...thank you."

"You look so ravishing that all I'm thinking right now is to take you up on this wall and never leave this room until I've sated my hunger for you."

I clench my thighs at his words. Returning his cunning smirk, I reply haughtily, "as much as I would like that. I am hungry and have wasted two hours getting ready. So, no, we are going."

"Feisty," he says, smiling. Giving me a little peck on my nose, we leave for our date.

I liked this Arcadio better than the brooding and scary one. He does smile often, and the mind-blowing kisses make it a whole lot better. When he is this carefree, it makes it hard not to fall in love with him.