“You won’t fall, sweetie. I won’t let you,” he said softly and adjusted the depth of his penetration inside me. “Is this okay?”
“Yes… It’s amazing,” I assured him.
“Like this, I can see your beautiful body from the back and the front.”
Alexander started to move rhythmically inside me while my vaginal muscles gripped him tightly. One of his hands slid across my breast and started to massage it. Each and every touch turned me on even more, making me moan in pleasure.
“Oh… yes…” I arched my back.
“That’s it, baby. Take it all in.” He softly sucked the skin on my shoulder and gently kissed me behind the ear. His lustful gaze in the mirror burned through me, arousing me even more. He pulled his cock out of me, and the muscles of his body contracted. Then, in one thrust, he inserted his entire penis inside me.
“Oh God,” I groaned. It felt so nice.
Alexander dug his fingers into my hips and started to furiously and powerfully move in and out of me. His cock was huge and went so deep inside. He filled me completely. I was his, only his, and I liked it—feeling him inside me, feeling we belonged together.
“Oh, Alexia. You’re so amazing, baby,” he whispered, and I exploded into thousands of pieces, scattering themselves into the endless abyss. He thrust two more times and came, a groan escaping from deep inside his chest.
We collapsed into the bath, splashing some water onto the floor. Alexander held me tight against his chest.
“A short rest and then we continue,” he murmured and kissed my hair.
“My legs are shaking.”
“We’ll do it in bed. You can lie back and enjoy it.”
Looking at him, I stretched my arm toward him and ran my thumb across his stubble. “It’s nice feeling you inside me.”
His eyes shone, and so did mine, when he replied, “It’s nice for me too, sweetie.”
* * *
In the morning, Alexander woke me. He was mumbling unintelligibly in his sleep. All I could catch were the words, “Alexia, please… Why?”
I shook him awake. He turned, gazed at me with his beautiful sapphire eyes, and hugged me so tight I could barely breathe. He seemed scared. What had he been dreaming about? Hugging him back, I pressed myself against him.
Alexander positioned himself between my legs.
“If you’re doing this to convince me of how much you love me, then you’ve succeeded.” I tried to cheer him up.
“My love for you is endless.” He put his soft lips on mine and we did it again.
* * *
“God, there’s nothing better in this world than being inside you.” He moaned. Then he propped himself up on his elbow and fixed his gaze on my eyes. “Swear it! Swear you won’t leave and go back to your ex.”
“Where did you get that crazy idea?”
“Just swear you won’t!”
“I swear. Alexander, I would never go back to any of my former boyfriends. I don’t love them, for God’s sake. Is that what you were dreaming about?”
Alexander lay back on the bed. “I dreamt you were leaving me for your first boyfriend. You told me you can’t trust me, but you can trust him.”
“This will never happen.” I kissed him on his slightly parted lips.
“I have a great need for you, Alexia. You give so much to me. I want you to believe in me, in us. I don’t want to scare you off and lose you,” he continued, sounding confused. “Since I met you, my life has changed completely. You’re my sunshine—you rose in the sky and shined your light on my days of gloom.”
“Oh, baby,” I whispered.
“I’m being serious, Alexia. Wherever you run away, I will find you and make you come back to me. I can’t allow there to be another man in your life. Never!”
I hid my face in the curve of his neck and put one of my legs over his body. I enveloped him with my arms and legs and held him tight.
We stayed there in silence for God knows how long. The alarm clock started ringing. It was eight o’clock, and Alexander had to get ready for work.
“It’s your birthday in a week,” he reminded me. “So tell me. How do you want us to celebrate? Do you want to have a party or would you prefer if we went somewhere on a weekend getaway, just us two?”
“To be honest, I haven’t thought about it,” I replied earnestly.
“Okay. Think about it. We have plenty of time.” He caressed my cheekbone and, before getting up to go to the bathroom, murmured, “You’re so beautiful.” He said it more to himself than me, but the words affected me like a powerful aphrodisiac. I smiled. I wouldn’t hide it—this made me happy. Alexander made me feel like a goddess.
I got out of bed and gazed in the mirror.
Maybe he wants me just for my body?
I approached the mirror to examine my face more closely. I liked the way my eyes looked and knew my smile was charming. Still not quite an unearthly beauty… I would never refer to myself in such terms. My father had always said I was the most beautiful girl in the world. But let us not forget he was talking about his daughter, and what parent didn’t think their child was more beautiful than anyone else?
I shook my head and walked across the room. I picked up my favorite green silk dressing gown and put it on. While tying its belt, I got the idea of loading a Katie Melua song called “Nine Million Bicycles” on Alexander’s iPhone. I wanted to use it to show him how much I loved him. Right now, Alexander felt scared and insecure about our relationship. And I knew very well how depressing this feeling was, as I often felt the same insecurity that tears one up inside.
I went into the bathroom and yet again enjoyed the sight of his beautiful body. His biceps and abs contracted every time he moved while he was rinsing the shampoo out of his hair. He hadn’t noticed me, but when he opened his eyes, he smiled at me. Opening the door of the shower cubicle, he said playfully, “Come and bathe with me, sweetie.”
It would be a great pleasure, but…
“I better not. Otherwise, you’ll be late for work.”
He laughed at my answer. Impatiently, I waited for him to come out of the shower cubicle. And suddenly, I felt apprehensive. What if he doesn’t like the song?
“What is it, baby? Have you decided how you want to celebrate by any chance?” he asked, wrapping a towel around his hips.
“Not yet.” I took a deep breath and continued. “I loaded a song on your phone, but you should delete it if you don’t like it.”
Alexander listened to it and thoughtfully tapped his lower lip with his thumb, his eyes locked on me the entire time.
“I’ll set it as my ringtone when you call me. This way you’ll tell me I love you every time, and I’m really starting to like hearing these words.”
I grinned like an idiot. I stood on my tiptoes and put my arms around his neck. He picked me up like a bride and kissed me on the nose. Then he put me down on the surface by the sink and took his electric shaver out of his toiletry bag to have a shave.
“Alexia, today I have a very important meeting that may drag on for ages. But I want you to know you can call me at any time if you need something. Have you thought about how you want to spend the day?”
“I’m thinking of going out to buy my father a souvenir of some kind.”
“Okay. Henry is at your service,” he said and started to shave.
18
While we were having a bacon omelet for breakfast, or to be more precise, while I was having breakfast, Alexander was constantly on the phone, discussing business matters.
I watched him giving commands and couldn’t help but admire yet again his impeccable appearance. He was wearing a black suit, grey shirt, and a satin black tie, patterned with very small rhomboids. He’d loosened the knot and undone the shirt’s top button so they wouldn’t feel tight around his neck while he was eating. God, he looked so divine, and I was secretly envious of him for that. Why couldn’t I be like him? I always had to brush my blond hair in the morning; otherwis
e, I looked like a witch—or at least that’s how I saw myself in the mirror—whereas he was sexy even with messy hair.
I finished my coffee and stood to call Lily, but Alexander pulled my hand and somehow I found myself in his lap.
“Excuse me for a moment,” he said to the person on the other end of the line and put his hand over the receiver. “Are you okay?” he asked, concerned.
“Of course I’m okay. You don’t need to fuss over me all the time. I know you have thousands of problems occupying your mind right now,” I said quietly and stroked his smooth-shaven face. “I’ll go and call Lily to see what they’re doing.”
I stood and headed toward the bedroom. I picked my iPhone and dialed Lily’s number.
“Hi, Alexia.” I knew right away she’d been crying.
“What happened?”
“Francesco and I had a fight last night,” she said, sniffling.
“But why?”
“He thinks I might be pregnant and not by him.” She started crying again.
Goddamn it…
“Lily, calm down. Where is he now?”
“He went to work,” she replied.
“Lily, you’re not actually pregnant, are you?”
“I’m not… I’m sure. I take the pill regularly.” She sounded inconsolable.
“Listen, I have a plan. I’ll come over to tell you all about it. I want you to have calmed yourself down by then. Do you hear me? I’m being serious. What’s your room number?”
“Room 1080. When you enter the lobby, the elevators are on the left.”
“I’m getting dressed and coming over straightaway,” I said and hung up.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I shouted and rushed toward the wardrobe.
Alexander had clearly heard me, because he opened the door and, wearing a worried expression, asked me, “What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry.” I cast a quick glance at him and continued to look for clothes to wear. “I’m just furious over Francesco. Will you please pass me a pen?”
I wanted to write down the number of their room, because I felt upset and didn’t want to go to the wrong one. Quickly, I grabbed a white knee-length skirt and a red silk sleeveless blouse. Alexander came back to the bedroom and handed me a Montblanc pen made of platinum and gold. I looked at it and suddenly felt broken, in the true sense of the word. The blood drained from my face. I felt like my heart was skipping every other beat. My rich boyfriend appreciated only expensive items.
Why in God’s name does he see something special in you, then? asked a malicious, vitriolic voice, which made me feel even more emotionally broken.
I looked at him angrily. “Don’t you have a normal pen?”
He narrowed his eyes and stared at me. Then he asked quietly, “What’s the problem, Alexia?”
I closed my eyes for an instant to suppress the tears welling up in them. “Why are you with me, Alexander? Why?”
He came over to me and put his palms on my face. “Baby, what’s the problem? Tell me.” His voice was soft as cotton.
“You have so much money. You buy outrageously expensive things. Even this pen must have cost you around five thousand francs. And I… I can’t give you anything.”
He stood there looking at me, incomprehensive. “What you give me is priceless. Your love for me is all I want.” His eyes gazed into mine, and what I saw in them was tenderness and love—endless and all-encompassing. He took a deep breath and asked me, “What did Francesco do?”
I told him and added in the end, “This is my fault. If I hadn’t introduced them to each other…”
“Calm down, honey. You wanted the best for them. Look at me.”
I raised my head to look him in the eyes.
“Now I understand what the problem is,” he whispered.
“What are you trying to say?”
“I love you, baby, and I wouldn’t hide in my work if we had any problems.”
I was speechless. This was precisely what I’d been worried about the entire time. If we were to find ourselves in a difficult situation, how would he react? Would he abandon me under the pretext that he had a lot of work to do, or would he leave me to torture myself, like Francesco did Lily?
“Alexander,” I whispered.
His thumbs gently stroked my cheekbones. “I am not Francesco. I love you far too much to hide from you. I wouldn’t let anything—I mean anything—come between us. Do you understand?”
A single tear rolled down my cheek. “I love you so much. So much it scares me.”
“Everything between us will be fine,” he assured me. “Now take a deep breath and get ready to help your friend. But don’t compare their relationship with ours.”
“Okay. I don’t know why I’ve been feeling so unsettled since yesterday.”
“I can’t wait to come back and ease your mind.” He put his soft lips on mine. His hot breath caressed my skin when he said, “Oh, baby, both of us have such a great need for each other. Our relationship is incomparable to anyone else’s.”
I didn’t think I could have loved him more, but right now, I loved him more than anything. To feel his love for me was like a sea of ecstasy in which my soul bathed.
* * *
I went to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel accompanied by Henry. I knocked on the door and, when Lily answered it, I was taken aback. She was in a sorry state. Her beautiful brown eyes were puffy and her face was red. Her hair, which was always impeccably smooth, was now unrecognizably disheveled.
She saw me and rushed to hug me.
I tried to console her. “Everything will turn out okay. You’ll see”
“No, it won’t. He’ll definitely leave me,” she whimpered.
“Let’s go buy you a pregnancy test. Come on. Henry is waiting for us in the corridor, and I don’t want to abuse his professional tact.”
She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve and replied, “God, I’m so glad you’re here beside me.” Then she started to get ready.
* * *
Henry was kind enough to drive us to the nearest chemist. Unlike me, he already knew Dubai quite well. We obtained the right pregnancy test. As Lily assured me it would, it came out negative. We took a picture of it with her phone and sent it to Francesco, who immediately called her.
It was like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
While I was waiting for them to make up, I sent Alexander a text message stating, “I miss you. I love you. Lightheadedly in love. Alexia.”
My amazing boyfriend immediately replied to my text. I love you too. If you’re about to faint, maybe I should come?
I wrote out a quick reply. Calm yourself. I’m still standing. ;-)
After fifteen minutes of talking and declarations of love, Lily, grinning widely, hung up her cell and threw herself at my neck.
“What would I do without you, Alexia?”
I was infinitely happy. I loved Lily like a sister and was of the opinion that, if any woman deserved happiness, it was her. Over the years of our friendship, we’d always supported and looked out for each other in times of hardship. I was certain she and Francesco were such a good match that their relationship would last until their last moment on this earth. And my gut feelings were rarely wrong.
* * *
We went for lunch at a restaurant in the Burj Khalifa skyscraper, which was famous for being the tallest in the world and whose grandiose architecture truly impressed me. It couldn’t be otherwise—it wasn’t every day I had the pleasure of seeing this needle-shaped building and the unique view of the city from high above.
Later in the day, we found a nice souvenir shop, where I bought a statuette of Burj Al Arab as a memento for my father. He displayed all my souvenirs in a prominent place in a beautiful glass cupboard and was always delighted by the small gifts I never forgot to bring him when I went somewhere on holiday.
Oh, how I missed him and how I longed to celebrate my birthday with my family, though I knew it would be impossible. My father w
as swamped with work at his company, and as if that weren’t enough, he now had to help his wife Melanie prepare for the baby she was expecting.
I told all this to my girlfriend in order to persuade her to come with me to a baby shop so we could pick a garment for my future brother or sister. Right then, Lily felt sick at the sound of the word baby, but eventually, she agreed, and that’s how we found ourselves in a very cute baby boutique.
The saleswoman was very kind and polite and showed me all kinds of cute clothes. She thought I was the one expecting a baby and Henry was the father. I explained to her we weren’t an item and it was actually my father who was expecting a baby, which definitely shocked her, but she quickly regained her composure and continued to offer us the best items in their collection. In the end, after hesitating many times about what to buy, I stopped at several white bodysuits and a cute ivory-colored onesie with a pocket in the middle, which had a funny picture of a baby elephant.
Having finished my shopping, I told Lily I was all hers. I knew she was dying to descend on the luxury designer boutiques in search of the latest handbag or shoes. And for the first time, I was only along for the ride. Alexander had showered me with gifts, which I wore with pleasure and without any qualms because this made him happy. Which was why I didn’t need anything.
At around five, I walked Lily to her hotel and then returned to mine. My feet were throbbing from fatigue, even though I’d made sure to wear flat sandals. I sprawled myself on the bed like a corpse. I was dead tired, and we were going to a club tonight. So, without meaning to, I fell asleep in my clothes.
* * *
Soft lips touched my face. “Baby, it’s me,” Alexander said quietly while putting the covers over me. “Why didn’t you cover yourself? Do you want to get a cold with this air-conditioner?”
I opened my eyes and turned to him. I immediately felt the urge to hug him.
“I must have fallen asleep without realizing I was drifting off…” I put my arms around his neck. “I missed you so much, the entire time.”
“I missed you too.” He hid his face in my neck, inhaled deeply, and then propped himself up on his elbow. “I have great news. I was issued a permit to build a hotel in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai to be more precise,” he announced proudly.