Always Yours (Lagos Romance Series) (13 page)

Michael seemed to be following my train of thought. “I don’t mind getting wet” His voice broke into my thoughts. “I’d wade through a river right now just to get to a bed.”

“If we had gone to your place in
Lekki
, you might have had to” I said. “But I think I have an umbrella at the back, so we may not have to get wet at all”

I waited as Michael reached past the back seats to pick up the new ultra large umbrella that I kept in my car. I’d bought it from a roadside hawker a few weeks after I got the car because for some reason I felt that an umbrella was a very important accessory to keep in a car.

“I don’t think this umbrella is in a very good condition” Michael said as he pulled off the plastic wrap.

“It’s brand new” I replied. “Of course it’s in good condition.”

“Will you bet” Michael asked. There was a teasing glint in his eyes.

I seized the umbrella from him and pointing towards the back seat, tried to open it. I failed. The inside was a mess of rusted spokes which couldn’t hold up themselves not to talk of the fabric of the umbrella.

“It was brand new!” I exclaimed.

“You thought it was brand new.” Michael corrected. “The person who sold it to you knew it wasn’t.” He laughed. “Who did you buy it from?
The legendary Lagos traffic salesmen?”

I looked up from the rusted spokes, and though I was trying very hard to be annoyed we both burst into laughter.

“Legendary Lagos Traffic Salesmen indeed!” I repeated, still laughing. “They are not so
bad,
I buy good stuff from them sometimes. It’s my fault for not testing this one.” I threw the carcass of the umbrella on the back seat. “So we’re going to have to make a run for it.”

He grabbed his suitcase and opened the car door. The wail of the wind intensified into a scream and huge drops of rain fell into the car. The next moment he had slammed the door. I took off my shoes, bracing myself to run out of the car,
then
I heard the taps on my window I stared at him for a moment, open mouthed, instead of running out of the rain, he was waiting to fetch me!

I grabbed my bag as he opened the door. The rain was merciless as the drops fell on me with punishing force. I
didn’t have time to think about it as he grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me into a run, I locked the car as we ran to the door of the building, him already soaking wet, and me barefoot. We didn’t stop until we had run up the stairs to my door. My hands shook as I opened the door. In those few seconds I had been soaked through to my underwear. As we stumbled into the apartment I tried to laugh at our predicament but I found that I couldn’t, I was shaking uncontrollably.

Michael took my bag from me and set it on the floor. “Are you okay? He asked.

I tried to nod but my teeth started to chatter. Luckily he decided not to wait for a reply but quickly shrugged off his jacket and wrapped me in a hug that was very warm and very comfortable, despite the fact that he was as drenched as I was.

I buried my face in his chest, breathing in his closeness, he held me until my teeth had stopped chattering, until I had stopped shaking.

“Are you okay?” he whispered after a while.

I nodded, my head still on his chest, I was too unwilling to move.

He took a step back and took my hands. “Your hands are cold.” He said.

I nodded, watching as he rubbed my hands back to life with his own. I sighed inwardly, trying to understand why he had moved back when he did, I could have stood in his arms forever, was holding me so unbearable to him?

I looked up at him, our eyes met and his eyes told me why he had moved away. I started to tremble again, until my hands were shaking so violently he could feel it. Yet I didn’t look away from his eyes and he didn’t look away from mine. He was going to kiss me. I thought, my heart racing wildly. He had to kiss me now, I thought desperately. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if he didn’t.

He didn’t though. “You should change out of your wet clothes.” I heard him say.

He could have just poured a bucket of cold water on my body and it would have had the same effect. I abruptly pulled my hands out of his, Annoyance clouding my head. I searched my brain for something mean to say to him, but I couldn’t find anything. I didn’t even want to look at him and see that apologetic look that would no doubt be in his eyes. I flounced into my room without a word and slammed the door behind me.

I hurriedly pulled off my wet clothes, silently berating him, and myself, especially myself. Why was I persisting in this foolish attraction? How many times would he have to reject me before I learned my lesson? I threw on a thick towelling robe and went back into the living room. He had
switched on the lights and even the AC and was now was trying to get the TV on.

“Hey.” He said looking up at me. “Are you all right?”

I was tempted to say something rude, like ‘Why wouldn’t I be?” But I just smiled. “I’m fine” I said.

“Why don’t you leave all that” I said, gesturing to the TV, “Take a warm shower and change”, I looked at where his suitcase was still lying by the door. “There’s something dry for you to wear in your suitcase isn’t there?”

“There is.” He said, as the TV came to life. “And thanks, I could really use a warm shower”

“I’ll quickly make you something to eat” I said, going into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, I quickly stuck some soup in the microwave and put water to boil. I heard the sound of my room door closing. As I waited for the water to boil, I imagined him in my tiny shower, with the steam surrounding him like a warm mist. I shook the thoughts out of my head and proceeded to finish the meal.

By the time he came out of my room, wearing striped pyjama bottoms and a white T-shirt. I had laid out a hot meal in front of the couch. He took one look at the meal and his stomach responded by rumbling very loudly. We both burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry” He said.” But this smells wonderful.” “And I’m desperately hungry.”

I watched as he walked towards me, I tried not to admire him as he came to sit on the couch, in formal clothes he looked handsome and attractive, but in this state of casual undress he was ten times more attractive and extremely sensual. He looked dangerous.

I waited for him to sit before I got up. “Where are you going?” He asked.

“I’m going to take a shower” I said.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” He asked.

I shrugged. “I’m not really hungry.” I replied. Actually I just wanted to get away from him, from the tension that had seized hold of my stomach, I was afraid that if I didn’t escape from him, all the many emotions he brought to life within me would just tear me to pieces.”

“Sophie.” He said. “Stay and eat a little, you don’t want to lose all those...” he gestured at my body and gave me a look... “...curves, do you?”

I snickered. “That’s your best argument?” I asked. “Curves are no longer in vogue.” But I sat on the rug opposite him and did as he requested. As we ate I remembered something my mother had told me once when I asked her why she and my father always ate from
the same dishes. She had said that eating together was like professing your love for someone, over and over again. I peeked at Michael and wondered what we were professing for each other, but he was fully engrossed in eating, he must be really hungry I thought.

After a while he slowed down and sighed. “I was ravenous” He said.

“Obviously” I laughed. “I was afraid you would eat the plates!”

He smiled, “I could have.” He took in my position, sitting on the rug, across from him and laughed.

“Why are you laughing” I asked, curious.

“You know, in those days, good wives would kneel when they served their husband’s food, and they would remain kneeling at his feet till he finished eating.” He gestured towards me and laughed again. “What a good wife you are darling, next thing you will be calling me ‘My lord’.”

“I don’t blame you” I said, scowling at him as hard as I could as I watched him finish the last of the food. “It’s not your fault. I should have left you at the airport, you would still be there waiting for your driver”

He laughed at my scowl. “Okay sorry
nowwww
.” He cajoled. “Stop vexing.”

I ignored him and started clearing the dishes. He carried everything to the kitchen and offered to wash the dishes while I took my shower. I left him pretending he wasn’t too tired to clean up in the kitchen, and went to my room.

I took my time in the shower, enjoying the warm water on my
body,
afterwards, as I dried my hair I searched for something suitable to wear. I didn’t have many male-overnight-visitor friendly nightdresses. I was more of a flimsy nightwear kind of girl. I searched deep in my wardrobe and finally came up with a pair of matching cotton shorts and T-shirt my mother had given me a very long time ago. In the mirror it looked fairly decent. Though it left most of my legs bare, it was very unlikely that Michael would take one look at me in it and pounce on me in uncontrollable lust.

Not that I would mind so much, I thought. I tried to imagine him in uncontrollable lust and started to giggle.

I shouldn’t have bothered so much about what to wear though, by the time I got back into the living room, Michael was sleeping. He was splayed across the couch in a position that would give him many aches in the morning. He was much too long for my couch.

I shook my head and went back to my room, I made sure the bed was ready and put on the AC, and then I went back to the living room to wake him up.

He must have been very tired; I thought as I looked at him, he was already in a deep sleep. I studied his sleeping face; He looked so innocent, like a small boy. I shook him
gently,
he made a sound like a moan and tried to turn to make himself more comfortable. I shook him again and he opened his eyes and smiled at me, he wrapped an arm around my waist and tried to pull me unto the couch with him.

“Michael!” I exclaimed my voice rising and snapping him out of sleep. “Get up”

“Okay.” He sighed, then stood up and followed me as I led him to my room. It was like putting a child to bed, he just followed my directions and soon I had him under the covers, looking sleepily at me, about to drift off again.

“Goodnight” I told him.

He smiled sleepily. “I love you, Sophie.” He said. And the next moment he was sleeping.

I sat there watching him for a few
moments,
he had gone right back to sleep and was breathing deeply and steadily. I watched as his chest rose and fell with each breath and sighed softly. Why was I sitting watching him sleep, I asked myself, was I waiting for him to say something else, to back up what he had just said with further declarations? I got up. What did it matter what he said in the grip of sleep, I thought, as I switched off the lights and left the room, He would probably not remember any of those words in the morning.

I spent some time working in the living room, curled up on the couch, with my computer on my lap, and the sound of the TV as background noise to keep me company. After a while the sounds of the rain outside stopped, and then the power generators went silent as the PHCN power came back on. I worked until long after midnight, finishing the rough draft of an article based on the interviews I had done during the day. Finally I fell asleep, or I think I did, the last thing I remember was deciding to close my eyes for a moment

I don’t know what woke me. It may have been the flash of lightning or the sound of the rain starting again, a sound from the TV I hadn’t bothered to switch off or it may have been Michael, standing at the end of the couch, watching me sleep. I sat up, my brain still very fuzzy as I wondered
groggily why morning had come so quickly. Michael watched me as I stretched and yawned. “Hey” I said, mid yawn. “Good morning”

“It’s not morning yet.” He said. I turned to the window and saw that it was still very dark outside. “No wonder I’m still so sleepy.” I said, trying to stifle another yawn. I watched as he switched off the TV. “Why are you up then?” I asked

“The rain woke me up.” He said. He turned off the lights in the living room, leaving the light from the security lights outside as the only source of illumination. I watched silently as his shadowed form came over to the couch, he removed my laptop from where it had remained on my lap as I
slept,
he closed the lid and placed it on the floor. “I don’t know how you can sleep sitting on a couch with a computer on your lap.” He said, shaking his head.

I giggled. I think his nearness in the darkness was making me a little heady. “I’m taking you inside.” He said, putting his arms around me. “I’m not going to deprive you of your bed all night

Some part of me wondered if I was dreaming as he lifted me from the couch and carried me into my room, but I didn’t care if it was a dream or real, I snuggled closer to him, breathing in the fresh smell of his skin through his T-Shirt. Now our roles of the previous night were reversed as he gently laid me on the bed and pulled the covers up
over me. The part of me that was asleep enjoyed the sensation of being put to bed, of him arranging the covers around me, but the part of me that was awake agonised over the fact that when he was done he would leave me alone in the room. I didn’t want him to go