Aris: A Sexy Romance Novel (Thief of Hearts Series Book 1) (7 page)

“Would you like a banana?”  she took the fruit out of the bowl in her hand.

“Sure.”  Aris was leaning forward to take the banana from her not sure where this was going.

“Hm, no, this banana has a spot.”  Anaya put it down behind her,  “How about an apple?”

Aris shrugged his shoulders, “Ok.” Again he leaned forward to take the fruit offered to him.

“Ooh, no.  This one is bruised.”  Anaya put the apple down behind her, as Aris dropped back in the chair.

She was looking at the other fruit in the dish,  “There are grapes.  Do you like grapes?”

“Grapes are fine.”  Aris didn’t lean forward this time, he put his hand out for the grapes that she was holding.

“There are rotten ones on a few stems.  This won’t do.” she set the grapes down behind her.

Aris sighed looking at her. 

“Now you’re getting it!  Think about how you feel right now.  Your body language says you are irritated with me.  You’re frustrated.  Are you anxious?  Maybe you want to say to hell with it or go find your own food, but you can’t.  You’re stuck in that chair, a little like this island.”  Anaya looked at him hoping the rest of it would dawn on him.  “Maybe you don’t trust me to give you what I offer.  Maybe you feel like I’m a liar?”

“I’m lots of those things Anaya, but I don’t understand how that ties to Saoirse.” Aris was still frustrated.

“You agree that Saoirse is here under duress.  She didn’t want to be.  You negotiated that with her.  That’s not the best place to start, but you know that.  You keep offering things to her, like the fruit I offered you, but then you don’t follow through.  Instead of accepting the answers she gives you, you ignore them doing what you think is best for her.  She doesn’t need you to do what you think is good for her.  She needs, what she needs.  Even a person’s favorite things can be annoying if they’re not wanted just then.  In our world, it is customary for men to order for women, or make arrangements for things, it’s even considered polite the way you handle it, generally.  In her world, it’s aggressive.  You’re pushing your will in front of her needs or wants.”

“But what am I supposed to do?  She barely ate anything yesterday, she skipped breakfast this morning, she’s gone all morning, thankfully with Mata.  I haven’t gotten to spend any time with her, when I do catch up with her, she’s eating Koyn! ”

“What’s that?” Denise broke in.

“It’s lamb grilled on an open fire.  It’s the local equivalent of a hamburger.” Aris replied.

“But that’s the whole point!  You’re worried about much higher issues.  She doesn’t care that it’s Koyn.  It was what she wanted.  She’d never had it before.  Mata saw her interest in it, then facilitated it.  You took her to Celeste’s.  That’s great, but you didn’t ask her if she wanted anything.  You presumed what was best for her, albeit for good reasons, but to her, she’s still being burdened.  She’s being dragged to your home, to do things your way.  She probably can’t wait for her twenty-one days to be up.  She’s probably dying to hear Noah’s offer to send her home now. 

She asked to see the contracts because it’s something she knows how to control.  So she asks for the contracts, which is what she’s supposed to be doing anyway, but then you ran over her trying to make everything comfortable and perfect for her.  She didn’t ask for all of that, she asked for the contracts. 

You have nineteen days left.”  Anaya held up one finger.  “Shut up.  Stop offering her everything.  Stop trying to make everything perfect at the drop of a hat.  Ask her.  Accept her answer.  If she wants Koyn non stop for the next week, give her what she asks for.  She’s not likely hurt herself, she’s not in that kind of position.”  Anaya picked up the banana play acting hunger again, “Are you hungry?  Yes?”  she handed the banana over to Aris putting a second finger up,  “Just be.  Don’t fuss about stuff.  You’re hungry, I offered the banana, I gave you the banana.  Don’t fuss that there’s a black spot on it or that it’s not what her body needs.  Just be.  She wanted the contracts.  Take her to Martin’s office, give her the contracts.  If she’s uncomfortable in his office, she’ll say so.  Then you can offer her something else but wait til she says what she wants.  Do what she wants.”

“I get it.”  Aris looked sad.

“You and she are speaking different languages.  Until you learn to speak hers, there’s not going to be any communication.  You can love her with all your heart, til it bursts, but if she doesn’t understand that’s what your goofy behavior is, it’s not going to do anything except guarantee your heartache.  So.  You asked what she wanted for dinner tonight.  She said whatever Mata makes.  Ok.  Let her pick what she wants, ignore what she doesn’t.  Keep the hungry idea in your mind.”

“Thank you, Anaya.”

She shrugged her shoulders,  “It’s a process.” she stood up turning around, “I’ll take care of Denise’s itching too.”

Denise stood up to go with Anaya.  The two women walked away from the outdoor room chatting with each other.  Noah and Aris watched them go.  Snatches of their conversations floated back to the outdoor room. 
‘...men are such blockheads.’

Chapter 6

Mata cooked enough for Aris, Saoirse, and Denise for dinner.  As it was, Denise had not returned with Anaya yet, and Saoirse was still in her room from their fight earlier in the afternoon.  Aris made the decision to see Mata home hoping that Saoirse would come down by then. 

Returning to the house, everything was still quiet.  He didn’t quite know what to do with himself.  He had pushed everything off his proverbial plate for the next couple of weeks so he could spend the time with Saoirse.  Aris plopped down on one of the couches with his tablet.  He had a reading list large enough to break an elephant if you put all the selections into paperback.  When he was a child, Noah would teach him stuff that he had learned at the citadel.  The greatest of gifts he had ever been given was Noah teaching him to read.  Noah didn’t like reading, but Aris read everything he could get his hands on.  He didn’t always adopt it, or agree with it, but he liked himself better with an open mind.

Saoirse filled his mind more than the words in front of him.  Should he ignore this afternoon?  Should he say he was sorry?  Apologize that he didn’t know Denise wasn’t in the market?  Apologize for Jerith not pulling Denise out of the pineapple field when it was clear she was going to get all cut up?   Fortunately, Saoirse saved him having to figure it out.

“Where is Denise?”  Saoirse stood at the entrance to the outdoor room.

“She’s with Anaya.  She said she had some stuff that would stop Denise’s itching.”  Aris held his arms out to her.   His hopes were dashed as Saoirse sat in the chair rather than coming to him on the couch.  Aris put his arms down trying to pretend it didn’t matter.

“Are you hungry?  Mata made dinner.”  Aris put on his best nonchalant tone.

“No.” Saoirse drew her feet up into the chair, curling into as if it could hug her.

Aris watched her in the chair wishing she had come to him instead, “Are you warm enough?  I can grab a blanket for you.”

Saoirse frowned pulling into a tighter ball in the chair,  “I don’t want a blanket.  I’m fine.”

“Alright.”  Aris pulled his tablet back up scanning the screen. 

There was no way he was going to be able to concentrate on anything in front of him.  He was having a tough enough time just staying out of Saoirse’s face the way Anaya had told him to.

“I, um,” Saoirse ran her hand along the side of her neck. 

“Yes?”

Saoirse’s mood snapped like a dry twig under Aris’s foot. This egg shells thing was rough.

“I’m going to eat.”  Aris turned his tablet off setting it on the coffee table.  Nothing in her posture changed, so he went to the kitchen.

Once he got through the door, he lost motivation to do much of anything.  This was not how he thought Anaya’s advice was going to work out.  He opened the fridge.  What he wanted wasn’t in there.  It was out in the outdoor room curled up in a chair when she should have been in his arms.  A halved papaya caught his attention.  Well, it wasn’t like he was driving.  Yanking the papaya off the shelf, he opened the cabinet behind him.  There was still an entire bottle of coconut wine.  Better still, there was a large bottle of dark rum.  An evil idea presented itself to Aris, which he embraced eagerly. 

He pulled the blender from the counter in corner.   He couldn’t recall what the ratios were supposed to be, so he just poured what looked right.  Coconut wine, dark rum, papaya chunks and a little bit of ice.  This could be fun.  Aris’s mood lightened as he set the blender to its ice crushing speed.  Glassware was an issue.  He had almost three quarters of the blender glass full.  Of course, he could put part of it in the fridge, but he didn’t want to.  He could always just drink it out of the blender jar.  No, that was crude.  Nothing presented itself, so he had to settle for a regular tall glass. 

“I thought you were getting dinner.”  Saoirse looked at the blender with suspicion.

“I am.”  Aris poured as much into the glass as he could before pushing the blender jar into the fridge.  He took a drink of the mixture.  It could use a little more sweet, but since he couldn’t think of what they had in the kitchen that might be sweet, he poured a little more coconut wine into the glass.  “Did you need something?”

“No.  I just heard alot of noise in here.”

“Oh.”  Aris walked around Saoirse as he headed for the sand.  He could feel her eyes digging into his back, but since she wasn’t saying anything, he kept walking.  He was already halfway to the fire pit when she called out to him.

“You guys don’t get TV out here do you?”

“Satellite.  215 channels.  The box is in the other room on the far side of the house.  Help yourself.”  the words had slipped out of his mouth before he realized what he’d said. 

He waited for her mood to get worse, or the daggers to get him.  Neither happened.  She had disappeared into the house. 

“Okay.  That was rude, but she didn’t care.  I’m polite, so she’s pissed at me.  I need to talk to Anaya again.  This makes no sense.”  Aris muttered under his breath.  He took another long pull on the drink before anchoring it in the sand to get some wood for a small fire.

Alcohol on an empty stomach is never advisable.  Aris knew this.  Still, he drank more of the contents of his glass as he set up the fire.  Working with fire when having alcohol was bad too.  He sat back in the sand drinking more of the slushy alcohol from the glass.  The fire started slowly before the flames began to dance, twirling in the breeze. 

Aris wandered back into the house for the rest of the concoction then back out to the fire.  The breeze had shifted forcing him to sit down against one of the logs used as seats.  He stretched his legs out angling them away from the fire.  Seven years weighed heavily on him.  He waited so long.  

“What are you doing?”

“I’m conversing with a monster.”

Denise laughed at him,  “What monster?”

“It doesn’t matter.  Did Anaya have something for your itching?” 

“Yes she did!  I like her as much as I like Saoirse.”  Denise sat down on the log beside him.

“Me too.”  Aris said quietly.

“What are you drinking?”  Denise reached down for the glass in his hand.

“Oh, it’s warm now.”  Aris said dismissively.  “Are
you
hungry?  Mata did all that cooking but there’s no one to eat it.”

“I had some stuff at Anaya’s, but I’ll eat something with you if you need to put food in your stomach.”  Denise smiled down at him as she finished off what was in his glass, “I like that.  That could get you in a lot of trouble.” 

“Not me.  I get sleepy long before I get drunk.  Maybe that’s a good thing right now.”  Aris stared into the fire.

“Where’s Saoirse?  You’re sitting in the sand with a fire, I’d be out here.”

“She’s in the house.  She asked something about TV.”

“TV!  I’m gonna kick her ass!  She comes halfway around the world to a beautiful island, with great people, all sorts of weird neat stuff to do, a handsome host that would do anything for her, and she’s watching TV!”  Denise practically yelled standing up.

“It’s okay, we get the Learning Channel.” Aris quipped, pulling himself off the sand,  “I think we’ve had enough fights for today.  What about you?”

“I want one of these!”  Denise pushed the glass at him.

“C’mon.  I’ll make one for you.” 

“You don’t have marshmallows do you?”

“No.  Marshmallows are disgusting.”

“They’re not!  I love the burnt part.”

Aris walked around the cabinet setting up the blender.  He was reaching for the coconut wine when Saoirse walked in.  Denise hugged her starting a conversation.  He forced himself not to look up.  It was hard not saying anything.  Instead, he put his attention on the drink he was making for Denise.  Aris set a papaya down on the cutting board.

“That’s not a good idea.  You’ve been drinking.”

He wasn’t sure if he was being scolded or if Saoirse worried about him.  In his current frame of mind he was more apt to think it was the former rather than the latter.  He arched both his eyebrows cutting the fruit.

“I think we should get some work done.” Saoirse said to Denise offhandedly.

“What? Now?” 

“No. Not now.  In the morning, we should go over to the attorney’s old office and start getting those contracts in order.”

“In the morning?”  Denise leaned over the counter at Aris who was pouring a drink,  “Aris, are you worried about those contracts?”

Aris handed her the glass shaking his head no.

“Seers, I’m going to the beach in the morning with Jerith.  He offered to teach me to snorkel.  I’m going to take him up on it.”  the grin on Denise’s face said snorkeling might be fun, but Jerith was more fun.  “Aris, do you know anything about contracts?”

Aris shook his head with an expression that clearly indicated he didn’t particularly care that he didn’t know anything about them either.

“Fabulous!  Son, you’re hired!”  Denise took a big gulp of the drink he’d handed her.  “Ooh, I like this.”

“Hired for what?  He’s the client.”  Saoirse twisted up her face.

“Saoirse, meet your new paralegal, Aris.”  Denise leaned over the counter at him, “You can follow directions right?”

Aris nodded his head uncertain of what they were talking about.

“Oh don’t be ridiculous!  He’s not a paralegal.”

“It doesn’t matter.  You can teach him.  You taught me.  All he has to do is follow instructions.  Hell, I didn’t know anything about contracts when I walked into your office either.”