As I headed downstairs, I wondered if Arthur might actually take his time eating today. My question was answered as I entered the dining room. In short, not exactly. While he was definitely eating slower than usual, I would hardly call it "taking his time."
Thomas walked in at that moment. His jaw almost hit the floor when he saw Arthur at the table. I guess he was just as stunned about Arthur eating on time as I was.
"My goodness, how did you manage this?" He asked.
"I talked with him about some personal problems of mine," I said, shrugging. "He couldn't leave the room fast enough."
Thomas chuckled at this and shook his head. He didn’t ask for any details though. Again, I
Although Arthur certainly wasn't shy about asking me questions, he definitely seemed cautious about the kinds of things he was asking me now. I could see him pausing and second-guessing before every question. I felt a little guilty. I didn’t want him to feel like he had to be so defensive around me.But again, what was done was done. I hated that I seemed to be having that attitude so often lately, but I really wasn’t sure what else I could do about it. All I could do now was answer the rest of his questions in a cheerful manner and hope that he would start to feel comfortable again soon."What kind of scenery do you enjoy most?" He asked."Umm... I suppose things like the garden," I said, shrugging. "I’ve always loved nature. Flowers, forests, sunsets. Oh, and anything to do with water. Espe
Luckily, it seemed I was right about Arthur warming up to me again. Despite his initial hesitance to ask me questions, he seemed to relax more and more as time went on. Finally, he started getting into a groove of just throwing questions at me without even stopping to think about them anymore."So, what about your educational background?” He asked.I shrugged. "Nothing special really. Community college. I have an Associate's degree. Literature was my major.""Amazing," he said excitedly. "What drew you towards it?""Well, I used to read a lot as a child. It was kind of my escape from reality a lot of the time. As I got older, I guess I never really grew out of it,” I mused. “I was especially drawn towards the classics. Something about the romance of the
I knew that crying was pointless. That it wouldn’t solve any of my problems. Still, I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I sobbed heavily. Even with my hands pressed against my face, they did very little to muffle the sound."Oh no. Oh no," I heard Arthur mutter. His voice sounded slightly panicked.I heard his footsteps pacing back and forth for a minute before they suddenly headed my way. His hand rubbed against my back. Stiff, hesitant, distanced. It was obvious that he had no clue what he was doing right now.Somehow, that fact made me even more miserable. As much as I tried, I couldn't stop crying. I hated this. Not only was I having a complete breakdown, but I was also doing it at a completely inappropriate time and place. Something like this might not matter too much with Jack or Victor, but I’m
What to do? What was the best way to get Arthur to feel comfortable around me? I watched him as he played around with his camera. Well, Thomas did mention that getting involved in a new project would help to distract him. Maybe I could talk about work.But what? This project was what was causing the discomfort. I doubted talking more about it would help to fix that. But what else was there to talk about? He didn’t have any other projects going on right now.Or did he? My eyes suddenly landed on the bookshelf. The lightbulb went off in my head. I sat up straight and smiled at him. Although, he still wasn’t looking."Oh, by the way, di
It wasn't a lie when I told them I was tired. Crying always made me feel sleepy. Like the effort drained all my energy. I thought about sleeping in my spare room, playing things safe, but I decided not to bother. I was sure Arthur would be in the studio all night again, and besides, I missed our room.I thought sleeping there tonight might make me feel better, but it didn’t. The air felt different as I entered. Colder somehow. I could probably guess the reason for that though. Guilt.I still couldn't get Victor's pain-filled face out of my mind. I sat on the edge of the bed, but all I could think about was the last time I saw him there. Staring down at the floor, too hurt to even look at me, the misery and betrayal on his face.I could feel my eyes tearing up again at the thought. I shook my head,
I was sitting on the bench in the garden. The soft breeze made the roses sway gently around me. I watched as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky, covering everything in a faint, orangey glow.Suddenly, a hand slipped into mine. I glanced next to me. Jack smiled warmly, bringing my hand to his lips."Promise you'll stay with me forever, Anna," he murmured, pressing my palm against his cheek.I smiled as he did. Roses, sunset, this spot in the garden. It was exactly like the first time we met. Only now, it was even better. No more sneaking around or awkward moments. We could finally be together. Really be together.So, why did I still feel like something was missing? That fee
“Jack. Jack. Jack.”I murmured his name over and over again as I covered his face with dozens of kisses. He didn’t try to do anything to stop me. Instead, he seemed to be trying hard to stop himself from laughing. He rubbed my back gently, smiling at me.“Goodness, and here I was worried you might not even remember me,” he teased. “If I’d known that this was what was waiting for me, I probably would have woken you up sooner.”Gentle, playful. It was Jack through and through. I buried my face against his shoulder and closed my eyes. There was just something so comfortable about being in his arms. I know it technically hadn’t been that long. Not even a week really. Still, I could
Despite my annoyance, I suppressed the urge to blurt out everything about Victor. Jack had no way to know that saying something like that would be upsetting to me. More than that, this wasn’t the kind of thing I could be overly emotional about. I’d already hurt Victor by not thinking through my actions. I didn’t want to hurt Jack too.I took a deep breath and smiled. Alright, it would be better to tell him the more detailed part of things later, but for now, it wouldn’t hurt if I just let him know my thoughts about Victor. At least then he might tone down the criticism a bit."Actually," I explained, "Victor isn't that bad. In fact, I’d even say he's pleasant t
Silence filled the air again. We sat there for a while watching the flames crackle in the fireplace. I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like that. However, I did start to notice as his hand loosened and slowly began to slip from my side. As I glanced over, I noticed his glass beginning to tip dangerously in his hand. I gasped, catching it right before it fell."Jack!" I cried, checking to make sure it didn't spill.He jumped as if I'd startled him. I glanced over, he looked confused. Had he fallen asleep? I snickered and set his glass on the table."I think it might be time for bed,” I suggested"No, no. I was just resting my eyes," he grumbled sleepily."Well, then let's rest them in bed," I insisted, standing. I t
I think I finally understood how Arthur felt when I forced him to eat. I shoved down bite after bite, wondering how many I'd have to eat to safely be considered “done.” After a minute, I set my fork down, watching Jack out of the corner of my eye to see how he’d react. When I didn’t see any noticeable changes I finally pushed my plate away."What do you think? Should we head to bed now?" I asked, wiping my mouth."Absolutely not!" He cried indignantly. “I only have a few precious hours left with you and you already know the chances of me waking up as myself again are slim. The last thing I'm going to do is waste one second we have together sleeping."He reached over and grabbed my hand, bringing it to his lips. He pressed my palm to his cheek. His eyes held a tinge of sadness as he look
Despite his insistence that we should get out of the bath, Jack still clung to me like a lovestruck schoolboy. His hands always seemed to be on me in one way or another. Drying me with a towel, playing with my hair, holding my hand. A series of small, sweet gestures that never failed to make my heart flutter. Sadly, I wasn’t able to enjoy the feeling for long. A horrifying revelation suddenly came to me. I gasped and immediately grabbed my clothes off the floor, scrambling to get dressed. He watched me, confused. "Is something wrong?" "I forgot to meet the cleaners," I said, exasperated. "I’m already super late. I have to go. I'll meet you downstairs for dinner." I rushed out
Tell him what I did with Victor? I could feel myself blushing just thinking about it. Don’t get me wrong, I could understand why Jack wanted to know, but that still didn’t make me any more comfortable with the idea. I shook my head, setting my wine glass on the edge of the bath.He sighed softly. “I understand. As I said, I certainly won’t force you to tell me anything.”I could feel my body starting to relax as he said this. At least, until his teeth grazed against my neck. I shivered a bit at the feeling. He pressed a couple more soft kisses to it.“However,” he teased, “I don’t necessarily
My heart was still racing, as he closed the door behind us. However, I didn’t have much time to dwell on this. He didn’t waste another second before he pulled me close and pressed his lips to mine.Kissing Jack always made me feel dizzy. Like my body was losing all its strength. I had to lean against him to support myself. As he pulled away he kept my body close so I wouldn't collapse. His fingers played with my hair."You know what sounds good after walking around in that hot sun all afternoon? A nice, relaxing bath,” he commented.My mind was still hazy from his kiss. I barely even registered what he was saying. It was like my brain auto-piloted right back into my caretaker role."Should I draw one for you, Sir?" I asked.
I saw a couple of the housekeepers scurrying around as we came back. They didn’t even seem to notice us as we walked past them. I guess I could understand why they acted that way though. After all, they were here to clean, not look after us. That was my job.The cleaners might not have been the best companions, but something about just knowing they were around made the house feel a little more lively. I wondered how lonely it would feel tomorrow. Just the two of us.Although considering his earlier request, I might not mind having some privacy tomorrow. I blushed a bit as I remembered the husky tone of his voice.As if he could read my mind, he suddenly leaned in and kissed me. I pulled away nervously. My face felt hot."Mr. Weston, the cleaners!" I reminded
As always, the garden looked beautiful. It was just too bad that I couldn't enjoy it. I hated my mind. The moment we stepped outside the dream I had last night popped back into my head.I didn't want to feel anxious in the garden. I loved the garden. It was the place where Victor and I had walked before, where Arthur and I took photos, where Jack and I first met.Yet as I looked around, all I could remember were the hundreds and hundreds of agonized faces that had surrounded me. All of them crying out, begging me to choose them. I almost shuddered just thinking of it. Would I ever feel comfortable here again?"Are you alright, Anna?" Jack asked suddenly.I sighed. I felt like I was getting that question a lot lately. How did I somehow manage to make
I felt the warmth of his body as it pressed against mine. His fingers kept inching closer and closer towards my aching clit. My mind was a mess. Fulfill his request? For my body?My stomach was a flutter of nerves at the idea, but I wasn’t sure why. After all, hadn’t we done this all before? I'd already seen his body, and we’d definitely done more than just some light petting by now. So why did I feel so nervous about doing it again?It was stupid to ask that question. I already knew the answer. It was because this would be my first real time doing something like this with Jack.Different men in the same body. I understood that now better than ever. Jack wasn’t Victor, and Victor wasn’t Jack. The way they spoke to me, the way they teased me, the way they touched my body. The
I said before that I liked how kind and gentle Jack was, but there was another thing I really liked about him. His patience. I was taking a long time to answer, I knew I was, but he never once tried to rush me. He just stood there, patiently waiting for me to respond.I swallowed a few times, trying to clear the lump from my throat. I took a shaky breath and finally forced the words out of my mouth."Not yet.”"Alright, good. And do you feel the same way about the others?" He asked. I nodded. "Then that's all there is to it.Anna, I said I wasn’t going to make you choose between us and I meant it. Your relationships are your relationships. It wouldn’t be f