Page 28 of Demure
Sierra felt her mouth drop open. “To where?”
“Where I’m staying. The servants there can do them, and then they’ll shift them back when they are done.”
Sierra was aghast. “Aodhan. You can’t just be having other people do my dishes for me. I?—”
Before she could say anything else, his lips were on hers, and he was pressing her up against the wall.
Unlike before, when his kiss had been entirely unwelcome outside of the pizza restaurant, Sierra felt her body come alive as their lips touched. Her arms came up to settle on his shoulders of their own accord as his hand came to rest on her waist, and their lips moved in a comforting rhythm. Aodhan braced his other hand against the wall behind her, keeping his weight off Sierra as he pressed his body to hers.
After a few seconds, Aodhan broke the kiss, resting hisforehead against hers. They were both breathing heavily. Before Sierra could say anything, his lips were on hers once again.
She wasn’t sure how long they kissed, but at some point, he pulled her to the couch, settling her in his lap. Sierra slipped her hands beneath his shirt, resting them against his firm abdomen. She could feel him toying with the edge of her sweater, and somehow, she knew he was waiting for her permission to remove it. Sierra was torn; on the one hand, she was really enjoying this make-out session, as was her body, which was on fire at the idea of a sexual encounter after so long of having gone without, but on the other hand, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to show him everything. While her condition affected most of her body, it was at its worst on her back and stomach, and she was severely self-conscious about it. After all, this was basically only their second date.
Just as she was forcing herself to come to a decision, a clatter reached her ears, and Sierra broke the kiss to see what had happened.
Her eyes connected with a stack of dishes on the counter, all clean and dry.
“Dishes are done,” Aodhan whispered against her neck as he began to apply a soft line of kisses down her neck to the edge of her sweater.
“I—er…” Sierra didn’t get to finish that question as her phone began buzzing on the counter. With a sigh, she detached herself from Aodhan’s embrace and went to see who it was. Considering she had no real friends in Dublin, it was either her family or someone from work.
Sierra groaned as she saw ‘Mama’ on the screen.
Aodhan’s arms wrapped around her waist from behind as he rested his chin on her shoulder, lightly nuzzling the crook of her neck. “Do you need to answer that?” he whispered in her ear in a way that shot a shiver down Sierra’s spine.
Sierra knew that she should answer the call, but she also really wanted to see where this was going.
Sensing her indecision, Aodhan took a step back. “I should go anyway. I don’t know that I can keep acting like a gentleman if I stay here much longer.” Sierra’s insides warmed at his words. “But I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Sierra bit her lip. “Sure. I’m off work tomorrow.”
“Me too.” He smiled as he played with a loose curl which had fallen from behind Sierra’s ear to hang in her face. “Shall I come over?”
Sierra’s phone stopped buzzing but started again soon after. Her mom wasn’t going to let this go. “Why don’t we go to your place? I’d like to see it,” she suggested.
Aodhan nodded. “We can do that. I’ll come to collect you at 10?”
“Sounds good.”
Aodhan leaned in, placing a single, chaste kiss on Sierra’s lips. “Tomorrow.”
Before she could say anything else, he disappeared, leaving Sierra looking at her phone, which was still buzzing. Running her hand through her hair and letting out a breath to calm her heart, Sierra pressed the green button and put the phone to her ear. “Hola, mama.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sierra groaned as her alarm projected its shrill tone throughout the small apartment, and pulled the pillow over her head. She wanted nothing more than to sleep just a little longer, but she had set her alarm for nine, only giving her an hour to get ready before Aodhan would arrive to ‘collect her’, as he had worded it.
Sierra’s call with her mom had gone late into the night, but nothing had been resolved. Mrs. Lopez desperately wanted Sierra to fix her problems with her youngest son. But Sierra was done being the peacekeeper between them. It was time for her mom to figure it out on her own. Not to mention that Sierra was halfway around the world, and she didn’t see what she could possibly do to rectify the situation. Sure, she could call Diego, but she also saw his side of things, and she wanted her mother to grow up and learn how to rekindle her relationship with her youngest son on her own.
She wished that she had left the conversation in a better place, but it had ended with her mom hanging up on her again. She figured now that it was only a matter of time until one of her other siblings called on her mom's behalf. They were probablydrawing straws now, but Sierra figured it would be Antonio or Cecilia since Maria had called the last time.
Sierra begrudgingly climbed out of bed, groaning as she flicked on the light, and headed into her tiny bathroom to shower. As she stripped off the shorts and t-shirt she slept in, Sierra tried to avoid looking in the mirror. She loved how her face looked, but her skin always made her cringe, and after the events of the night before, she was feeling even more self-conscious than normal.
She showered as quickly as possible, trying to leave enough time to dry her hair. It had been getting colder in Dublin as winter drew closer, and she didn’t want her hair to freeze on the way over to Aodhan’s.
Slipping on one of her few matching bra and panty sets, Sierra chanced a glance in the mirror, only to grimace. Brushing off her embarrassment at the sight of her skin, she slipped on an undershirt, sweater, and jeans over the cute matching set. Sierra wished she had a different body; one she wouldn’t be embarrassed to see when she looked in the mirror.
As she brushed out her hair and slipped in her silver hoop earrings, Sierra wondered what Aodhan’s place would look like. All she knew was that it was close to here and that he apparently had servants who had done her dishes last night. She knew he was wealthy in his world, but she wasn’t sure how that translated to this one.
