Shehryar
Three days later
I lied to Mariyah during our phone call on the morning of her birthday.
I’d already booked my ticket to Raven for that coming Friday weeks ago.
I also did something I told her I wouldn’t do again.
I broke into her apartment.
Well, technically, it wasn’t breaking-and-entering when I’d collected the spare key from their family home with the help of her older sister, Lily, on my drive from the airport.
From their house, I drove in the hire car straight to Mariyah’s apartment and let myself in, knowing she was still at work and wouldn’t be back for another hour or so. That gave me more than enough time to unpack a few things and prepare dinner with the groceries I’d bought.
By the time I heard a key being slotted into the front door, I’d put soap in the bathtub ready to fill, finished the prep for dinner, lit up some candles, filling the living area with the sweet scent of spearmint, and the roses I’d given her for her birthday took up centre piece on the square dining table.
The sound of her arrival sent my heart erupting into a hard rhythm, ready to bound out of my chest upon the first glimpse of her. I straightened from where I was leaning back against the L-shaped kitchen countertop, blindly placing my mug of coffee down.
Excitement, relief, and adoration made my skin hum with a warm current, and I couldn’t stop myself from edging a few steps towards the door.
Everything seemed to happen so slowly and yet way to fast too as the door creaked open.
There was a short wall that separated the kitchen from the entranceway so I couldn’t see her, but I heard the rustle of her movements go completely still once she must have seen the curtains closed, lights on, and the five little silver candles dotted around.
“What the…” she muttered before the door clicked shut.
A rush of steps brought her into sight, and my pulse fired from a gun into the sunset.
Mariyah’s eyes flared as they settled on me, and her pink, glossy lips parted.
My mouth slowly spread into a wide grin as I took her in from the tiny droplets of rain clinging to her lightly frizzed bangs to the open front of her long spring coat, showing the curve of her stomach wrapped in a fitted black fabric, all the way up to her stunning ocean-blue eyes.
She was so fucking beautiful. And mine.
“Welcome home, baby,” I purred.
“You fucking—” She didn’t finish her sentence as she let the short strap of her handbag slip off the tips of her fingers and charged right for me.
I opened my arms, and she flew into them, cinching herself around my neck as I hugged her soft, damp body tightly and lifted her off the floor. I chuckled in endearment as she locked her legs around my hips and squeezed me tightly, but a hard pang of longing echoed from my soul when I buried my face in the crook of her neck and filled my lungs with her sweet, peachy scent.
Fuck, I’d missed her. I’d missed my little menace beyond words, beyond anything I’d ever thought possible. Shehryar from six months ago would have been horrified if he saw me now, but I couldn’t have been happier finally holding Mariyah in my arms again.
For a long, silent minute, that’s all I did—cradled her as she cradled me—until she pulled back, cupped my face, and slammed her mouth over mine, kissing me like a starved fiend.
I bent her over my arm and kissed her back just as urgently, licking up the sweet taste of toffee from her mouth and relishing the heady fire she filled my veins with. We were both panting for air yet neither of us could seem to stop seeking out one more touch.
“You fucking broke into my apartment again, you dickhead,” she rasped and nipped at my lips.
I smiled breathlessly and pressed a kiss to her swollen bottom lip. “I didn’t.” Kiss . “Your sister gave me the spare key.” Kiss .
Mariyah swung back, her brows reaching her hairline. “She knew?”
“I told your parents yesterday that I was coming to surprise you, and they asked Lily to help me collect the spare key from their house.”
She shook her head slowly in utter disbelief. “You’re such a—” Rather than completing her affectionate insult, she smacked a succession of kisses against my bristly cheek. “I hate you so much, Sheri.”
I chuckled as she forcefully tipped my head the other way and laid another path of kisses all my face all over. “I’m sure you do, little menace,” I said, my skin prickling hot with a bashful blush.
Once her onslaught slowed, I loosened my grip around her waist, attempting to put her down, but like a cat with separation anxiety, she clambered back up me. “Don’t you dare put me down,” she growled.
I met her playful glare with an arched brow. “Ever the demanding brat, aren’t you?”
She smirked, her lashes falling low and seductive, and cocked her chin. “What are you going to do about it, Daddy ?”
I swiped my tongue across my bottom lip and curled it between my teeth as a warm coil of desire twisted low in my core. I leaned into her, watching her gaze dip to my mouth. “I’m going to take you to your room, get you out of these damp clothes… and…” I brushed the tip of my nose across hers, lowering my voice to a husky purr. “And put you in the bath.”
She reeled back with a baffled frown. “What?”
I flashed her a laughing smirk before I lurched her body up, throwing her over my shoulder. She squealed and clamped her hands shut around fistfuls of my thin jumper.
“Shehryar,” she snapped.
Chuckling, I headed past the dining table towards the corridor that led to her bedroom and bathroom. “I have an order tonight, little menace, and you’re not getting fucked until I’ve had the pleasure of washing and feeding you. Is that clear?”
Forty minutes later, Mariyah was sat on the grey carpet of her bedroom floor between my legs, while I was on the edge of her bed with a hair dryer in my hand.
Donned in the dark brown hoodie she’d pulled out of my suitcase and her own grey joggers, she looked so fucking adorable and precious with her knees propped up, her pretty painted toes wriggling against the carpet. I’d never seen her so quiet and relaxed, simply lolling her head this way and that as I finger combed her hair, ensuring it mostly dried.
It fed my pride with immense satisfaction that she was letting me care for her in such a simple yet intimate way. I loved running my hands through her hair and listening to her sigh contently. Plus, it was also helping to soothe the nervous racket behind my rib cage.
Because fuck me, but I was nervous.
I’d been thinking about this day for weeks, planning everything I’d say down to the final word. Now that I had Mariyah in front of me, the butterflies swooping around my belly were jumbling up all those rehearsed sentences until they were unrecognisable.
But I’d never wanted something— someone in my life so much before, and I wanted her to understand perfectly what she meant to me. How the fuck was I supposed to do that now?
Mariyah pushed a set of fingers into the back of her blonde locks before pulling it out and giving my knee two taps. I took that as her sign she was happy and turned the hair dryer off. As I placed it down on the duvet next to me, she tipped her head back against the edge of the mattress and smiled sleepily up at me with stars glowing in her eyes.
Shit. Fuck . There wasn’t a word to describe the throbbing flood of fondness, protectiveness, and want she made my every cell and atom drown in.
Actually, there was. And it was exactly what I was so pathetically nervous over.
“You know,” she said as I brushed one lock of hair away from her eyes. “Other than my dad, and maybe a hairdresser, I think you’re the first man who’s ever washed and dried my hair.”
One corner of my mouth twitched. “Good. That’s my privilege from now on, and only mine. There’s no reason any other man should be touching your hair.”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes but lifted her smiling mouth up to meet me halfway as I bent over her and gave her an upside-down kiss.
“Come here,” I beckoned huskily, holding my hand out to help her up.
She took it and followed the pull of my grasp until she was straddling my lap, her thick thighs bracketing mine, my arms cinching her waist, and her own twined around my neck.
Say it. Fucking say it, Shehryar. What are you so scared of?
Instead, I spent a whole minute admiring the scattering of faint freckles against her light olive skin until she pinkened and shrunk back with a hard swallow.
“What?” she grumbled, her shyness bringing out her defensive side. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I swallowed around my pounding pulse. “Do you know what day it is today?” I rasped.
Her brows dipped ever so slightly, and I could see her thoughts racing through her stare, trying to figure out why I’d asked. “As in the date? It’s the twenty-fourth, isn’t it?”
“It’s the twenty-fifth.”
“So?” she muttered, dragging the word out.
My lips quirked at her confusion. “When did we decide to stop fighting and give us a try?”
It took a second, but her features stilled once the information clicked into place. “The day before your mum’s wedding…the twenty-fifth.” Then she bunny scrunched her nose in mock disgust. “I didn’t take you for a romantic, Sheri.”
My smile tilted higher at her tease, but I said, “Do you remember what you said to me?”
She shrugged, her fingers gently scratching against my nape. “I said a lot of things.”
“There was one thing in particular you said about not mentioning love until it had been three months.”
Her fingers froze mid scratch.
I gulped around my jittering nerves, caressing one hand up and down her back as if I were reassuring her, but really touching her was the comfort I needed.
“Technically,” I continued, my voice thickening with the intense emotion flooding my bones, “it’s been four months. But considering I fucked up and we weren’t really…together, I thought I’d add an extra month to your condition.”
“Sheri,” she croaked, her eyes darting between mine, but not in panic, thank Neves.
I gave her nape a little squeeze, wrapping myself around her possessively. “You’re a menace, through and through, but it took me five years to accept that that’s exactly what I love about you.” A warm smile touched my lips as a glaze filtered over her eyes. “You’re a force of nature, Mariyah, confident and unafraid to fight for yourself and everyone you care about. You know who you are, you know what you want, and you’re proud of it. And when your anger and stubbornness aren’t driving me fucking mad, I can admire your strength immensely.”
The corner of her mouth lifted, and I wanted so badly to kiss it, but I lassoed the urge back into a pen. “I wish I’d seen it sooner, but I don’t think twenty-two-year-old me would have really appreciated that your menacing attitude, the way you’ve challenged me and fought me, was exactly what I needed, what I never knew I wanted. It was always you. You were everything I was missing in my life .”
The sheen in Mariyah’s eyes turned liquid, and my heart was wrenched in two in the best fucking way.
“I love you, Mariyah,” I whispered. “So fucking much.”
I wasn’t sure if her awed, teary silence was comforting or if it was something to fear, but I was a thousand per cent sure the sound of my heart could be heard for miles.
When it didn’t seem like she had any intention of ending the silence, I added, “You don’t have to say it ba—”
She crashed her mouth over mine but didn’t give me enough time to respond before pulling back. “I love you too, you fucking dickhead.”
Forget one, my heart missed at least five beats. “You…you do?” I croaked.
“Yes, I do,” she rumbled, almost looking outraged by the idea that I thought she might not. “What the fuck? Why would you think I didn’t? Are you stupid?”
My mouth stretched and stretched until I was grinning from ear to ear so hard my cheeks hurt. “I mean, I know you’re obsessed with me, menace, but I was just making sure.”
She narrowed her eyes sarcastically. “Oh, please. Me? Obsessed with you? With that little peanut of yours? Not even close.” My face fell, and she smirked smugly, but it softened as she sank against me. “But love? Fuck yeah, Sheri. I love you so, so much. How could I not? You’re so irritatingly perfect for me in every way. But you’re right. I don’t think either of us would have appreciated that before, but I’m glad we finally do.”
With a hard swallow, I nodded. “Me too.”
We stared at each other, endearment wrapping us up in a fuzzy bubble, for endless moments.
“So,” Mariyah eventually purred, her lashes dipping over her dilating pupils. “Can you show me how much you love me now?”
Warm smoke whispered down my abdomen in understanding, and I clenched my teeth. “No. Dinner first.”
She rolled her pelvis against my groin with purpose, and my dick started swelling instantly. “You can feed me once I’m thoroughly sweaty, spanked, and sated.” She attempted a pout, but her eyes were brimming with audacious delight. “Please, Daddy.”
And well…
I punished her for ruining my well-thought-out plans, but I still gave my menace exactly what she wanted and more.
I did for the rest of our lives.
The End