Chapter 25 ~ Alexander
Alexander: Good morning, Mrs. Russo.
Three little bubbles appear as I lay here in my bed. She was the first thing I thought of as soon as my eyes opened. Rubbing my hand over my chest I watch the three dots dance as she types.
Isabella: Good morning, Mr. Russo, I’m in the kitchen, meet you in the library.
A wave of dizziness hits me as I kick the covers off from jumping up too fast from the bed racing to the bathroom.
I have the fastest shower of my life. Why is she here so early, and she didn't call me butterscotch?
Is she upset about the kiss last night? She shouldn't be, it was great.
We have passion and attraction. Now I just have to establish her trust in me somehow and get her to move back in.
Climbing out, I wrap a towel around my waist and go to my closet and rip a black t-shirt off the shelf and grab a pair of track pants; I toss them on the bed, chuck a pair of boxers out of the drawer and quickly towel dry my hair.
I get dressed and hurry down the hall, taking the stairs two at a time.
I round the banister to the second landing and Carlos is coming in through the front door.
“Morning. Where are you off to in a hurry?”
“Library, Isabella waiting.” I jump the last step as Carlos approaches me, he holds his hand up and I stop, he reaches out and grabs my arm and hooks a finger in the neck of my t-shirt pulling it down.
His eyebrow goes up and he looks me in the eyes, with half a smile on his face. Grabbing him by the shoulders, I give a little shake.
“Plants, brother. I told you.” I back out of his embrace, walking backward, “Got to go, she is waiting.”
Carlos smiles. “Well, make sure you eat. God knows we don't need you two chewing each other's neck. We have food here.”
Giving him the finger, I smile as I open the door.
My heart beats a little faster. Isabella is by the front window misting her plants and mumbling to them.
Her HP sweatshirt is a bit big, hiding her tummy somewhat, she has on her HP slippers and her ponytail is on top of her head, little wisps curl around her face and in the sunlight she looks like a disheveled angel.
I smile and close the door.
“Morning Mrs. Russo. How is swiss cheese today?”
Isabella jumps, and straightens up, the apple of her cheeks turning pink and she runs a hand over her hair, pushing the wisps out of her face.
“Oh, they are great. Everyone looks happy.” Waving a hand at the shelf.
I move a little closer, and she looks up at me, her eyes are wide and her lips pursed to the side of her face. She's shy and thinking about last night ,I know it. Moving up to her, I cup her warm cheeks in my hands and gently kiss one.
“Well, I’m happy. Are you happy?” I breathe in her ear.
She holds my wrist, and her hand is cool. She just nods and her eyes dart across my face. I run the pad of my thumb over her cheek. I kiss her nose and she smiles.
“Good morning, Mrs. Russo.”
“Good morning, butterscotch.” She giggles quietly.
I laugh now and bring her tight to my chest for a hug. Christ, she feels good there, like she belongs in my arms. She wraps her arms around my waist and buries her nose in my shirt, breathing deep. She’s got a thing for smelling me and I guess I do too, cause her lily scent drives me crazy.
Isabella shakes in my arms and backs up, putting her hand on my chest, pushing away, turning her back to me, facing the plant shelf once again. She's talking fast and fidgeting with the pots as she randomly rearranges them.
"I ordered us breakfast. It should be here pretty soon. Sorry, I'm craving pancakes and bacon again, but I asked Rose to make you some ham and eggs as well."
She's babbling and nervous and so damn cute. Isabella places the mister on the plant shelf and walks over to the table where we ate breakfast the day before. She appears to be more at ease the further she is from me, but I'm not going to let that happen.
I walk up behind her and pull out her chair, and she sits, looking up at me with those pink cheeks.
"It sounds great, Isabella. I'm starving. Are you? " She just nods and starts to scribble on the note pad, ignoring me. I put my hand on hers and she looks up. Her face flushes even more and she swallows hard.
"What's the matter, sweet girl? You seem so nervous."
She tosses the pencil down and removes her hand from mine, talking quickly.
"No, I'm not nervous. I'm great. Better than great, in fact." She pushed the notepad away from her. "I'm hungry, so yeah, that could be it. I'll be better once I eat." She waves her hand in the air like it's no big deal.
"I'd like to think that, bunny. But I don't think hunger is the problem. Did I upset you last night? We need to talk about these things if this makes you uncomfortable.”
Her face goes another shade of red. “Oh, yeah,... well,... I feel bad I lost control there for a minute.” She looks at my neck and covers her face with her hands.
“Oh, my god I totally gave you a hickey?” She flops her head on the table. “I’m a skank!”
I burst out laughing. "Sweetheart? You're not a skank. I'm your husband. You're supposed to lose control with me. I’m not complaining. I did too. "
She lifts her head a fraction of an inch and peers up at me. Her eyes are glossing over like she wants to cry. Oh no, not tears, my heart can’t take any more tears.
"You don’t get Alexander! I’m like, crazy hormonal.
I’m mad at you, or I'm supposed to be. You ripped my heart out and left it on the floor.
You took my job, my life! And all I can think about is how fucken good you smell and I want to do things to you.
Like, not good girl things." She covers her face again and whimpers into the table top.
I am trying very hard not to laugh because I feel the same, but she seems really upset about having these feelings. She mumbles into the table not lifting her head up.
“Like one minute I want to eat your face off, and then I want to slap it.
And I can never tell from one minute to the next which it's going to be.” She pops her head up out of her hands and her forehead is red from pressing on the table, she waving her hand up and down, over my body her voice is stuttering.
"Like right now! You come walking in here all smelling good, like soap and man… smell. Wearing that tight black t-shirt and those nylon track pants, JESUS! And I lose it. My brain is all…” She makes her voice deep, "You should just jump his bones!
And then common sense says, Oh, no you don't! He's an an asshole. "
I can't help it now, I do laugh out loud, a deep belly roll laugh because she is so upset about feeling attracted to me and I feel the same about her.
I want to eat her for breakfast but I'm not telling her that, she is already upset enough.
She finally lifts her head up off the table and looks at me like an angry kitten.
“This isn’t funny, Alex, not funny at all!” She points at me, “See… now I want to slap you instead of… doing other… things.”
That has me sobering in seconds. She wants to do ‘things’ to me?
I can’t help it. My cock gets hard at the thought of all the ‘things’ I want to do to her.
I was her first and by god I'll be her last, but she isn't very experienced and I don’t know fuck all about pregnancy hormones, but we can establish a middle ground, something we can both handle till the day arrives for more.
I shake my head. This is so fucked up. She’s my wife, but this feels like dating all over again and I don’t date.
“Okay, so what if we come up with rules?”
“Rules?”
“Yeah, rules.” I grab the notepad and pencil.
“Okay, since we both are attracted to each other, how about we lay down parameters we can live with.”
She’s just looking at me like I lost my mind.
“Okay, kissing.” I point at her with the pencil. “Rule 1. We can kiss, but no chewing, biting or leaving hickeys.” I raise one eyebrow and she nods.
“How about? Clothes are to remain on. That way, no one is tempted to go further. Rule 2.”
I write that down, looking back up at her. She looks so confused, as if she likes this idea, but pissed off her body is betraying her walls of defense.
“As for the ‘man smell’, I can’t help that. But I will give you permission to smell me anytime you desire.” I wiggle eyebrows at her.
Her voice is sad. “Yeah, but that’s what makes me want to eat your lips.”
“Oh, and you think it’s easy for me? You walking around here all cute and smelling like flowers, with your soft skin and pink cheeks?”
She gives me a shy smile like this is the first time she’s ever thought I was just as attracted to her as she is to me.
Isabell whispers. “Okay, I’ll agree to that.”
“Okay, rule 3, we can smell each other anytime we want.”
“WAIT! I can’t agree to that. I know enough about you Alexander Russo, you’ll come creeping into my house at some weird hour and smell me cause it’s in the rules. Nope, it has to be when we are in the same room. No sneak attacks.”
Shit, I had a plan, but she just ruined it.
“Fine, no sneak attacks.” I look over the notepad. “Anything else you can think of?”
Rose comes in and puts the rather large tray on the table, lifting the lid. Isabella's eyes go wide and she breaks out into a big smile. She loves her pancakes, I guess.
I thank Rose and she leaves us. Isabella already has three pancakes on her plate, she’s pouring syrup on them and then she grabs three pieces of bacon and lays it in the middle of the top one, she turns the plate and begins to roll the pancake and bacon into a burrito style, picks it up and bites it.
Shoving the big bite into her cheeks, “Oh, sweet Jessica Simpson, this is so good.”
I chuckle. “Did you just make a burrito out of your pancake?”
She nods enthusiastically as she takes another bite. “Saves cutting it up, plus you get every flavor in one bite. Besides, you're going to have to get to know the real me, and I'm not going to pretend I don't like making pancake burritos because it’s not ladylike.”