Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 151: Two Days...

Anne closed her eyes after getting in bed, willing herself to fall asleep but no matter how hard she tried, it felt as if sleep was the farthest thing from her at this moment.

She tried to stop herself from thinking about the fact that Andrew might be waiting for her, she didn’t know what he wanted to talk to her about, but she knew that she didn’t want to have to deal with the constant sensations that being in his presence brought so the sooner she fell asleep, the easier it would be for her to escape having to talk to him.

She wouldn’t think about him, and she wouldn’t think about last night...but everytime she closed her eyes she did, which would make her open her eyes, sit up in bed momentarily out of frustration then lay back down again.

This cycle repeated itself a few times until her door was suddenly opened and a furious chill washed into her room.

She was already sitting up, and it just so happened that the moment he stormed in, her gaze and his met midair.

Her heart picked up it’s pace.

If she could bury herself beneath the thick fluffy blankets so she would avoid being in his presence, she would.

"Why the hell were you avoiding me?" He stopped at the foot of the bed glowering down at her intensely.

Earlier at the office she immediately moved away from him as if she couldn’t stand being near him, in the end she hurried away from his presence.

That had caused a searing ache in his chest but he’d suppressed it, not knowing it would repeatedly plague him for the rest of the day.

He’d seen her for a few moments and his restlessness had dissipated but that small encounter had unfolded that the rest of his day was filled with recurring thoughts of why she would flinch from his touch, why she would rather maintain distance between them when he was always burning to have her near.

When work hours had been over he hadn’t been at SE’s building, but he drove all the way back waiting outside the company just to see if she would come out.

He’d waited and waited and she hadn’t showed up, in the end he’d gone inside the company and the PR department had been empty.

The security guard informed him that all the employees had left a few hours earlier.

What was the need to hope he would drive home with her?

Their relationship had clear rules, and being close enough to drive home together wasn’t one of the rules.

When he reached home he’d expected she’d be there already but he’d been informed that she wasn’t home yet.

Though he spent a lot of time wondering where she must have gone after work, he’d patiently continued to wait until he saw the cab taking the turn towards the manor.

Relief had suddenly flooded into him even before he realized he’d been on an edge.

That edge was a nagging feeling of uncertainty and questions.

Where was she?

It was getting late.

Was she in a safe place?

Had she encountered any trouble?

All the questions, uncertainties and the urge to drive out to search through the whole city to find her had been quelled when he saw her alighting the cab.

The butler would tell her he’d been waiting and she would come to him.

To be honest he had no clue what he wanted to talk to her about, there was nothing specific, there was just this restless urge...

Speaking to her tonight was just an excuse to see her, and be in the same space as her.

Two days...

Tonight was just the second night of their transactional marriage, the second day and he was like this...

Waiting, aching, wanting...

As long as she was there then he could breathe, as long as she was there...but she didn’t want to be anywhere around him.

He noticed the shock in her widened eyes immediately he rushed in and suddenly became aware of himself.

The slight anger he felt suddenly seemed to slowly melt away at the sight of her bright eyes.

"I was...very tired." She answered quietly.

In her condition Shawn had stressed that she needed absolute rest and shouldn’t be tired out or made to do exhausting tasks.

Of course she wouldn’t come to his room first thing after coming back from work, she must have been exhausted and he’d pettily thought...

Since when had he begun to easily fall susceptible to such petty rage?

His hardened gaze slowly began to ease up, he could do nothing else but stare at her quietly for a moment before suddenly turning around as if to leave but stopped himself momentarily to say,

"Get some sleep then."

Anne stared at his back as he walked away without saying much.

She frowned slightly.

Was that why he’d come to her room, to ask if she had been avoiding him?

Had she made it that obvious, she just refused to see him one time and he quickly came to that conclusion.

It was just as well, at least she’d escaped having to interact with him for tonight, her heart would get a break until she could reign in her own emotions.

No matter what happened, her feelings shouldn’t get out of hand.

She still remembered the woman who’d been signed to Andrew before her, that short conversation was something she’d happened to witness merely by chance.

It was funny how back then, even as she signed the contract she’d sworn to never be in that situation.

She’d sworn to never let emotions captivate her into breaking what was merely a transaction.

The firm resolve in her heart back then...when had it begun to waver...when had that resolve broken?

It was as if she hadn’t been aware of when it started, she hadn’t been aware even when her heart wavered until she was being married to him, a marriage which was another transaction, but her heart...

Her heart had already been given even before she realized it.

Her feelings would yield nothing, her feelings would only earn her coldness and disdain from him.

If not being near him would somehow cause these feelings to start to fade, if not being near him would stop the flutters in her heart, the longing and the temptations of succumbing to his touch until those feeling disappeared then she would keep her distance until this marriage was over.

However, a movement in the corner of her eyes caused her to notice he seemed to be struggling with the door.

He tugged at the door a few times, then she seemed to hear him curse low under his breath.

Anne quietly watched his actions, though she wasn’t keeping track of time he might have spent up to ten minutes by the door before he suddenly moved away frustratedly then all of a sudden strode halfway across the room and settled on the couch.

The dim lighting in the room highlighted his features, he looked neither infuriated, nor upset.

Does he not plan to go back to his room?

"Is something wrong with the door?" She asked breaking the silence that had descended in the room.

"Grandpa Is playing one of his tricks again, he might be old but he gets up to silly little things like a five year old." His voice was calm, he had his head rested backwards against the cushions, his eyes closed and his breathing steady. One would think he was on the verge of falling asleep.

Anne wondered what his grandfather had to do with what was wrong with the door that he seemed to struggle with it for quite a while.

"Go to sleep, I’ll leave in a little bit. Grandpa’s little tricks won’t work on me." He spoke with that same quiet calmness again and Anne found her eyes remained glued to him though she still couldn’t figure out what his grandfather had to do with the door. She couldn’t outright ask him to leave so she just stayed quiet.

The sudden silence in the room seemed to be charged with unspoken words.

Anne watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, the sharp, clean lines of his profile were softened by the soft lighting.

A tender ache suddenly swelled within her, the faint furrow of his brows seemed to have caused that ache. It spoke of deep fatigue, like one that plagued him enough to keep him awake at night.

She’d heard rumors in the office that he worked like a machine, hardly giving himself any rest even when he desperately needed it.

That ache seemed to throb more intensely, stemming from somewhere deep inside her that felt for him.

She was feeling that ache at his rigidly tough exterior, because once again in the quiet of her own room she was seeing a glimpse of the wounded part of him that she always sensed hidden within him.

Curiously, she wondered what hardened him into becoming this way.

He spoke of how cruel the world could be and it made her wonder what cruelty he must have endured.

She saw the untameable exhaustion in the way his broad shoulders melted against the couch, it felt like a quiet surrender of a man living constantly with his guard up and suddenly allowed himself to let his guard down in the quiet walls of her room.

Something about that made her heart soften significantly.

She knew in this moment, as her heart tightened that she cared deeply about him, she cared because just thinking about the pain from his past made her heart clench.

In the silence of the room he seemed to have fallen asleep, gently Anne lowered her feet to the floor getting off the bed.

Was he so exhausted that he’d fallen asleep so quickly?

She made her steps light as she approached him, quietly watching his resting face and the uncomfortable furrow of his brows seemed to bother her that she didn’t realize when she raised her hand towards his face.

The moment her fingers softly brushed his furrowed brows smoothing them she stiffened, two dark pools were currently staring up at her making her instantly shift back as if she’d been electrocuted.

He hadn’t been asleep! She realized in panic, the only other thought coming to mind was to flee but the instant she turned to leave, a force clamped around her wrist holding her back.