Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 188: His Wife

Anne stiffened, taken aback by the fact that he had pulled her onto his lap. For a moment she was too stunned to move or speak as his head came to rest on her shoulder, his warm breath fanning her hair and grazing her skin in a ticklish way that made her toes automatically curl inside her home shoes.

That wasn’t all, she felt him take in a deep breath, moving his nose to the crook of her neck, causing her to jolt like she wanted to shoot out of his lap. However, the large arm around her waist tightened, holding her in a gentle, quietly longing manner, like a man clinging to a spar in a stormy sea.

Her heart suddenly leapt, a brief flutter in her chest.

Something deeply profound seemed to lurk in the air around him. Merely a while ago, he had shown an amicable air, but right now he seemed to be sinking. Whatever it was pulling him in, he held her.

All her senses were filled with him. His scent, deeply masculine and intoxicating. Everywhere his touch rested on her, she felt it intensely. The warmth of being encaged in his large frame and the light brushing of his nose against her neck, she was acutely aware of.

"An-Andrew, what are—" she began to say, her words sounding breathless, but his sudden head movement on her shoulder caused her to stop speaking as he moved his lips closer to her earlobe, his lips brushing it as he whispered,

"Say it again."

Anne was too lost in the sensation of his breath against her ear to understand what he meant until she asked, "Wh-what?"

"My name. Say it again, I want to hear it from you." His breath, the sensation of his lips moving against her earlobe, caused her brain to become foggy, her mind thoughtless. He grazed his lips against her ear when she didn’t speak, making her fight the urge to move away.

Why did he want her to say his name?

"Say it, Annelise," he coaxed huskily, wanting to hear the breathy way she had said his name a moment ago, the way that made something inside him move.

"Andrew..." Anne finally whispered when he kept teasing her ear, just to make him stop, because it wasn’t only ticklish but was sending heat waves through her whole body, especially to a part below her abdomen. If he continued to tease her, she might actually melt into a puddle!

Her breathing moved in sync with his own, and for whatever reason he might be holding her in this moment and teasing her ear, she was the one feeling a sense of belonging in her heart.

"Hm, make sure you call me that often," he rasped, letting his lips graze her supple cheek before resting his head back against her shoulder.

Andrew had no idea what he was doing when he pulled her into his lap, but it had felt natural, like she belonged right there, enclosed not only in his arms, but sitting on his lap. She was his wife after all, he had every right to do this, he told himself.

As she slowly relaxed in his hold, his arm subconsciously tightened around her waist and his fingers came dangerously close to her breast. She felt it, and he too felt the swell beneath his touch, but he didn’t move away, he let his hand remain there. Her big sweater did nothing to hide that part his fingers were brushing, and since it wasn’t every day he got to do this, Andrew let it be.

This... he thought, allowing a rare moment of peace to wash over him. Just this.

His eyes slowly drifted shut.

This was all he needed, and the realization of it stunned him slightly. It was just holding her close, yet the scent of her, something uniquely hers calmed him. The softness of her body, the steadiness of her breathing, all of it filled him in this close proximity and it suddenly chased away the bitter taste that had lodged itself it his throat from all the bitter memories threatening to surface within him when Michael Sterling had been here earlier.

It had taken tearing his own heart out of his chest to no longer feel the pain of the past, it had taken him burying the human part of him that was now slowly returning to him again. It suddenly felt like because his heart had learned to love someone, it had also learned how to hurt from the mere presence of his father. And with that ache he forcefully kept hidden came a quiet need, one that was now quelled by her closeness.

Anne heard him let out a breath, she felt as the tension slowly left his body and she wondered what weight he’d carried in his heart, because she could feel that weight slowly ease away.

The satisfying thing about caring for someone deeply wasn’t in their ability to take away our pain by whispering words of platitude to our ears, or easing our ache with their assurance, it was in the quiet comfort of being in their embrace, it was in the gentle pleasure of their presence, that alone had the power to ease any pain.

Experiencing this for the first time was very comforting for Andrew as the darkness in his mind slowly receded without him putting up a fight to press down his emotions, all he’d needed was the quiet surrender to her light.

And her light warmed him, eased him, and took away his pain.

Time slowly slid by and a vibrating sound suddenly broke through the atmosphere.

Anne seemed to come back to her senses and quickly moved to stand up and leave his embrace, but he held her still, tightening his hold around her as if the thought of letting her go hadn’t crossed his mind at all.

"Your phone." Anne informed him, but it took quite a while before he finally asked,

"What about it?" His voice held the low rumble of someone close to the verge of falling asleep.

"It’s ringing." She said.

"Let it ring." He murmured.

"It could be an important call."

"Doesn’t matter." He replied again in a sleep heavy sounding voice.

Anne was trying to find a way to escape from his embrace.

Perhaps he was holding her for no special reason, but her heart was taking it seriously, letting herself get used to something like this was dangerous for her heart, because then when the time came to let it go she would have a lot of things to miss about him.

She would miss the way he was currently holding her and it would make the heartbreak hurt even more.

Wouldn’t it be easier to save herself a little bit of pain? 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Her tone was gravely serious as she spoke next. The phone had long since stopped ringing and silence returned to the room.

"I’m tired and I have work tomorrow, I need to go rest now."

As she said this, she suddenly felt him move his chin which was resting on her shoulder. She could feel his gaze on her face from the side but she didn’t look at him, he seemed to be trying to find something in her expression before eventually he pulled his arms which were encircling her waist away.

"Alright." He uttered, tone heavy with a hint of disappointment and she immediately got up and with hurried steps she left the dining room.

He watched her go, feeling a sudden heavy emptiness descend over his entire being.

He glanced down at his hands, just a moment ago she had been in his arms and now she was gone, if it wasn’t for the lingering warmth, it would have seemed like it hadn’t happened at all.

His fingers ran through his hair and a well of frustration choked at his chest that he suddenly snatched the phone from the table and dialled back to the last person who’d just called him without even looking at the ID.

"Why the hell did you just call me?" If he were to pour out all his annoyance at this person for interrupting his moment, he might end up sending the person to the damned depths of hell.

"Whoa! What’s got you so moody? Just called to check if there are no complications with your injury that’s all, don’t bite off my head for it." Shawn’s voice came from the other end and Andrew stiffened in realization.

"There are no complications. Now that you have your answer, will you fix what you interrupted?" Andrew snapped back.

"What did I interrupt, a billion dollar deal you were in the middle of?" Shawn asked.

"A damn peaceful moment with my wife!" Andrew all but growled into the phone.

Of all the times Shawn could call, it had to be at this specific moment.

"Wait, what?" Shawn’s mildly laughing voice came through next. "Your wife?"