The flicker of warm light dances across my face, I’m drunk on a post orgasmic glow in the arms of my bright, shining star. We’re lying in front of the fire on a mattress he dragged onto his bedroom floor. The room is dark, lit only by the fire flames. Sporadically, the fire crackles loudly, breaking the silence.
Alastar is curled around me from behind, and his hands roam up and down my naked body, with his lips touching my skin every now and then. We are under a large, chunky knit, navy throw.
“Tell me about your family?” he asks.
“My family?” I smirk.
“Yes.”
“Well, I am the middle daughter.”
“Middle child syndrome?”
“Totally,” I whisper.
“My mum and my dad are hopelessly in love.”
I feel him smile behind me.
“We are relatively poor.”
He comes up onto his elbow and looks down at me. “Poor?” He frowns as if surprised.
I shrug. “Well, not poor. We never went without, but my father had an accident when I was seven and has a bad back.”
“Oh.”
“He can only work part-time.”
He stays silent, as if thinking.
“Mum picked up jobs where she could.” I smile up at his shocked face.
“We were wealthy in other ways,” I reply to try and relieve his horror.
A trace of a smile crosses his face. “How so?”
I smile. “My parents were in love and they loved us, too. They taught us that no matter how much money you had, it meant nothing if you don’t know how to love somebody with your whole heart. We called it wholeheartedly love.”
He smiles softly and his tender lips meet mine. “You are blessed then.”
I smile.
“To be loved so wholeheartedly,” he whispers. I roll back onto my side to face him, the light of the fire and his lips once again roaming over the side of my cheek, his thick body nestled close up against mine.
“What about your family?” I ask.
He hesitates before answering. “I am the eldest of three.”
I smile. “All boys?”
“No. Me, then Thomas, and a younger sister called Eilish. She is married with two wee babies. She lives in my hometown, back near my parents in Ireland.”
“Are you?” I hesitate, how do I say this?
“I don’t come from money. No,” he answers my question before I get to ask it.
“How did you get so…?” I have to ask.
“Luck.”
I frown and face him. “Luck?”
“As you know, I am...” He hesitates as he thinks of the appropriate analogy. “I have an eye for art. I bought some early pieces from a yard sale when I was really young with my savings, and they turned out to be very valuable. I sold them when I got to London.”
I smile broadly. “You bought art in a yard sale when you were a kid?”
He smirks. “Don’t laugh.”
“What kind of kid were you?” I frown.
He lets out a deep low chuckle. “A weird one, obviously.”
I press my lips together as I try not to laugh.
“The money just gave me enough to be able to start buying and selling art, and then my photography took off.” I smile as I watch his face become animated.
“Photography pays well?” I ask.
He smiles sexily. “Very well.”
“Do you like being wealthy?” I smirk.
“I feel wealthier tonight than I have ever felt in my life.” His lips take mine in his softly as his hand tenderly cups my cheek. “I would even say wholeheartedly wealthy,” he breathes.
Our eyes lock as ripple of emotion rolls over me like a wave of the ocean meeting the shore.
“You are quite the romantic, my twinkle star,” I whisper as I run my hand along his dark stubble.
He smiles into my lips and I close my eyes as, once again, the annoying little voice in my mind screams at me… run. Emerson, run!
* * *
The drive to work is slow this morning. “What’s going on up here? Is there an accident?”
Alastar frowns as he looks ahead. “I’m not sure.”
I look at my watch. “Shit. I’m going to be late.”
The traffic has come to a crawling pace and we are ambling along through the city.
“So… tonight?” he asks.
I smile with excitement as my eyes seek out my handsome driver. “Yes.”
“It will be a long shoot, probably up to five or six hours.”
“That’s fine. I told you it’s okay,” I reply.
He smiles and picks up my hand, holding it in his lap.
“Do you want me to bring anything?” I ask.
“Maybe a book. You will probably get bored.”
I stare through the window at the cars up ahead. “I’m excited that I get to see you working.”
He smiles and I know he is looking forward to introducing me to his working life, too.
We pass a park and see no less than fifty police scattered throughout the grassy areas and in the trees.
“Shit,” I whisper as I peer out the window.
Alastar frowns.
“What’s happened?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Something’s going on by the looks of things.”