Chapter 18

My mouth was soon stuffed with food. I found my eyes wandering over to the left of me, taking in the bareness of the land on that side of the field.

The grass was higher on that end, and the unruliness of the land assured me that people seldom walked in that direction. The sound of seabirds ignited the air, enough to blend harmoniously with the sound of lapping water. I contemplated going down there, but it was something that had to be discussed with Teddy first. “How far is the drop?”

“Excuse me?” he asked in a painfully harsh tenor that I was unaccustomed to hearing.

“The drop?”

His jawline tightened significantly until he could no longer look in my direction. “Why are you asking me this?” he inquired in a strained voice. There was a look of defeat to him, a terrible sense of pain that creased the top of his brow.

“I was wondering...” He squinted his eyes tightly. “If we could go down to the bottom?”

“Why?” he asked in a sharp tone of voice.

“To walk along the sandy beach.”

He sat there silently, and after a while he was able to regain his composure. “We can’t go through here. There is no way downwards. If we return to my house, I could show you a route, but it is a long walk and it will not be an easy one.”

“Okay.”

“Would you like to do it?

“Did I say something to anger you?” His teeth clenched together. “I never meant too.”

“It was a mistake bringing you here,” he relinquished. He took a large bit of his tuna sandwich and chomped down on it harshly. It was clear I had said something to upset him. His body physically turned away from me, focusing on the left side of the cliffs that was closer to his house. He stopped eating suddenly and then took to standing upwards, he kicked the edge of the blanket downwards and then slowly strode over to the cliff’s edge. I watched him look at the bottom of the cliffs, head bent downwards with a look of destitution. It was not curiosity that made Teddy look downwards, it was something else. “Good riddance,” was uttered softly under his breath, after he kicked a stray pebble off the cliff to plummet to the bottom. It was only then that I realized I struck a sensitive cord.

“Teddy?” I called out, but he chose to ignore me. “Teddy!” I called out in a much louder voice. My plate was pushed away from me and then I quietly strode towards him. His arm was taken up with a steady grip, my fingers pressed firmly into his forearm. “I never meant to upset you,” I gently reminded him. I tugged on his arm to gather his attention, and then used my left hand to tilt his chin until it could face my direction. “Look at me,” I pleaded.

He blinked at the image of me, and then nodded his head in agreement. “I know you didn’t,” he hushed with a great deal of pain.

“Should we leave?”

“Do you mind if we don’t go down there today?” he asked me in turn. “I am not ready for that.”

“Yes, of course.”

“The next time you come along I should be in better spirits. You could bring your bathing suit.”

“Go for a swim?”

“Dabble our feet in the water,” he mentioned. “The waves are too strong here to swim. At least, not for your first time.”

“Okay, that will work.” I let my finger glide past the edge of his chin to feel his strong jawline. He closed his eyes as the sensation overtook him and instinctively leaned into my touch. There was something sensual about my hand movements, the way his face smoothed out willingly as the seconds wore on. He opened his eyes eventually and then took a large step forward to close off the gap between us. I watched him hook a long arm around my frame and with a sudden jerk he tugged me forward. “You are going to kiss me again, aren’t you?”

“I intend on always kissing you, Sela,” he warned. “You shouldn’t have let me have a taste.”

I rubbed my hand at the back of his nape, liking the irresistible look in his eyes. Teddy was the first to lean forward and parade my mouth with longful kisses. It was just as good as last time, which encouraged me to go at the tip of my toes to kiss him back. His arms were tight around me, pressing me firmly against his chest. I was nearly off the ground at one point, but his arms were strong enough for me to feel secure in them. The back of his hair was balled up in my hand, tugging on it lightly with something akin to aggression. He was stirring all kinds of emotions inside of me, feelings that I wasn’t used to.

He made a low moaning sound once he departed from my lips that showcased his pleasure of kissing me. “I could get used to this.” He yanked at my hand to bring me away from the cliff’s edge. Our feet casually trampled over the blanket and soon enough he dragged me downwards to be seated next to him. “How about you?”

“Yeah,” I lightly laughed, for it was strange to see his expression so smooth and youthful. There were laugh lines at the sides of his face and tiny crinkles about his eyes from him smiling so much. “Teddy, how old are you?”

“Oh, I’m thirty-four.”

“I thought so.”

“What about you?”

“Twenty- seven,” I confidently told him. “There isn’t that much of an age gap.”

“You look young for your age,” he deliberated aloud. “A young face then.”

“I got it from my mother. No one ever believes her age.”

“I’ve got my mother’s looks too.” A large hand dragged over the back of his neck once his thoughts took a different direction. “I have my father’s eyes, so cold and black.”

“They are brown.”

“So, you’ve noticed?” he asked with alarm. “It is hard to tell, unless I am in a certain light.”

“The amount of times you stared at me, I was bound to notice,” I assured him. I fell into his chest, and then kicked my feet up to become more relaxed. My plate still had some food on it, but I would save it for another time. Teddy curled his arms around the front of me, letting his fingers glide over the front of my stomach in a meditative way.

“I like you, Sela,” he said out of the blue.

“I know you do.”

He let out a low sigh that was full of aggravation. “There will be things I need to tell you.” His wandering fingers froze over the top of my abdomen.

“You will have to wait until I am ready.”

“Take your time,” I assured him. “There is no rush for anything.”

“When I first arrived at Harry’s house he thought I was a mute.”

“Harry?”

“My guardian, Harry Leas.”

“So, he took care of you then?”

“Yes, he lost his wife and was very lonely. He wished to have a child. I was up for adoption and he found me. I became a son to him, a son he never had.”

“And was he kind to you?”

“Yes. Everything that I am is directly because of him.” A brief pause succeeded, where he dropped his hands away from me. “The good things at least.”

“And are you still close to him?”

“He died about three years ago,” Teddy soberly relayed. “I was sorry to see him go, but I guess...” I could feel him moving behind me, probably repositioning himself against the blanket. “Things like that come with old age.”

“Did he live in the house with you?”

“No.”

“Where were you?”

“He was a museum curator. We lived closer to the city.”

“So, he was a historian?”

“Henry was many things! A talented pianist. A scholar of sorts. He was very gifted at cricket, and enjoyed golf on the weekends. He was a man that could hardly stay still, so you could imagine his astonishment once he met me.”

“You enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle,” I knowingly relayed.

“Yes, and that is the reason this house fits me so perfectly. I feel as though I could never depart from it, but there is something - something in my soul that warns me that I should. I have been so long attached to it, but it is darkening some part of me.”

“How so?”

He was silent on his end, a strange occurrence for him. “I am a changed man once I enter those walls,” he finally revealed to me. “But you have noticed that already, I imagine.”

“Yes, I have.”

“I must be free of it,” he mused aloud. He looked over to the left, taking note of the barren field with some interest. “Free of the pain and the anguish.”

He shook his head with some regret. “But its claws are etched deeply into my skin. It won’t let me win. Not this time.”

“Could I help?”

He turned his gaze to my side profile with a pleasant look in his eyes. “You already have,” he promised me. “We should go to the grocery store afterwards. I thought it would be nice to plan out our dinner together.”

“Should we go out for dinner?”

“You want to go out?” he worriedly asked me. “Here?”

“You could take me to your favourite restaurant.”

“I don’t...” He lowered his gaze nervously. “I never go down to the village to eat.”

“Why not?”

“I prefer to stay here,” he meekly replied, though I sensed that he was hiding something from me.

I reached for his hand and held it tightly. “It would be nice to get dressed up, Teddy. Go out and spend some time outside of the house. You know, like a proper date.”

“I thought you wanted to take things slow.”

“That was before you kissed me.”

He tilted his head to the left, silently agreeing with me. “We could pop in and look at the menu. It’s a last minute decision, so I doubt they will have reservations.”

“Not if I call them first.” I pulled my phone out of my dress pocket and turned on my cell phone data. “Let’s see what restaurant they have over here.

What are you feeling? Asian? Italian? Oh, what about a seafood restaurant? I imagine their fish would taste good, if they get it from their local fishers.”

Teddy was silent behind me, although I could feel his gentle breathing that brushed against the top of my crown.

“Mexican food? Oh no, they don’t have that here. Pity. Well, they have a fancy restaurant in the village that looks quite nice. They have pictures too, if you want to see.”

The Tragic Tale of Teddy Woven “Wouldn’t you rather eat it at my place?”

“I could,” I pointed out selfishly. “But it would be nicer to try something new.”

“Alright then,” he submitted with some reluctance.

“This is your hometown. I thought you would want to show me around here.”

“I try to avoid it as much as possible.”

“But why?”

He eased me off him, not wanting me to lie against his chest any longer. “I just do,” he said in a curt tone of voice, which meant he would not add anything further. It wasn’t until he was reaching for his plate of food that I remembered Daphne’s warning about the locals and their ceaseless gossip about him.

“Okay,” I began. “We can go to the grocery store and pick up something for tonight.”

“You really mean that?”

“Yes. I think it’s only fair. Next time when we are closer to my place I will show you a restaurant that I often go to with my friends. Deal?”

“Yes, Sela,” he said with utter gratefulness.

“I just don’t want to upset you,” I admitted. It felt like I had a bad habit of doing that, but when Teddy had so many secrets, how could I not? “So the grocery store and then home,” I decided aloud.

“I will make you the best seafood dish you’ve ever had,” he assured me with a sparkle to his eyes. “It will be absolutely...” His cheeks dented profusely as he tried to hold back a smug smile. “Oh, I can’t help it,” he laughed out sheepishly. “Sela, I can assure you that it will be absolutely beautiful.”

“Yes, I know I overuse that word.”

“Uh huh,” he quipped with a steady gaze on my person. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Chapter 17 Babysitting the Billionaire's Twin Chapter 11: 11 - Happiness The Bride Of The Billionaire Chapter 42: Epilogue