10 The Morning After

I hear someone quickly typing, the sound reminds me of the office, people working on their computers, eyes focused on the screens, taking a sip of coffee every now and then, exchanging witty remarks with the person next to them. But I’m not in the office, I’m lying in bed... but not my bed! I suddenly open my eyes, realizing where I am. 

I sit up abruptly and turn to my side. Stefan is sitting beside me with his laptop on his lap, he’s the one making the typing noise. My sudden move brakes his concentration, he turns his face to look at me and gives me a warm smile. He mutters a “Good morning” before his eager eyes go down from my face to my body. I then realize the sheet is not covering much of my upper body. I grab it and pull it up to my neck. 

“Are you suddenly shy? Because I saw pretty much all there is to see last night.” Stefan says with a smirk. “Let me tell you, you have nothing to be shy about, doll.”

I blush. Yes, I remember, he saw a lot of me last night. I can’t waste time thinking of some clever reply, I have to go NOW.

“What time is it?” I ask dismissing his remark.

Stefan looks at his screen. “It’s 9:35 am.” He replies.

Good, it’s still early, my parents like to spend Sunday mornings lying in bed, they won’t be up for a couple of hours. Maybe I can make it on time so they won’t notice I spent the night out, I can’t even imagine my dad’s reaction if he finds out I’m not home yet. He’s going to pull his pistol again and this time I’m sure he’s going to use it. 

I put my feet down, the grey wooden floor feels warmer than I expected, I press the sheets against my body as I scan the room searching for my dress. I find it neatly folded over a chair across the room. 

“Can you hand me my dress, please?” I ask Stefan as I refuse to walk all the way to the chair in my birthday suit.

Stefan raises his eyebrows, he looks at the dress and then back at me. 

“What’s wrong, doll? You look worried.” He says, but doesn’t move an inch to do what I requested him. 

“What’s wrong is that I need my dress.” I reply rudely. I’m in no mood for pointless questions, my head is killing me and I need to get out of here ASAP. “Are you going to get it for me or not?” 

Stefan looks amused with my reaction. 

“Wow, doll, you’re really not a morning person, are you?” He jokes and then leaves his laptop on the nightstand to give me his full attention.  

“Stefan, I don’t have time for this, I have to go home now. My dad is going to freak out the moment he realizes I’m not home. He held a guy at gunpoint just for kissing me, what do you think he’s going to do to you? I can’t believe I felt asleep, it was so stupid...”

Stefan burst out into laughter. “Is that what’s bothering you? I told you last night, your father knows you’re with me.”

“Yes, he knows we were having dinner together, not copulating.”

My comment makes Stefan laugh harder.   

 “Well, I didn’t use the word copulating, because I’m not a 100... but I did let him know we were spending the night together.” He explains gleeful.

“Wait... what?” I ask perplexed. “You told him we would spend the night together... and he was cool with that?” 

He’s obviously lying. I realize he’s been lying since yesterday. No way my dad was ok with me going on a date with an intruder. I should have known better. I get out of bed and pull the sheet as hard as I can, I wrap myself with it, leaving Stefan’s body exposed. He’s wearing underwear, but nothing more. I involuntarily shiver at the look of him, flooded by the memories of last night. His perfect body on top of me, his brawny arms around me, his chest covered in tattoos, his six pack... I gaze at him for a moment before reality hits back, I’m going to be in so much trouble if I don’t get home right away.

“What are you doing? I just told you everything is fine.” He says as he jumps out of bed and gets to me in one stride. “Come back to bed.” 

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but this isn’t funny.” I cry out.

“Game? What are you talking about?” He asks bemused. 

“There’s no way my crazy dad, who has been suffocating me for the past year, who forces me to take his stupid driver/bodyguard everywhere I go, is suddenly cool with me hanging out with a stranger and spending the night with him. You’re so full of it.”

Stefan’s expression darkens, he definitely doesn’t like to be called out on his lies. I’m not being intimidated by him this time, I’m in the right here. His phone suddenly rings, breaking the tension between us. Stefan walks to the nightstand where his phone and laptop are. He picks up the phone and looks at the screen. His face lights up. 

“Talk of the devil.” He says as he turns the screen towards me. I see the name clearly: Vittorio Ricci. 

My dad is calling him. I cringe, this is going to get ugly. I walk towards him so I can hear what my dad has to say. I expect it to be a lot of yelling. Stefan answers the call. 

“What?” He says curtly. 

“Are you watching the news? This is unacceptable. Take care of it.” I hear my dad say using a similar tone. 

What? No ‘Where the hell is my daughter, you piece of shit?’ No threats? No nothing?! My jaw drops. 

Stefan reaches for the remote and turns the TV on. The news anchor’s voice fills the room.

“A container filled with illegal firearms was discovered by the port authorities last night...” the woman in perfect makeup says while watching directly at the camera. “They assume the weapons were destined for South America, although it is yet unclear where exactly or who was responsible for this shipment...” 

Uninterested by the news, I turn my eyes back at Stefan.

“Bring my daughter back for dinner.” Says my dad before hanging up. 

Stefan was telling the truth! My dad is aware of where I am and he seems fine with it. What’s up with that? Stefan drops the phone on the bed. He seems in a bad mood. 

“You see, I told you everything was fine. I guess you owe me an apology.” He says with a somber expression. 

I look at him, ashamed. I’m not good with apologies, but I just told him he was full of it.

“Sorry.” I mumble. “I just... my dad has been acting so crazy for the last year... I guess it made me a little crazy too.” 

“I can imagine, but you have to believe me when I say that’s all behind now. Your dad won’t be acting crazy with me.” He says in a lighter mood.

“But why? It’s bewildering... what is it about you that my dad is suddenly changing his ways?” I ask confused. 

I really don’t get this situation. My dad has been such a stubborn man his whole life and now this stranger comes in and he’s suddenly so open minded and relaxed regarding me.

“I guess your dad recognizes I’m the best guy out there for his little girl.” Stefan says smugly.  

I roll my eyes. “Such a humble soul.” 

Stefan gives me a roguish smile. “Can we go back to bed now?” 

“Not so fast, mister. We still have an issue pending: you told my dad we would spend the night together, BEFORE even asking me out! You just assumed I would sleep with you! You know how offensive that is?”

“Was I wrong?” He asks with a smirk. 

“That’s not the point!” 

“What can I say? I’m an optimist.” Stefan says jokingly. 

I fold my arms across my chest. The voice of the news anchor draws my attention towards the TV. 

“Why did my dad wanted you to see that?” I asked with a frown, intrigued as to why they would care about some random container filled with weapons. 

Stefan stiffens his back, his eyes go from me to the TV screen and back. 

“I don’t think he meant for me to see that. I’m sure there was a segment about a flower fair or something and it was over by the time I tuned in.” He says shrugging, he takes the remote and turns the TV off. “Come here.”

Stefan takes my hand and pulls me towards him. He puts his arms around me as he kisses my neck, slowly, sending electric waves down my spine. I tilt my head and close my eyes, caressing his back with my fingertips. As I’m no longer holding the sheet, it slowly slides down my body. He kisses me passionately. Every inch of my skin is aching with desire. We start walking back to bed without breaking our kiss. I’ve never wanted a man this bad in my life.

We make love again and it is as amazing as I remembered. Afterwards, I rest my head on his chest and slowly run my fingers over his tattoos. I’m usually not a fan of tattoos, but I like the way they look on Stefan, they give him a bad boy appearance. I feel so relax I start to doze off until an unsettling thought crosses my mind and I lift my head up. 

“What’s wrong?” Stefan asks with a sleepy voice.

“We didn’t use protection!” I sigh incredulous of how irresponsible I was. “It didn’t even occur to me until now! What’s wrong with me?”

Stefan waves his hand in the air like it’s no big deal. “Don’t worry about it, doll.” He says. 

“It’s easy for you to say, you’re not the one getting pregnant.” I say resentful. 

Stefan looks at me amused, as if I was making a storm in a teacup. 

“If you get pregnant we’ll just move the wedding up.”

I glare at him exasperated. “Can you stop with that already? I’m being serious.”

“So am I.” He says leaning on his forearms so our heads are leveled up. 

I’m about to go into a rant about how much this little joke of his annoys me, but Stefan raises his hand up to my face signaling me to stay in silence. 

“Look, if it makes you feel better I can get you one of those morning after pills. Would you like that?” I nod emphatically. “Good. Now, can we have just a couple of hours in which you are not worrying about your dad or being pregnant or anything? Do you think is possible for you to just relax?”

“Yes, I can relax.” I smile feeling a pinch of guilt. It must be tiresome to be with someone who’s worried all the time. 

We lay a little longer in bed, but then we both notice we are starving so we decide to make pancakes. Stefan’s kitchen’s a mess once we are done, there’s pancake mix on the floor and the sink is full of dirty plates, but he doesn’t seem to mind. I walk to the sink to wash the dishes, but Stefan stops me, he says Olga will take care of them tomorrow. I protest and Stefan assures me she’s used to coming to a lot of dirty dishes on Mondays. I feel a pinch of jealousy in my stomach as I process that this is common for him; he has company on the weekends and then his maid cleans after him the next morning. 

I wonder if he brings a lot of girls to his apartment. I assume he does, after all, he’s handsome, rich, has an amazing body and a compelling personality, he is a player... does he use the same `we’re getting married’ joke on all of his conquest? It seems probable, it must be a pick up line he learned somewhere. From now on, I’ll just ignore such comments, let him know they have no effect over me. I’m not going to be another gullible chick on his list and get all excited thinking he wants us to spend the rest of our lives together.  

“Are you ok, doll? You suddenly seem troubled by something. I thought we agreed to relax for the rest of the day.” Stefan says studying my expression.

I smile trying to look cheerful. I’ve no right to complain about how he spends his weekends or who he uses his cheesy pick up lines with. We’ve barely know each other and he’s a free man. 

“Yes, I just think it’s time for me to go home.” I say when in reality I would love to stay with him for the rest of the day. 

“I guess you are right, I promised to take you back before dinner. We should go.” He replies.

Stefan takes me back home. He walks with me to the front door and kisses me goodbye with tenderness. I blush like a teenager, I can’t help it. I watch him walk back to his car and then drive away from the living room window. I press my forehead against the cold glass wishing l could go back to his apartment with him