BURNING FOR HIM
1134 Words
ARIA’S POV
I’m in the bedroom, zipping up the last bag of essentials Remy will need for his upcoming hospital stay.
From a distance, I hear Remy’s sweet voice.
“...Mamie, I also had ice cweam yesterday.”
He toddles into view, holding his tablet with both hands, the screen looking far too large for his tiny grip.
He stretches a hand toward me, and I lift him onto the bed so he can join me.
“Régine! Enfin, tu réponds!” Regine! Finally, you answer!
I smile the moment my grandmother’s voice fills the screen.
“Mamie…” I breathe out, the word softer than I expect.
Her face comes into focus, and a familiar tightness grips my chest.
This is the woman who held me together when everything else broke.
“Ma chérie, you look thin,” she says at once, her brow furrowing. “Are you eating well?”
I laugh softly. I am always looking thin to her. “I’m fine, Mamie.”
“Hm, hm,” she replies, clearly unconvinced.
Suddenly, two more heads pop into the frame, crowding the camera.
“REGINE!”
“Aline, move—let me see her—”
“I was here first, Antoine!”
I shake my head, my smile widening. “Are you two still fighting?”
“Aline is just obsessed with me,” Antoine says, a smug smile on his handsome face.
Aline flips her red hair dramatically. “Ignore him. Regine, when are you coming back? The house has been so boring without you. I’m stuck in a house full of men because Mom sneakily ran off on vacation. I swear, even the parties are sooo dry.”
“I am a lady, and very much around, ma belle,” Mamie says dryly from the side of the screen.
Aline nods half-heartedly.
“Regine,” Mamie calls softly. “Tell me. New York… how is it treating you?”
“It’s been good,” I say, shifting slightly.
“Have you moved into the apartment your uncle secured?”
“Not fully yet,” I reply, glancing at the packed boxes in the room. “I need to get things in order first.”
Remy suddenly grabs my chin and turns my face toward him.
“Talk to me too,” he says seriously and everyone bursts out laughing.
“I am talking to you,” I tell him, kissing his cheek.
“No, you are only talking to Mamie and Uncle and Aunty,” he insists, pointing at the screen.
“I’m offended,” Aline says dramatically.
“Same,” Antoine adds.
Mamie smiles. “Come closer, mon petit.”
Remy leans toward the screen.
“Mamiee!”
“My sweet boy,” she says warmly. “Show me your tooth.”
He grins wide, proud.
“Ah! So handsome,” she praises, then her gaze shifts back to me.
“Your Uncle Mike mentioned everything is officially set.”
“Yeah,” I say, swallowing the lump in my throat. “He’ll be moving into the hospital tomorrow for pre-conditioning therapy.”
“Tout ira bien.” Everything will be fine.
She says firmly, her eyes holding mine through the screen.
“Of course,” I nod, though my chest feels incredibly tight.
Aline clears her throat suddenly. “Okay, sad topic over. Regine, give us the tea—have you met anyone hot yet in New York?”
“Such a smart question.” Antoine says sarcastically.
“What do you know? I’m asking important questions.”
I open my mouth to answer—and freeze.
I suddenly remember how he… had me against the door in the hospital, giving me a mind-blowing orgasm.
I can still feel his body heat pressing into me, stealing the air from my lungs, his hands touching me until I could not think straight.
“Regine?” my grandmother’s soft, questioning tone snaps me out of my daze. “Are you alright?”
I look down at the bedspread and try to breathe normally.
“Wow.” Aline leans closer to her screen.
“Regine, why are you blushing?”
“I’m not,” I say, my voice pitching too high.
Daisy walks back into the room, a cup of her herbal tea in hand.
“Who is blushing?” She pauses, her eyes narrowing as she looks at my face.
Talk about terrible timing.
“Regine,” Aline says excitedly.
“Something definitely happened with him,” Daisy says, grinning as she sits on the edge of the bed.
Aline gasps. “Daisy! You know about a man and I haven’t heard about it yet? You owe me all the gossip!”
“Nothing happened,” I insist.
“You are literally red,” Aline says, delighted.
Without warning, Remy climbs onto my lap. He pats my cheek with his soft little hand.
“Mommy, fever?” he asks.
I close my eyes in defeat as everyone bursts out laughing.
“Remy!” I gasp.
He blinks at me innocently. “Hot.”
“Oh my God,” I mutter, covering my face.
“Mon Dieu,” my grandmother says, laughing. “This child.”
“I love him,” Aline says between laughs.
I shake my head, smiling, embarrassed but unable to stop laughing a little too.
Mamie finally calms, her eyes twinkling.
“Whoever this… man is, he clearly knows how to make our cold, steel-hearted Regine blush.”
“Mamie!”
“What?” she says, amused. “I only speak the truth.”
Aline laughs softly. “Daisy, he is handsome, right?”
“Very much so. Extremely hot and sexy. Excuse me, Grandma,” Daisy whispers, glancing at Jeremiah, who is now playing with the button on my dress.
My grandmother sounds amused. “I see New York is not completely bad, then.”
I groan. “You people are impossible.”
Two days have passed, and yet the thought of him still has the power to make me blush like a flustered teenager.
I am thankful he is out of the country at the moment. It gives me time.
I just have to hope I have these reactions under control before he arrives tomorrow.
He cannot and must not see me acting like a schoolgirl on her first date.
I am twenty-five years old, a mother, and a fiercely independent woman for God sake.
But as I close the suitcase and look down at my trembling hands, a thrilling shiver runs down my spine.
Tomorrow, Noah will be back.
And deep down, I know that no matter how much control I pretend to have, the moment he locks his dark, possessive gaze onto mine, I will burn for him all over again.
- Writer
