Invest In Me

Chapter 5

Bella knew that Thomas was right beside her when she opened her eyes with a soft, low breathing close to her face. They had had the best s*x ever last night and right after they had finished they had fallen asleep like babies.

The sun was piercing her eyes and even now she felt the aftermath of the few drinks she had had during the previous night. She was now having a light headache, but that wasn’t important anymore. She found herself a boyfriend and he was sleeping right next to her.

It was just now that the realized they were in a hotel. And the room was nothing short of spectacular. It was the size of her whole apartment that she shared with Sam and as far as she could see, it had a private bathroom, living room, some spare rooms, and a kitchen. People could live here for months and even years, she thought.

She peeked under the blankets and found that she hadn’t even put on her underwear last night after s*x. Thomas’ hand was on her waist, so she couldn’t move without waking him up. She was looking at his face now, calm and soft. His eyes were moving frantically. He was dreaming something. Bella hoped that he was dreaming about her.

She ran her fingers across his face, his nose, his firm jawline, his ears, his eyes. Every single part of him was beautiful and unique. She kissed his forehead, the tip of his nose, and his full lips.

“Come on, sleeping beauty. The sun is up,” she whispered, scratching him behind the ear.

He gave a low purr like a cat, which made Bella laugh.

“Okay. Five more minutes please,” he said as he changed his position and was now lying on his back. “I don’t want to go to work.”

“Oh, don’t whine, little baby,” she said in a high tone imitating a baby.

Then he opened his eyes and pulled Bella so that she was sitting on top of him now. She felt his hardness beneath her and sensed her nip*les getting hard again.

“You will see what this little baby can do to you,” he said and he started kissing her and tickling her. Bella screamed and laughed as she tried to get free of him, but his grip was firm. He kissed her all over her body before he let her go and she hopped from the bed, running toward the bathroom laughing hysterically.

It was a gorgeous bathroom with a huge tub, a shower, and cream tiles that seemed as marble to her. She was fumbling with the shower to find the perfect temperature of the water when she sensed two powerful hands grabbing her from behind. She shrieked, laughing and excited and in love.

“Where do you think you are going without me, naughty Bella?” he asked, turning her and kissing her on the lips. He slipped his tongue between her lips, exploring the inside of her mouth.

“I love you and I don’t want to leave you. I can stay like this forever,” she said, hugging him. Her hands were on his muscular back and were tempted to go lower.

“I don’t want it to end as well. I didn’t know that I could love someone so much, Bella. I am in love with you to the core of my being,” he said and Bella felt goosebumps all over her body. Her heart melted inside her chest.

She kissed him then more lustily than ever, biting his lips and neck and body. They entered the shower together.

An hour later, Bella and Thomas were having a breakfast at the glass table in the hotel lobby. They were eating in silence, their forks the only ones who jingled and jangled when they touched with the porcelain.

Thomas put a small piece of the cheesecake in his mouth and chewed slowly. The muscles of his jaw contorted to swallow the bite. “You know what?”

“What?” Bella smiled. What did he think of now?

“I think that I found a way for you to get your mother’s property in the fastest possible way.”

Bella dropped her fork and knife and stared into Thomas’ eyes. “What do you mean?” She was spellbound. Was there a way for her to get back what was hers by right?

“Well,” he began. “You can marry me.”

Bella burst out laughing; her booming sound was the only thing breaking the silence. Thomas joined her. They threw the kitchen utensils on the table and were hysterically laughing. Bella put her hand on her stomach while she wiped her tears with the other. That was the best thing that she had heard all week.

“You are serious, Tom?” she asked through laughs.

Thomas was recovering from the laughing mania himself. “No, but if you think about it, it is the best possible way. We like each other. We love each other and that is all two people need when they want to get married. And besides, according to a recent poll, I have been labeled as standoffish. Their words, not mine.”

“Why?” Bella calmed down and put her hand above his.

“Well, our focus groups think that I am standoffish for the simple fact that I don’t have a wife. I don’t have a girlfriend for serious, according to them. That is the story. Our brand and the whole company may fall because of that,” he said. His eyebrows were lowered in sadness. He was powerless against this issue.

“Oh, I am so sorry.” That was all she could say.

“Your mother’s property is tied up with the company’s capital, right? My company. So, once you become my lawful and legal wife, a part of the capital can certainly be transferred to you with a single signature or something like that.”

His words were haunting Bella. What he said had some logic in it. But marrying him? A man she wasn’t even sure she knew except for the fact that he was great in bed wasn’t exactly the best candidate for the job. She put all those thoughts at the back of her mind and continued with the meal.

After a while, Thomas changed the topic and now they were talking about his company, their hobbies and interests. It was like nothing else had been said before that. From the sports games he had been at with his father, his fear of small places to the obsession with stamps he had had when he had been a child. He told her everything jumping from subject to subject, from one period of his life to another. Bella couldn’t stop smiling through it all as he was explaining the things in such a funny way that anyone would burst. He was so charming and convincing in everything, she gave him that.

“And once my dad saw that the bowl was empty and I was chewing all the food, he shouted ‘That’s the dog’s food, you dumb boy!’” Thomas completely lost it and began laughing as if no one was present at the hotel except them.

Bella couldn’t stop herself either. “You ate your dog’s food? But didn’t you realize that the bowl was different?” she asked between laughs, sensing her stomach muscles hurting her.

He barely retrieved his breath. “I was very silly and curious. I wanted to know everything.”

“I was like that, too. I could run out of the house and be gone for the whole day. From dawn to dusk. I wandered the fields and went in the neighbors’ stables to admire the horses. Oh, I loved horses more than anything,” Bella said sipping from the juice in her glass.

“Really? Horses? Interesting…” Thomas finally composed himself.

“Yeah. And one time, my mom…” She stopped for a second. “My mom got so worried that she went to search for me all over the town and the fields. I was nowhere in sight. When finally I appeared with a herd of cows and their keeper. Apparently I had joined him in the feeding of the herd and we had gone around the mountain together the whole day. I don’t remember much except that he sang really, really well.”

“Only singing? Are you sure that’s what you did the whole day?” Thomas teased her.

“I was ten, Thomas. Ten!” She laughed, kicking him playfully under the table. It wasn’t until then that she noticed that all the guests were staring at them bewildered. Who knew what they thought about them.

“Everyone is looking at us, Tom. We better get out of here.” She giggled as he wiped his mouth.