Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire and Water Book 2
Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

Stretching I feel Ash sleeping soundly next to me. I roll over so I can look at him, he is so beautiful, and I feel that just in the last few hours I have fallen even more in love with him. My head propped up on my right hand, I reach out with my left hand and draw it across the side of his face in a caress. Ash’s eye lashes begin to flutter as he stirs, blinks and then opens his beautiful sea-blue eyes and looking into my eyes, gives me a smile that seems to light up the room.

“Good morning beautiful,” he states and then pulls me into him so he can kiss me. His soft lips press against mine before he begins to kiss me along my jawline and down the length of my neck.

“If you don’t plan on finishing what you are starting Mr. Dritan, I would highly suggest you stop...” I can feel him grin against my collar bone before he sighs against my shoulder but instead of pulling away from me, he pulls me into him, wraps his arms around me and nuzzles his chin atop my head for a moment.

“I will tell you before I get out of this bed that my self-control is weakening on a daily basis, Miss Einan.” This causes a wide stupid grin to spread across my face and as he goes to get out of the bed, I wrap my hands around his arm and pull him back to me.

“Is that so?” I draw his head down to mine so that I can give him a kiss and then slip out of his embrace, hop out of the bed myself and dash into the bathroom. I can hear him claim that was an unfair move as I shut the bathroom door behind me and turn the shower on, giggling all the while at him.

“Don’t take too long or I will have to come in there, Sofia.” I hear Ash shout just as I hop into the shower. I let my imagination run wild for a minute, him barging into the room, me finally getting to see his naked body, oh the endless possibilities! Sadly, he didn’t fulfill my fantasy, leaving me all the more determined to break through his will power and fulfill it myself! And at this moment, I hope he is reading every single thought rolling through my mind.

Damn, that girl has me at my breaking point. I want nothing more than to ravage her, body and soul! Ash paced across the kitchen floor as this thought swirled around in his head. He wanted nothing more to send this thought into Sofia’s head but didn’t want to give her the wrong impression, well, not yet anyway. Trying to distract himself, he focuses on making a pot of coffee and then thankfully his phone rings. “Hey Charlie, what’s going on?”

I am humming to myself as I dry my body off before putting clean clothes on. Nothing has been planned for today, so I am just putting on sweats and a tee-shirt, even though I feel like there is something I had wanted to do before my illness happened, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. I make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen where I replace Ash with a cup of coffee in hand and the other hitting end on a call he was just on. Arching my eyebrows, I give him a questioning look, wanting to know who he had been chatting with.

He glances up at me, “hey babe, that was Charlie. She was checking in with me to see how you are doing. I told her you are finally awake and moving about. She said to make sure I don’t let you do a whole lot today; she doesn’t want you to wear yourself out.”

I roll my eyes, “dude, I’m fine. I am also planning on doing some training with Kestrel in a couple of hours.” At the mention of Charlie’s name something begins to tug at my memory but it’s just a flash and before I can grasp it, it is gone. A feeling stays though, floating within me that I am supposed to be upset with her about... something.

“But Charlie said...”

“Charlie should just mind her own damn business!” I snap at him unintentionally. Ash’s eyes grow wide in surprise because I don’t think I have ever said a mean thing to him let alone snap at him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on you. I’ve just been having a weird feeling, something bugging me about Charlie, but it’s only been since waking last night.”

Leaning over, I give him a quick kiss, and realize he has made a pot of coffee! Making my way over to the cupboard, I reach up and grab a mug and make myself a lovely cup of the hot liquid. Sauntering back over to the table, I place my mug on it and then flop into the chair next to him. Taking his hand in mine, I make him look at me; “you’re not mad, are you?”

Ash shakes his head no, “no, I’m not mad, I’m just worried. I don’t want you to push yourself if you’re not up to par yet.”

Smiling, I pull his face close to mine, “I love you. But I promise I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.”

He sighs but nods his head. I think he does it only to stop an argument from ensuing. “So, any other plans I should know about?” Ash grins and I slug him in the upper arm. He thinks he is so funny.

“Nope, was there anything you wanted to do today?”

“I was thinking about maybe spending the day at the park. We could have a picnic and invite Lori to tag along with us. She has been just as worried about you as I and Charlie have been.” I smile widely at him and nod yes. “Good. I already told Lori that was what we were going to do today.” Ash states as he stands up. “I’m going to go take a shower.” And in the blink of an eye, he has departed from my sight.

Ash packed a basket of food, though he wouldn’t tell me what he was bringing, he had me grab some drinks from the fridge and then we headed to the car. Just as Ash was closing the trunk of his Jeep, Lori came skipping across the yard. “Hey guys, are we going to the human park and freezing our butts off or heading to a Tenebrosity park?”

I hadn’t even thought about how cold it is outside until Lori asked and so I swivel my head to look towards Ash as well. “I was thinking we could go to the park settled inside the Nest near the Tropical lands by the Elves’ dwelling.”

“Oh, that sounds exciting,” I exclaim. “I haven’t really been able to go exploring since replaceing out about magical beings and of Tenebrosity.” We pile into the Jeep and then Ash drives us towards The Nest.