Chapter 14

His hand came to her hair, realizing how wet it was, he disengaged from her.

"You should really dry your hair and get out of these wet clothes," he advised and walked away.

Amanda sat on the bed, just few seconds back she was going to give herself to him...she had forgotten about everything else...she had just wanted to melt in his arms.

She shivered slightly, she was already falling quick and fast for him and Alisha was yet to return, when she finally gets back, could she let go of Xavier?

"Ah...ah...choo"

Amanda rolled on her side, eyes blurry and head aching.

The door connecting Xavier's room to hers opened and he walked in. Her sneezes had woken him up.

"Are you okay?" he asked walking towards her bed.

"I'm... I'm just.."

He placed a hand on her forehead.

"You're burning up," he exclaimed.

Damnit! This was what he was trying to avoid. She clung to the duvet shivering vigorously.

"Give me a sec," he hurried out of the bedroom.

A few minutes later, he walked into her bedroom. He had gone to meet Mona, the head of the maids and ask her how he could make his sick wife better.

"Mona's preparing chicken soup, so you can take some drugs, but first she told me to sponge you to bring down your temperature."

She nodded, weakly and watched as he delicately massaged her body with a towel he had soaked with warm water and squeezed.

As he pulled up her shirt to massage her stomach, what welcomed him shook him to the bones.

"Dio! How did you get this?" he asked, staring at a scar which must have been a terrible wound.

She quickly pulled down her shirt.

"It's nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? Alisha, this is..."

"Can't you just overlook it? I don't really want to talk about it," she muttered, warily.

Xavier sighed; how could he overlook a scar like that? He felt hurt that she didn't want to tell him about it. The scar looked terrible, perhaps talking about it might give her memories she didn't want to remember.

He squeezed the towel, folded it and placed it on her forehead.

"I'll check if the chicken soup is ready."

"Say ah," Xavier coaxed.

She opened her mouth, and he pushed the spoon passed her lips, the soup went down her throat.

"Good?"

She nodded. The flavor was just right, it's spicy, warm and soothing...it was simply perfect.

He continued feeding her, he thought people hardly had appetite to eat when ill but this wife of his finished everything.

"Nothing can bring down your appetite," He exclaimed handing her a bottle of water and some drugs.

She smiled lying back to sleep, she watched him get into the bed too.

"You said you hate being alone when you're sick," He reminded.

"Thank you, Xavier," She muttered, even if he hadn't talked about the scar again, she knew he wanted to know what happened to her. She sighed, she had to tell him regardless of what he would think of it.

As Amanda shifted her hand down to his flat, hard stomach, Xavier closed his fingers over hers and his thumb smoothed gently and consideringly over her palm.

The picture of her scar reeled through his mind and his lean and powerful body tensed in response.

After a moment silence, Amanda slowly released her breath in a rueful sigh. "I attracted the attention of a stalker in my first year at college. A loner who, as far as I know, I'd never met or even spoken to," she explained, reluctantly. "When the police showed me his photo after the attack, it was a challenge to even recognize him."

"A stalker?" Xavier was already frowning. "I had started to assume you were a victim of some random robbery."

"There was nothing random about it and no theft involved. I began getting cards and little gifts in my accommodation mailbox and I had no idea who they were from. At first, I actually thought it was romantic...all that love from afar stuff girls hear about," she breathed with sudden bitterness.

His arm tightened its grip. "You couldn’t have known it was an abnormal interest."

"Well, I found out soon enough when my stalker saw me with a male friend whom he assumed to be my boyfriend. That's when his interest took a creepy turn, the cards turned abusive... calling me a whore and a slut... and a whole lot of dirty..."Amanda was trembling and her voice was shaking.

"It must've been very frightening for you." Xavier wrapped both his arms securely round her slight body to comfort her and tugged her into full contact with him.

"Clearly he had problems. Did you go to the police?"

"The cards didn't threaten me with violence, so he wasn't committing an offence," Amanda told him heavily. "I got really scared because it was obvious that he was spying on me, but no one hardly saw him as a serious threat. In fact my friends tried to make jokes about his fixation on me. Then one evening, I came back to the apartment I shared with two friends, they weren't at home, but it was laden with books and shopping..."

"And he was waiting for you?" Xavier prompted darkly, his nostrils flaring.

She was looking so pale, but the words were flowing more freely now. "He just appeared from the corner of the landing and there was something weird with the way he looked at me. I knew it had to be him when he suddenly said he would deal with me for cheating on him, I dropped my bag and tried to run out, but I wasn't fast enough, when he grabbed me, I started screaming then he stabbed me, I don't know if he probably wanted to kill me instantly but a neighbor who had heard my screams interrupted him and he ran off.

I didn't remember anything else after that but when I woke up, I was at the hospital, my friends had contacted my family, but Miguel was the first to arrive. He told me my neighbor reported the incident and the police went after him, but he was knocked down by a truck while trying to run off again. It was discovered that he had a mental disorder and had hurt two girls before thinking they were his girlfriends who cheated on him. He died and I wasn't sorry," she admitted sickly. "Because I'd have lived in fear if he had survived."

Xavier held her until the deep trembling slivering through her slim frame had subsided and she was breathing evenly again. Mental problems or not...if that man had survived, he would've tracked him down and end his stupid life himself.

"I'm sorry you had such a terrifying experience"

She lifted up her head to stare at him suddenly wanting to tell him this. "The scar makes me feel ugly, so it was really hard to associate with men. I didn't want them to criticize my body. I've never slept with anyone before," she confessed.

Xavier froze. Was that the reason for her skittish moves? He had never entertained the thought of bedding a virgin but now that his wife was one, the thought suddenly excited him more than anything.

He held her chin affectionately.

"If I could give anything to turn back time and stop that from happening to you, I would but I can't. Please don't ever think less of yourself, that scar doesn't make you ugly, you get more beautiful each time I see you, even right now, you're glowing. I'm happy you survived that incident, Alisha, because if not you won't be in my life right now. So I'm thanking you for being alive and for being my wife."

She must've felt the sincerity in his words as tears stung her eyes.

'I wish you would call me my name,' she thought.

"You see, my sister's name is Amanda, do you think it's a beautiful name?" she asked, curiously.

Xavier frowned. "Will my answer be held against me?"

"No. I think it's a beautiful name, what do you think?"

"Amanda, it's a beautiful name," he admitted.

Her heart stopped, her bones melting.

"Why are we suddenly talking about your sister?"

She rested her head on his chest.

"Nothing really, just felt like asking"

He gently stroked her hair. "From now on, I won't let anything happen to you, no one would dare to lay a finger on you," he swore.

'I'm falling in love with you but I don't want to love you, I wish you would tell me Xavier, how can I not love you?' She thought, ruefully.