Warning a slight mature chapter.

Turning off the shower I stepped out. Wearing my bathrobe I dried my hair with a towel before hanging it on the hook. Taking out the nightgown from my walk in closet which was attached with the washroom, I almost gasped when I saw what I have picked out.

It was made of black gossamer and fastened with tiny jet buttons. Since the only nightgowns I had ever worn had been of modest white cambric or muslin, this was rather shocking. However, I still decided to give this nightgown a try. Removing my bathrobe, I drew the gown over my head and let it slither over my body in a cool, silky drift. The thin fabric draped closely over my shoulders and torso and buttoned at the waist before flowing to the ground in transparent panels. A side slit went up to my hip, exposing my leg when I moved.

And my back was shockingly exposed, the gown dipping low against my spine but since my hair is till waist length so it'll easily cover my back. Taking a step back from the mirror I looked at my reflection. The first thing I noticed was the natural flush on my cheeks. The gown wasn't that exposing but still it didn't made me nervous.

Taking a deep breath I tentatively  emerged from the washroom.

I froze as soon as I saw him. He was looking handsome once again.

The more I saw him, the prettier I found him every time.

I thought that way because he looked so good in his gray polo-shirt and black sweats. He even smelled so good (that clean pine tree manly scent), while there I am, with a little bit of saliva mark on the right side of my mouth, which I inconspicuously tried to remove.

Ashar had just finished drinking water from the glass when he turned towards me and froze, except for his gaze, which traveled over her in a burning sweep. "My God," he muttered. He gripped the glass tightly as if he was afraid it might slip through his fingers.

We both could not say anything for a while as we drank each others appearance. Minutes went by loaded with silence.

"What?" We both asked at the same time.

"N-Nothing" And we both stammered.

He might have understood that it was the charm of his personality but did not say anything further that was quite enough to make me crazy again.

"I-I've made Coffee for us. I've set it up in the balcony...would you come?" I tried to sternly repress a grin with the way he just asked me.

"Yup." I replied and walked towards my closet to take out a stole which'll cover me up. Opening my closet, I bend down a little to take out the shawl when my hair felled to my side.
Ashar drew in a harsh breath and although I heard him mumble a curse, which I didn't take offense.

Picking out an ice blue colour shawl from the closet, I closed the door. Wrapping the shawl from the back I froze midway when his hand touched my shoulder, a swift charge ran through my whole body. Removing my hair to the side, he slowly wrapped the shawl around me turning me to face him.

He was tall. He was broad. He had the perfect amount of stubble on his jawline, and those eyes were to-die for – deep grey and piercing. Then there was his hair – thick, brown, and ideal for sliding fingers through. I didn’t want to take my eyes off him, but I knew better than to stare.

"You’re here." He whispered as he caressed my cheek with the back of his hand.

"I’m here," I responded.

I kid you not, we repeated that exchange for fouteen times, while we smiled at each other. And my gosh, that moment - that tiny moment - was so precious. His eyes. His smile.

Love is not a silence. Sometime you have to accept certain things that can not be explained.

I was nervous and I was unable to talk anything and continuously gazed at him. We both were holding each other’s hands. As a matter of fact , I was just lost into his eyes rather than anything else.

I am not the type of woman who usually does this, I swear. But I could not help myself, when I hugged him tight. I knew I was in love and I was not doing anything intentionally. My love was forcing me to do all this innocence and silly act. 

Within seconds he was hugging me back as I teared up. Did not care anymore of my appearance, I just want him close. We stood close facing each other. And time stopped still. We found our one-minute of peace. Our bodies touching each other, us looking deep into each other’s eyes. With the anticipation closing in, so did the distance between us -

And suddenly his lips met mine.

My gosh!!!

My toes curled, I was holding his t-shirt like I will tear it off, My eyes closed…His hands were on my face and a wide combination of emotions were running in mind and trust me I never felt like that before and after a handful of minutes, our lips parted…but both of us were still breathing heavily and our heartbeats were still running faster.

"Please stop me!" he pleaded, then again stalked closer, his solid body nearing mine, erasing the space between them as he cupped my cheeks in his hands, and captured my mouth in a hot, wet kiss. It wasn’t a slow kiss or a dreamy kiss. No, it was a hungry one that sent a rush of heat flooding my veins, Coffee long forgotten.

He spun me around, lifted me up on the shelf, then edged himself between me as he slid his tongue over mine, explored my lips and my mouth as he kissed me hard and furiously. Like I wanted to be kissed, his stubbled jaw rough against my face. He threaded his hands into my hair and he wasn’t gentle with his touch, and I thanked my lucky stars for that.

Pulling me between himself, he wrapped me in a comforting hug. After a long time, he spoke quietly into my hair. "Laiba, One of the reasons I haven't made love to you since ages is that I didn't wanted to take advantage of you without sorting everything out first!"

"You didn't," I protested. "I gave myself to you freely."

"Yes, I know." Ashar kissed my head.

"Ashar, we both need to talk, you still don't-" But he cut me off

"Of Course, we'll talk but not tonight!" The way he said made me clutch his tshirt tightly.

"I've waited too long for this and I've made you wait too long" he whispered kissing the side of my head.

"Ashar, listen to me first, please-"

"Shhh...you talk to much" He captured my lips again. As much as I wanted to relish the moment, I know it'll be ruined once again and I don't want that to happen. With as much force as I can I pushed him away from me.

"Don't you want me?" He asked cupping cheeks.

"Of Course I want you and you know that very well." I said tears pooling my eyes.

"Then what's stopping you?" He asked

"Ashar, you don't understand. I'm afraid that I'm gonna lose everything once again and this time I will lose Shezan, too." I said burying my face in his chest.

"Why do you say so, my Queen?"

Gosh, my breath hitched! This word...I've waited too long to hear this word.

Too long....!!

"Ashar..." I fisted his tshirt as I pleadingly looked into his eyes.

"Nothing will change Laiba, Nothing!!" He whispered wiping away my tears.

But I know better that everything will change once again.

"Tonight I'm going to make amends."
I shivered at the sensual promise of his tone.

"There's no need. But if you insist..."

"I do insist." He smoothed his hand over my back and continued to hold me, making me feel safe. And then he began to kiss his way along the side of my neck, his mouth hot and deliberate, and I began to feel not entirely safe. I drew in a quick breath as he lingered at a sensitive place.

He carried me to the bed and gently laid me onto the mattress and I immediately relished the billowy softness of the quilts and linens. Ashar came to me, stripping off his tshirt along the way. The sight of him, all that flexing muscle and sun-glazed skin, was breathtaking. He was a beautiful man, a scarred Apollo, a dream lover. And he was mine.

She heard him in her knight’s return from a land far away, even another time, where he laid in her his heart the forever drawn. Alive with each new day he gave her his wish as the breath to see what is hers, and as the moist ends in love her heart filled, he again mounted the time to be. He felt her deep inside his every breath. Touching the air around the heart of his life tensed.

Her eyes closed and his lips purse to that still before tranquility’s kiss…the moment halters stop to disappear. He is drained in the love given in eternity and he wants to explode to her beauty. He opened his heart to her once again for another eternity’s tale in love. The most romantic moment to experience is the touch that she gave inside of him to last his love for her throughout the eternity. It came from where time was not until rest returns to the still of his Queen's beautiful wish.

***
Peacefully lying in his embrace covered in the blanket of his warmth, I couldn't stopped myself as a tear escaped my eyes. Him stroking my bare arm as my head rested peacefully on his chest, arms wrapped around him securely.

The room was filled with silence, a peaceful kind of silence and not the awkward one. There were thousands of things running in my mind but I didn't have words to form a simple sentence. Shaken to the core that everything will break again.

Inhaling a deep breath, I pulled the blanket upto my chin when he decided to end the silence and asked me, "What are you thinking right now?"

Without second thoughts, I answered, "It is just magical and purely blissful listening to the sound of waves even when I cannot even see them. It’s all just a one-minute action. Waves running to the shore, hitting the shore & then going back to the ocean. Then there’s another one & then another & that just continues like clockwork. What really intrigues me is the moment between the waves.

The time when one wave has just reached the shore & the other one is on its way. There’s the anticipation of the new wave settling in and the happiness of the earlier wave right at the surface. I think that peaceful moment in-between is just precious. It’s like I can live in that peace my entire life. It’s like that one-minute moment of peace & solitude could last forever."

He was the kind of guy who wouldn’t interrupt me when I was saying something with so much dreams in my eyes. I didn’t need to talk quickly in order to finish everything I had to say. I took pauses where required, I stressed on the words that needed to be stressed on. I talked about the magic of waves like I have some magic in myself & everything around me.

He listened silently & he imagined everything I said. He didn’t listen to come back with a wittier response. He listened to actually understand me. So, I smiled at him after telling him what was on my mind & asked him what was on his. And somehow, even though I had begun with no expectations, he opened up too.

He said, "I suppose what waves are to you, time is to me. You see how wonderfully & also chaotically time works? We have been together for almost about three years now and yet it seems like only a year has passed. I suppose when we are with someone we like, time goes on quickly as every moment matters. When we are with someone we like, time seems to stop still while actually it goes by faster than otherwise. While we kept talking on the way tonight, we felt time stop while we truly unravelled what was on our minds. Isn’t it lovely, like clockwork too?"

We again smiled at each other because we both knew this was something else.