Adalia

"Ah," I moaned as I felt my legs wind tighter around Ian's waist.

He had been walking while sustaining my weight throughout the whole walk. I had no idea how long it would take for him to set me down and had no intention of opening my eyes to see, either. When I least expected it, he collided my back against a wall, my legs still straddling the length of his waist. As soon as my back met the wall, I felt Ian lean closer against me, engulfing my lips in a tangle with his tongue. His hands slowly made their way up my robe, gradually adding pressure to my bare thighs as they went further up. The gradual pressure his body was emitting over mine was starting to feel uncomfortable and slightly painful as I felt my head bump back and forth against the wall. My hands soon found their way to Ian's head, gradually whirling their way to a tangle in his hair. I pulled and tugged at his hair with both excitement and anxiety. I felt breathless and had a building urge to take some breaths of air. I soon pulled at his hair hard enough that he briefly pulled his face away from mine, fingers tightening against my thighs. In a brief sudden moment, Ian suddenly spun me to the other side, causing my back to collide yet again against the opposite wall.

"Argh, damn it," I muttered from under his tight lips.

At this rate, I figured I'd be waking up with a few bruises on my back. Oh yeah, my legs, too. Ian's grip on my thighs only got firmer as time passed.

"What is it?" He heaved against my neck.

"Nothing, don't stop," I whispered as I brought his face back up to mine.

A smile of satisfied delight instantly came over his face as he continued to make his way further down the hall with me still hoisted against his arms.

"Ah!" I squealed as I landed on a bed after Ian swung me out of his arms.

He then got on top of me, hungrily kissing down my neck while his hands simultaneously untied my robe, spreading it open. A wave of cool air instantly flooded over my naked body, causing goosebumps to flourish over my bare skin. The goosebumps over my skin only elevated when Ian put his body completely over mine. It felt as if all the hairs on my body were ready to pop out. When I least expected it, he quickly rose and stood up next to the bed. I stared up at him with curiosity, trying to catch my breath. One by one, I watched as each item of clothing Ian had on fell to the ground. My euphoria increased and my breathing grew more rapid as more of Ian's bare skin was revealed. Deep down, I knew I would obtain more excitement if I were the one taking his clothes off for him, but I felt too comfortable to get up, knowing he would come to me, anyway. As soon as all his clothes were on the ground, I felt his warm skin take over my entire body as he cradled me in his arms and completely slipped my robe off. My hands inevitably ended up finding their way back to his hair. It seemed like I just had to be tugging on something when I was in a state of excitement. His lips gently brushed their way down my neck, then my stomach, all sending shivers down my spine. As I felt his hands roam over and cup my chest, my legs automatically wound tightly around his waist, pressing his stiff erection against my inner thigh. I instantly let out a sharp moan and tightened my legs in reflex. Ian then grabbed both my arms, which were now scratching long trails against his back, and pinned them down against the bed. His hips then suddenly pressed over mine, sending his penis right inside of me. With each thrust, my desire to free my arms from under his tight grip became greater. I wanted to be able to grab Ian and pull him closer towards me; to be able to feel him all. I held my breath as I felt my climax slip away and exhaled with great force as soon as I felt Ian completely extract. I then automatically finally freed myself from his grasp and flung myself on him, landing on his damp chest. I felt my whole body periodically elevate and then lower as Ian heavily panted.

"Oh, I love you so much, Ian," I whispered as I planted kisses throughout his chest.

"So much," I repeated as I hugged his warm body closer against mine.

There was no response coming from Ian, so I rose my head to look at his face. His eyes were tightly shut as he slept. I noticed his breathing grew slower and rhythmic. I lay, staring at his face for a few minutes until I felt completely drained. I closed my eyes and focused on the relaxing sound of Ian's breathing, which gradually succumbed me to a deep sleep.

Gradual wisps of cool air blowing over my body caused me to flinch and open my eyes to the bright light. I slowly slid my back against the bed post to an upright position and looked around the room with puzzled curiosity. It was quiet and the room felt uncomfortably empty. I unconsciously slid my hand against the surface of the bed, finding it was empty, too. Ian then instantly came to my thoughts. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Ian!" I suddenly called out as I scanned the room with my eyes.

"Ian, are you there?" I asked as I stood up.

The room was so large, he could have been in it. I just had to look around. After walking around the entire room, I slowly opened the door to a crack and peeked my head out. The surroundings were still unfamiliar to me, especially considering the large size of the house. I knew it would most likely end up taking me a while to get accustomed.

"Maybe he just left and plans on coming back quickly. I just need to stop being paranoid," I whispered and stepped out of the room to look for my suitcase.

The suitcase was right across the room.

"Wonder who could've put that there," I muttered and zipped it open.

"What? There's nothing in here," I said as I looked inside it.

First, Ian was nowhere to be found, and then my clothes just go missing. Who knew, it was Ian himself playing some sort of weird trick on me. I then stood up with the bed sheet still wrapped over my body and cautiously walked down the hall towards the bathroom.

"Are you finding everything alright, Ma'm?" A feminine voice asked from behind me.

I jerked my head back to see a young woman of medium height, fair skin, and golden brown hair, dressed in uniform.

"W-who are you?"

"I work here, Ma'm. My name is Stella. The reason I asked you if you were alright is because you seem to be in search of something," She remarked with a warm grin.

"Uh, actually, yeah. I noticed my suitcase is empty and I don't know where to find my clothes."

"Oh, I knew it had to be that. I was told to take care of getting your belongings settled in the house."

"By who, Ian?" I curiously questioned.

"Yes, Ma'm. Would you like me to show you where they are? I also took the liberty of preparing a warm bath for you, as well."

"You prepared a bath? Why?"

"Well, I thought you would like to take a nice bath once waking up."

"Well yeah, but I guess I just didn't expect anyone to do that. I didn't even expect anyone to be in the house besides Ian," I sighed.

"Well if you'd like, I can go clean the bathroom up and--"

"No, never mind that. Did Ian tell you where he was going?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you, Ma'm?" She curiously asked.

"Well no, that's why I'm asking. And please, don't call me Ma'm. Adalia is fine."

"Alright, Adalia. He told me he'd be gone for about a week to two weeks; three weeks at the most. Said something about a tour."

"Oh yeah, that's right. The European tour. Gosh, he could have woken me up before leaving like that, at least," I scoffed.

"So, would you like me to show you where I stored your clothes, Ma'm- I mean, Adalia?" Stella nervously stammered as a flush of red appeared on her cheeks.

"Yeah, show me please," I said as I nodded.

"Alright, Ma'm. Here is the master closet. As you can see, I organized each item according to colour and wash. The denim is separated from the rest, as well."

"And where is the other stuff, like my underwear?"

"Oh, that stuff is in the dresser drawers. I also organized that very specifically," She said as she slid open drawer after drawer.

I never thought I had much clothes until seeing them organized like this.

"So if you'd like, you can just tell me what it is you plan to wear ahead of time each day, and I can go ahead and get the clothes out for you so it can be more accessible," She said as she re-folded clothes in the drawer.

"You know what, Stella? I think I got it from here. You don't have to go through the trouble of sorting my clothes out for me each day. I mean, the fact that you organized all if it by colour, texture, and stuff is enough. You really didn't have to do that."

"Oh, Ma'm--"

"Adalia, please," I insisted.

"Adalia, it's really no trouble for me at all. It's my job."

"Well, I just don't want you to go through any trouble. Now, I'm just gonna go ahead and take a shower. I'll get the clothes myself," I hinted and stepped inside the enormous walk-in closet.

"Alright, I'll be downstairs if you need me, Ma'm- I mean, Adalia," She trailed off as she walked out of the room.

I instantly walked towards the door and closed it, making sure to lock it. The fact Ian had left without bothering to tell me anything had me thinking. Just the night before we had gotten so close and I felt things were definitely progressing. He couldn't have still been angry at me for what happened at the festival. Or could he? If only I could get ahold of him somehow. It suddenly came to me that Ian had never actually given me any number that I could use to reach him. I wouldn't be able to deal with waiting over two weeks without hearing from him. Just knowing he would thousands of miles away for weeks alarmed me. It just seemed like too long and far. My thoughts just couldn't drift away from Ian for more than a single minute.

"Mm, this is very good, Stella," I commented after I took the last bite of the spinach quiche she had prepared for me.

"Oh, I'm glad you like it. I'm glad you at least let me do that for you without a problem," She chuckled and removed the plate from the table.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Well, maybe I should just keep to myself."

"No, say what you were gonna say," I insisted.

"Well, you just haven't let me do much of anything for you these last few days. You just seem sort of uptight," She shyly commented.

"It's not you. It's just that I've never had anyone do much of anything for me. You know, I used to be a housekeeper at a hotel, so I am used to doing everything and cleaning up after myself. It just feels really weird always having someone around. Why don't you take the rest of the night off? It's still early. You can go out and take some time for yourself," I offered, hoping it wasn't to obvious.

All I truly wanted, was to be alone. It had only been a week since Ian had left without saying anything, and I was feeling extremely impatient to have news from him.

"Take the night off? Are you sure you want me to do that, Adalia?" Stella asked, as if confused.

"Yeah. You've been working pretty hard these past few days. Really, take the night off. Or actually, take the next few days off. It would do you good."

"But, won't you need me?"

"No. Remember, I'm used to doing things for myself. I'll be fine, really."

"When do you want me to come back?" Stella asked and began to pace back and forth.

"Tell you what, come whenever you feel you have taken enough time off. And by enough time, I mean plenty of days. Like a week or so."

"Well, if you will be fine here alone, then I don't see a problem with it. I guess I could use some days of rest. Thanks, Adalia. I will be back soon, so don't think you've gotten rid of me. I know how much you want to be alone... for some reason. Take care," She said and winked.

She then picked up her bag and walked out the door. I was now officially lonelier than ever. The house was quiet and had a desolate feel to it. No matter how much I kept trying to understand, I couldn't get why Ian left the way he did. And the fact that he hadn't called me not even once just added to my tension. Who knew, something bad could have happened to him and I didn't know just because I had no way of reaching him. I needed someone to talk to; to be able to get things off my chest with. That's when Josie came to mind. I hadn't bothered to get in touch with her or any of my other friends since coming to live in this house. All of them must have been feeling extremely angry with me. But I had to get in touch with Josie. This new lifestyle just wasn't seeming right so far. If this was the way my marriage would be from here on out, I knew it wouldn't work out. Being alone in this massive house with someone always on my ass, trying to do everything for me just irritated me. I knew Ian would be far away most of the time and I would most likely always end up stuck in the house, considering the fact that he told me himself there wouldn't be a next time of me joining them on tour. It had only been one week of me being here in this house, and I was already beginning to abhor it. But realistically, not much time had passed at all. What I needed to focus on, was being more patient and less paranoid.

"If he would just give me a damn call, or something!" I suddenly shot out, breaking my thoughts.

Another dilemma then came to mind; I hadn't told my parents about my marrying Ian. Hell, they didn't even know about his existence! I'd have to find the perfect opportunity and enough courage to break the news to him. Everything just had happened so fast since I first moved to Seattle, that I couldn't fully process it. It just seemed to me like lately, I had been spending way too much time thinking about Ian, and hardly and time at all thinking about those closest to me.

"Shit, I'm gonna have to break the news to them," I muttered as I picked the phone up.

As soon as I picked it up, the light on the screen blinked bright amber and a private number was displayed. I quickly pressed the button and held the phone against my ear.

"Hello?" I shot out with a shaky voice.

"Ian, is that you?"

All I could hear was mixed voices and feminine hollering coming from the other line...