Your Love Makes Me Strong

True to his word, at 5:30 sharp there was a soft knock on my apartment door. Annalise and Kaitlyn both rushed through the house, racing to answer the door. Kaitlyn, being older, had longer legs so she was the first there. Her squeal of delight met my ears, and I quickly put in my second ear ring before heading down.

Cristiano was holding Annalise, who had both arms wrapped tightly around his neck, while he was talking with Kaitlyn. I paused in the entryway, leaning against the wall to watch them interact for a moment.

Cristaino was kneeling, so that Annalise could sit on his knee and so he could be eye-level with Kaitlyn. She was telling him a story about her dog, Sparky, and his eyes were fixated entirely upon her, listening intently to every word she spoke and laughing at all the right times. I couldn’t help but smile to myself at the trio.

When Cristiano’s eyes flickered around briefly, he did a double take when seeing me. The second time, a brilliant smile crossed his features as he slid Annalise gently from his knee and stood.

“Hey,” he spoke softly, his voice low and dragging out the word. For some odd reason, I glanced down with a slight blush, but I couldn’t look away from him for more than a second.

“Hey, yourself.”

“How… how long have you been standing there?” he asked, biting on his lower lip.

I laughed a little and moved towards them, grabbing my keys off a hook. “Long enough.”

He made a noise of understanding and turned back to the girls, “Whose ready to go?”

They each voiced their eagerness, and once again, Cristaino picked up Annalise when she held her arms up to him.
“Well, let’s go, shall we?”

Kaitlyn grabbed ahold of his hand and all but drug him outside and through the apartment complex. I followed a little slower, making sure I had everything I needed before I locked up. When I was met with the cool Madrid air a couple minutes later, I was a little surprised to find him waiting outside, leaning casually against the passenger door of a Porsche Cayenne.

I took a moment then to really look at him, to appreciate him.

His Ray Bans were knocked over his eyes, now, and a baseball cap was pulled low over his face. His red polo with all three buttons left undone, exposing a peak of his tanned chest, was pulled taunt across his shoulders, and the sleeves clung to his well-defined biceps. The dark jeans fit loosely, but accentuated his muscular thighs, and the pants legs each rested over a black and red Nike Air Jordan.

Damn, he looked good.
And maybe, just maybe, he was thinking the same about me while he continued to lean against the vehicle, not bothering to stop the slow smirk from forming the longer he looked.

I was frozen in spot underneath his gaze, until he pushed himself off the door. I snapped from my trance and moved towards him slowly, a blush creeping up the back of my neck and into my cheeks.

Cristiano met me halfway, his hand gently landing on the curve of my hip as he leaned in.

“You look lovely,” he murmured, breath fanning across my ear and neck.

“You look very handsome, yourself,” I managed to reply. My voice sounded weak, even to my own ears, and I couldn’t even imagine how it sounded to him.

He smiled at me, pulling away and began to guide me towards the car. His hand didn’t budge, not until the very last minute after he opened the car door for me before closing it. I let out a shaky breath to compose myself in the half a second that it took for Cristiano to be settled into the drivers seat.

“Everyone ready?” he asked, glancing into the mirror at Kaitlyn and Annalise. The girls both nodded a little overly dramatic, with smiles as wide as the Atlantic. Cristiano chuckled softly, and pulled onto the road.

I stole a glance at him from the side of my aviators, fighting the urge to stare. His right wrist was slung over the steering wheel, and his left arm was propped on the middle console with his hand gingerly resting on the gear stick. To me, it was still weird getting used to cars and roadways being opposite in Europe than they were in the States.

I tore my eyes from the beautiful man beside me, and looked out the windshield before shifting to my window. Several yards later, mid-conversation with the girls, Cristiano casually moved his left hand to rest on my knee.
The movement was so fluid, so easy, and without the slightest hint of hesitation. Like the thought crossed his mind, and he acted upon it without a second thought.

I kept my eyes focused on the passing scenery, biting hard on my bottom lip to keep from grinning like an absolute fool at such a minuscule action. It was an understatement to say keeping my composure and acting like he hadn’t set my heartbeat on a pace fit for a race was difficult. I tried to keep my thoughts focused on their conversation, made my best effort to speak up when fitting, and ignore the parade of butterflies in my stomach.

The moment I got close to calming my heartbeat and getting past the butterflies, it was like Cristiano knew. He began making small circles on the outside of my knee with his thumb, stretching his fingers out like they were beginning to go numb from being idle and giving my knee a gentle squeeze.

I was more than thankful when he pulled into a driveway, punching a code into the gate box, and moving forward once there was enough room for the Porsche to fit through. The outside of his house was stunning, to say the least. I couldn’t even begin to fathom how immaculate the interior would be, or how mind-blowing the evening would prove.