Belonging to Lust

Herding his nieces and nephew further into the living room, Heath set up a Spongebob movie for them before heading into the kitchen to check on Zaiyia. What had happened between them hadn’t flown his mind like she might have thought it had, in fact it was stashed in the corner of it while his family was visiting. He hadn’t expected to be so placid and collected when they knocked on the front door at first and prevented him from kissing Zaiyia. Ordinarily, he’d be having a meltdown for recklessly falling under Zaiyia’s spell and buckling to her, but this time was the complete contrary. For once, there was nothing in him that was determined to hustle the idea of Zaiyia out of his system for good. For once, HE was in control, and it felt inconsequential and marvelous.

Sticking his head into the entryway, Heath pinpointed Zaiyia plucking some leftovers out of the fridge. “Need any help in here?”

A bit spooked, Zaiyia glimpsed over her shoulder and smiled at his pleasant smirk. He seemed so composed after what almost ensued between them. Was it because his nieces and nephew were still here? Was he abstaining so he wouldn’t detonate in front of them? “Oh ha ha ha, that’s very funny. You can barely cook, Heath, do you think I’d trust you to use a microwave?”

Rolling his eyes with a grin, Heath turned to recede back into the living room to watch the movie with his nieces and nephew. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Zaiyia already had the table ready and the leftovers heated and assembled on three plates when the kids came running in at her call for dinner with Heath behind them. She was producing a little dessert for them on the counter. “I hope you guys like it. If not, you don’t have to eat it. We can find something else for you instead.”

“Oh, they’ll love it. Trust me.” Heath reassured her as he leaned back against the counter beside her, his eyes on the three little ones shoveling into their dinners.

“Mmm, this is yummy!” Florence gasped in admiration, her big eyes beaming up at her Uncle.

Vivienne seconded that with an keen nod as Josiah entered in. “Can we have seconds?”

“Only if you can keep up with me.” Heath challenged him with a joking glare as he swiped one of the plates that had dessert on it and took his seat at the head of the table. “And I too agree that she’s the greatest cook that ever stepped foot in my house. I’m thinking about keeping her, what do you guys think?”

The kids giggled and agreed that he should. Zaiyia shook her head in feign displeasure as she accompanied them at the table with her dessert. “Thank you all for your kind words. Once you’re done eating we have dessert for you too.”

At the mention of dessert, the kids guzzled up their dinner and then tore to the counter to choose their plates. After one bite they were ranting about how exceptional it was. Heath concurred with them. After mopping off his plate, Josiah looked to Heath to inquire. “Hey Uncle, can we sleep in the fort tonight in the living room instead of the guest house? The fort is way cooler!”

Heath nodded as he wiped his mouth and got up to get himself seconds. “That sounds like a great idea. I’ll get right on it when I’m done.”

“But Vivienne and I wanna eat our desserts in them.” Florence protested around a full mouth. “Can we do that, Uncle Heath?”

Sighing, Heath gave them a look before straying from the kitchen to erect their fort. “Restless little brats you guys are.”

Giggling in triumph, the three kids picked up their plates and flew off after him.

Zaiyia lingered behind to finish her dessert and clear up after them. She didn’t expect Heath to return so soon after she just finished her dessert to vacuum up his second servings of dessert. Raising her brows at him, she inquired on the fort project. “Back so soon? How did development go?”

“They’re satisfied for now.” Heath replied as he takes a seat next to her instead of his previous spot and begins to devour the sweet delicacy she devised.

Leaning over to not be heard, Zaiyia quizzed him. “How often did they come over before I moved in?”

“It used to be all the time, but I’m guessing their parents haven’t wanted to get away from them yet lately.” Heath gave her a wink, then grinned.

Zaiyia laughed at his silliness. “I’m guessing you were their babysitter of choice then, huh?”

“Of course! Who else would they trust to look after them? Maverick?” Heath quipped as he got up to put his plate and her now empty one in the sink. He returned to stand by her chair, studying down into her face as his hand relaxed on the back of her chair. “Me and the kids got a big day of adventures planned tomorrow. I’d invite you to come along but you have more important things to undertake such as this Alice White complication, and I’d rather you concentrate exclusively on that first.”

“Understood.” Zaiyia nodded reluctantly.

Having already sighted the cream on her bottom lip, Heath reached out to erase it off with his thumb and then inserted into his mouth to suck the sweetness off all the while Zaiyia gaped in surprise. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

Incapable of speech after such an amorous maneuver, Zaiyia merely gave him a silent nod. She sat there at the table long after he strode away to join his nieces and nephew in the two enormous forts manufactured out of sheets and highlighted with glow sticks. Josiah has his own while his sisters had the other. They had popped in another movie before Heath entered in his nephew's tent to watch with them.

After the film was ended, the girls ended up accessing that fort to bundle up to their Uncle. In that fort, they organized the following day’s many exploits. Josiah wanted to go to Six Flags amusement park nearby, and ATV riding. The younger girls wanted to go to the biggest toy store there was in town, then to an arts and craft shop nearby, and finally to Disneyland. Zaiyia listened to Heath help them arrange their day down to bathroom breaks and thought it sweet.

But what was really on her mind was the metamorphosis he had made tonight. He touched her, and smiled at her as if she was a human being that he could stomach being around even after almost kissing her. That was completely unlike him. Typically he’d handle her like she had a murderous infectious infection and would evade her at every cost possible.

What had changed?

Why could he stand her now?

Not that she was dismayed by this, it’s just...it made her want to take a shot on him again. It made her want to go to him and induce intimacy like she used to have the audacity to do in the past when they felt the same way for each other. Or so she had thought at the time. He’d denied her viciously and smashed her heart soon after, but now that doesn’t seem to be on his timetable anymore.

If she slipped into his room tonight and touched him, would he reciprocate?

There was only one way to find out, and even though her heart has been pretty okay these days, her heart was prepared to brave being damaged again just so long as it was Heath the one doing it. If what she was considering was about to end up in failure, she'll take it. She withstood it once, she can do it again.

And if he wants nothing to do with her, then perhaps gathering up her bag and leaving was the only solution left to their forsaken love.

Getting up from the kitchen table, Zaiyia slunk to the entryway to take a peek on what was going on. From what she could see, the little ones had fallen dead asleep in their tents corresponding to the position of their silhouettes. She ducked her head back when a broad shadowy form came into sight and passed her by to enter the hallway. Knowing it was Heath, she tried to flip off the light so he wouldn’t know she was still there, but that didn’t matter. He must have been too depleted to acknowledge for he retired into his bedroom down the hall.