The door creaks open as we walk through it and I suddenly feel apprehensive as the door seals us into the shop front. How many times had I walked past here in the past year and dreamed of talking to its owner?

The thought soon slips my mind as N continues forward, weaving through the shelves and antique furniture with ease. I look up to his face as my nails slightly brush against the back of his neck. He glances at me nervously before lifting it back forward.

He seemed so confident, yet when we made eye contact he suddenly became jittery. Why was it that this aspect made me happy? Surely I wasn’t starting to have a crush on him within two meetings? Is that even possible?

He places me gently on the counter, letting my legs swing over the edge and is quick to make sure I am comfortable.

Connor isn’t here… I wonder where she could be. I wonder how he knows her… Were they close friends? Maybe they were together… She was young enough looking that they could be.

“Fiana?” He asks quietly.

I pull myself out of my thoughts and meet his dark orbs with flushed cheeks. I let my hair fall onto my face in embarrassment. This was so unlike me… But I just couldn’t help my shyness whenever he stared at me.

“Y-yes?”

I eye him from my tilted position and the right side of his mouth turns upward and before he says anything more, he pushes a lock of hair from my face and places it gently behind my ear. He leans in a bit and I can feel my heart starting to race. He puts a few of his fingers underneath of my chin and lifts it so my face becomes unhidden. His gaze roams my face and I part my lips anxiously. What was he doing?

“It’s the exact same…” He breathes.

“What?” I ask in a shaky manner.

He blinks a few times before shaking his head at my question, “Sorry, you just look familiar to me.”

N moves away from me towards a cabinet nearby and he begins to shift through the various flasks. It doesn’t take him long before he is placing a strange, fuchsia coloured bottle and a plain white cloth beside me.

I scrunch my brows in confusion before whispering under my breath, “I’m not the only one then.”

“What was that?” N asks innocently.

I shake my head, “Nothing.”

He suddenly makes a strange face, almost as if he doesn’t believe be. His lips part and his eyebrows scrunch forward. It’s certainly an interesting look and it brings a smile to my face.

I laugh a bit and his face keeps the same unique look.

“What?” I almost whine.

N stays quiet but only scrutinizes me.

“Okay, I said something but it’s nothing you need to know.”

He scoffs, “I’ll get it out of you, eventually.”

I keep my smile and nod with a roll of the eyes, not giving him another word.

His face changes once more to one with a more serious expression and as he lifts the bottle up he begins to explain just what he is doing.

“I know he hit you three times, but this potion will heal the skin before it bruises… After, if you drink some of it, it’ll heal any internal damage you may have.”

I stare at the bottle with curiosity, my lips pursing as a doe-eyed expression takes over my face.

“I’m not the only one who seems to make strange faces,” he points out.

My mouth opens but I immediately close it, letting my expression take on more of a hardened look as I normally hoped it would.

He giggles at my actions and I feel this instinctiveness to slap my hand against his chest… Isn’t that what couples do?

N breaks my current train of thought, and I am thankful because it was heading to a strange place.

“Roll up your sleeve,” He orders.

I comply, the soft fabric of my sweatshirt easily slipping past the sore flesh of my forearm.

When I look it over I notice that the skin if reddening and the outside area has already started taking on a yellow and dark tone. Would that potion work?

He tips the bottle over the cloth and lets a few drops find their way onto it. Was that all it took?

He places his free hand underneath of my forearm and lifts it gently in which I wince for a moment as his thumb grazes the tender skin.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I tell him.

The fact he was even doing this much was something that left my heart skipping a bit. Why did this man have to keep me so intrigued?

As he presses the cool cloth to my skin I begin to admire his hands… I know he was muscular, but I didn’t except him to have such masculine hands and fingers. The veins are visible in his skin and I can’t help but find the caramel skin tone he carried to be more than attractive. They’re warm… warmer than anything I had felt in years.

His fingers pull away and I’m awed when the skin as turned its regular cream colour.

“Wow,” I breathe while letting my hand dance across it.

He chuckles a bit before standing on the balls of his feet, his face coming incredibly close to mine. My breath catches instantly and he notices. He brings the cloth to the top of my head, pressing it down against the crown of my head, without breaking eye contact.

I can’t read the emotion on his face but he can certainly tell I’m starting to feel nervous but he makes no attempt to move away. The tips of our noses brush and I want to lean forward - close the space between our lips and make contact with them. See how they feel and what he tastes like… But before I get the chance, he is pull the cloth off of my head and planting his feet fully on the ground.

I feel disappointed… Could he tell I wanted that? Is that why he pulled backward?

“Uhm, your ribs,” he mumbles with a pink tinge on his cheeks.

I nod a bit before slowly pulling up the one side of my sweatshirt. I watch him as I comfortably rest the fabric underneath of my chest. His eyes dart nervously to the floor and I can’t help but smirk at his apprehension.

“It’s kind of cold,” I say with sarcasm.

N’s gaze comes back when I speak and I make out the way his ears redden as his eyes roam over my bare skin. I feel some adrenaline pump through my system as his fingers brush my skin. For some reason, his other hand rests itself on my thigh and the heat of his skin is felt through my leggings.

I can’t help it when my heart skips a few beats and within moments he takes his fingers from my ribs.

“N…” I breathe as he hesitates to move away.

He brings his eyes to my face, his hand squeezing my thigh. His lips part and when I think he’s going to make a move he turns away, placing the cloth on the table.

“What the hell?” I ask, frustrated he kept refusing to build on the tension that was between.

He shrugs a bit, “You need to explain what I am paying for first… Then we can address, well address the other part.”

He was speaking so formally to me now… Why did he keep swinging back in forth from formal acquaintance to ually frustrated friend? I can’t keep up.

“I… Can I simplify the story?” I ask with eagerness.

“Sure,” he answers with.

I feel my desire begin to fade, although it does not leave me completely as I begin to explain the short-hand version of my life’s story.

“When… A long time ago, when I was younger, a group of men found me when I was fifteen… I couldn’t remember a single thing since before opening my eyes at that moment. They told me that they took something precious from me and that to get it back… I had to pay back my families debt.

“I don’t know why I believed them. I don’t know why I am so eager to get whatever it is back… I’m not even a hundred percent sure what it is, but I have this feeling that it could be my family you know? Like they took one of them and I’m supposed to get them back.”

He blinks at my response with a somewhat shocked face. I can feel my eyes begin to water as I think about the possibility I have failed someone I loved for so many years… Keeping them locked away or even working as a slave.

“It’s stupid right? I don’t even know the prize but I want it so badly. I’ve worked for so long to pay it down to one million dollars… And I thought I had another one hundred years to go but then you came along and… well, you saved me.”

He’s looking at me whole hearted sincerity and I can’t help but feel vulnerable in this man’s presence. The air he carried was so comforting that being able to express myself to him suddenly became easy. I don’t know when the tears fell onto my cheeks but I smile through the feeling as he stares back at me.

“That’s… That’s really profound.”

My eyes widen at his comment; he thought it was profound? I thought I sounded like a complete idiot.

“Thank-you…” I breathe nervously.

N moves forward, his hand outstretched and it comes to my face. His thumb moves over the tears and collects them from my skin.

“You’re prettier with a smile on your face,” he mumbles as a pink tinge crawls across his cheeks.

“Wha-”

He moves up against the counter, spreading my legs slightly as he places himself between them. My knees are against either of his hips and I in my breath when he fastens his free hand against my waist. Our faces meet on the same level and his eyes move from mine to my lips and back, posing the silent question of ‘Can I kiss you?’

I nod in answer and bring my hands to rest on his shoulders as he closes the space in between our mouths. His lips are soft and supple despite the season; people normally have such dry mouths in the cold.

N’s hand moves from my cheek to place itself on the back of my neck, pulling me in deeper as my legs further spread themselves apart. When he moves his head my lips part without hesitation and I feel his do the same. He’s careful when his tongue touches mine but for some reason I can’t hold back… I let mine glide against his and I can finally make out the way he tastes.

It’s somewhat sweet and there is a hint of banana as he begins to work his tongue against mine. I can’t help but enjoy it, although strange. I clutch at the fabric of his sweater when he moves away momentarily, letting my mouth control me as I move with his to keep in contact with his sweet lips. He lets out a heavy sigh, further leaning into me.

His fingers tangle themselves in my hair and without a choice he breaks our kiss. I’m about to protest but he leans forward to press his mouth against my earlobe.

“Just let me… Trust me,” he coos as his lips move downward.

I tilt my head to expose more skin to him as he places butterfly kisses down my neck. The way he’s moving as if he’s touching something delicate… Something sweet. I can’t help but smile as he carefully nips at the base of my neck. It will leave marks tomorrow but I don’t care… A mark from him would be insatiable.

I giggle a bit when his tongue momentarily hits some type of nerve and I feel him smile against my skin. He continues along my collar bone and my face presses against the soft spot behind his ear. I inhale momentarily and make out an earthy scent that mixed with something musky. It’s comforting; I’m an Earth elemental so the smell radiating off of him was somewhat glorious.

I press my lips to his skin and the hand on my waist squeezes. So he liked this, huh?

I on it lightly and his mouth lifts from my skin to let out a quiet groan. Was it really this easy to find his sweet spot?

I giggle and he lifts his face to look at me. He has a sweet expression and a smile to express the gratification that I just started giving him.

“I told you we would address it later,” he says, his eyes taking on a sweet twinkle.

I nod with an eagerness to keep going… Although inexperienced, I didn’t want to stop now.

“Kiss me again,” I ask breathlessly.

He chuckles wholeheartedly, “Don’t ask me twice.”

He leans forward again and I smile into his kiss.

It may be odd to be doing this with someone that technically could be considered a stranger, but I can’t help but feel overwhelmed with happiness as he keeps his lips on me. Did he have the same feeling I did?

I should be more excited that I get whatever is precious to me back once again… But I can’t keep the man kissing me out of my mind. I don’t seem to care that he also had some explaining to do as well, but I keep myself moving forward as his hands slide from my waist onto the bare skin of my stomach.

Heavy breaths begin to ensue as one of his hands work their way up my back… My lips kiss his neck serenely as his other hand plays with my hair and I feel him laugh as I nip at another hidden sweet spot on his collarbone.

Who was here to judge me if I was to fall for this man? Certainly no one, other than myself… But I could see that making this connection was nothing to be afraid of. I didn’t have to run anymore. I didn’t have to leave town soon.

This was the beginning of my new life, it seems like. The beginning of being stable, the beginning of staying in one place and not being afraid anymore… I am strangely joyous that this cat came and found me; protected me when no one else ever had.

There was so much I wanted to explore about him, even if there is a nagging fear that something was to come, I can finally enjoy the moment.

Hello lovelies! Don't worry, N and Fiana still have more parts left, their story won't be over too quickly! Hope you enjoyed it and please a omment if you want!