The Tyrant's Wife

284 More delicious (1)

“Zeus is too idle for his own good.” He chuckled, not that he was offended. On the contrary, he found it funny that they had fallen right into his trap and neither of them even realized it.

She shook her head. “This must be payback for the date I set him up to. I made him meet Ximena after promising to set him up with a beautiful, single woman.”

He couldn’t stop himself from laughing at Zeus. “Isn’t Ximena a beautiful woman though?”

“She is. Only, she would rather beat the crap out of him than date him. Then there’s the fact that she and Liam are definitely going to be an item soon.” She giggled just thinking about it. If Ximena and Liam were a match made in hell, then she didn’t know what to say about her and Zeus.

Desmond blew out a breath. Throwing them on an island as retaliation did sound like something they would do.

“What can be so bad about a cottage?” He shrugged and walked towards it, but she knew there had to be a catch.

She was a step behind him and when he noticed a keychain peeking out from the doormat, he picked it up.

“What a perfect way to hide the keys to a cottage.” He huffed. “It’s not predictable at all.”

She giggled along and followed him in. The cottage looked like everything one could want on a vacation. The living room was furnished with white, cozy couches, pastel drapes and a basket of fruits was slotted on the table. She was tempted to grab a mango and munch on it but she couldn’t entirely trust it. At least not yet. What if they were not real fruits? She looked around waiting for a huge scare to trademark the prank. Before she sat on the couch, she grabbed a cushion that had been placed on a soft carpet and threw it on the couch with force.

.....

Desmond burst into laughter.

“You don’t understand.” She carefully picked up the cushion to make sure it was not ruined. “Ximena Morel is the queen of pranks. If she doesn’t give us the scare of our lives, she is not Ximena. Don’t forget the kind of dork my brother is.” She warned.

He took her hand and pulled her into his arms. “Relax. While she may be the world’s scariest prankster, I’m sure she knows how dangerous it is to scare an expectant woman.”

She relaxed a little when she thought about it. No matter what prank Ximena and Zeus had in store for them, it definitely wasn’t dangerous for her.

The day went by surprisingly well. The basket of fruits on the table was not an ordinary basket and the ‘fruits’ were nothing like actual fruits. It was a cake baked to perfection and as soon as they cut into it and had a taste, she wanted to know who had baked it.

He had the same thing in mind as he ate the pineapple slice which was apparently a pineapple flavored cake.

“I would like to know the baker, to hire them for our wedding.” He remarked.

She nearly choked on her slice. “What the...”

He was puzzled by her reaction. “Our wedding...you know, the kind of thing that happens soon after a couple’s engagement?”

Her hands shook. She had not thought about it that far. She looked down at her stomach and felt even more nervous. In just a few months, there would be a noticeable bump. There were many bridal gowns made for pregnant women but she didn’t want to have to take measurements every now and then to adjust it. Besides, she wanted to be able to wear whatever she wanted.

“About that...”

His expression fell. “Please don’t.”

She gave him a blank stare until she understood what his overthinking mind had spun. She flicked his forehead. “I don’t mean I am cancelling our engagement, dummy.”

“Then, you don’t want to think about it this soon?” He probed.

“Not that either.” She reassured him. “I just don’t want it to be soon. I don’t think I have the strength to plan a wedding yet, so can we wait until our baby is here?” She pleaded.

He let out a sigh of relief. “Of course, my love. We will get married whenever you are ready.”

He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms tightly around her. “Don’t do that.”

“What did I do?” She squeaked.

“You scared the crap out of me.” He kissed her and nipped her lip in punishment. He had thought he was about to get dumped. But now that he thought about it, how the hell did he come up with such a conclusion?

“I’m tired.” She yawned. She had been sleeping a lot lately, so when she shut her eyes, he smiled down at her face and rubbed her back to lull her to sleep.

“I swear, I didn’t do anything to deserve you. I must have saved the world in my past life, then.” She spoke sleepily.

His chest vibrated in laughter. “Then you better save the world in this life, too. Because if there’s a next life, I want you to be mine.”

___

Meanwhile, Ximena was having the time of her life with Liam, who she had basically kidnapped.

In her defense, he knew who his kidnapper was right off the bat, and that he was in safe hands. The man had insisted on finding out where they were going and telling him would ruin the surprise. So, she had pretended to change her mind, then let Zeus do what he did best.

Liam had been delivered to the island, bound tightly, with a pink ribbon on his forehead-Zeus must have decided to have a little extra fun now that Liam was immobile and helpless.

She had untied the ribbon as though he was a present and given him a tour of their manor. How Zeus knew so many private islands, she would never understand, but they were helpful so she was not complaining.

After their little tour, they both returned to the kitchen to cook. He let her decide what they would eat, so she chose chicken pasta. But when they dug in, she almost threw up from how much salt and spice there was. Looking at him, he wasn’t far behind her.

“I swear, I know how to cook! I learned to cook chicken pasta before I could walk.” She defended herself.

“Yeah...” He looked into his plate, obviously not believing a word she was saying.

The truth was, her presence in the kitchen always resulted in a disaster in the past-until Theodore made it his business to teach her how to cook several dishes so she wouldn’t starve. She had chosen chicken pasta because it was the simplest and she might as well do it with her eyes closed-but what the hell was this?

She grabbed their plates and returned to the kitchen, disposing of the food frustratedly.

He followed her, laughing. “Hey, it wasn’t that bad. We just had to take a sip of water after every bite.”

She turned to glare at him. “And why the hell would I torture you, and myself, so much?”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. “Who cares about food anyway? I think you are much tastier.” He nipped her ear.

She melted into his arms, only for his stomach to growl in hunger.

She pulled away with a chuckle. “Well, I guess I know who cares about food.”

She checked the fridge for whatever she could find. Luckily, there was a variety of food in their fridge. She picked out ingredients for a vegetable salad. This time, he rolled his sleeves to help her.

She had not figured it out before but as she watched him chop the vegetables with so much ease, she finally understood. She had been scared it wouldn’t be perfect. Hence, instead of doing it like she usually would, she had achieved the opposite results.

She didn’t care anymore.

He was startled when she suddenly pressed herself against his back and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“You do know that my brain can’t actually function with you holding me like that, right?” He ditched the knife and vegetables almost instantly.

She chuckled. “Would you like to find out whether I’m more delicious than those boring vegetables?”