Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 167: You look adorable when you blush

Chapter 167: You look adorable when you blush

Neil slept through the whole morning, he didn’t wake up until it was mid-afternoon. But when his eyes blinked open to the soft light filtering through the glasspanes, he realized he was laying in bed alone without the woman who’d coaxed him to sleep. The thought that she’d left while he was asleep sent him leaping off the bed, almost stumbling in his rush down the stairs.

"Mia?" He thundered, his voice echoing through the house. Panic was starting to send anger through his veins when he heard her singing voice, sweet and familiar, coming from the kitchen and he stopped in his process of opening the door of the house.

With relief flooding his heart, Neil hurried to the kitchen. There she was, standing by the oven, singing softly. Her smile, that same smile he loved and wanted to cherish for as long as he could, greeted him, washing away the anxiety that had gripped him moments before when he’d thought she’d left.

"You’re awake," she smiled closing the oven, "And here I thought to be careful not to wake you up from your nap."

Their eyes met, and Neil felt like the luckiest man on Earth to be loved by a woman like Mia. Until this moment, he’d almost thought he’d imagined her laying with him on his bed, he’d thought she’d left him and he hadn’t been able to stop her from going this morning. Never in his entire thirty-two years had he thought he’d find the notion of having a woman coax him to sleep or cook in his kitchen appeasing until now. Without hesitation, he closed the distance between them, his arms enveloping her in an embrace born of both relief and tenderness.

"I thought you’d left while I was asleep," he whispered, his voice barely more than a breath against her ear. Her laughter danced in the air, a symphony of reassurance.

"I’d never do such a thing," she murmured, her words a promise wrapped in affection as she slipped her arms around him to hug him back, basking in the sheer feelings of his embrace.

"What are you making?" He asked, moments later when the aroma of the food swirled to his nose, moving back a little from the hug to peek at the pot on fire and the working oven, he said, "It smells delicious and mouthwatering."

"Well, I figured you wouldn’t be able to cook since you looked so tired in the morning, so I did the chores for you on your behalf," she said, "but after we eat don’t expect me to do the dishes." She laughed.

"Thanks," he chuckled, surprising her with a quick kiss on the forehead and watching as a deep blush crept up her cheeks. Smiling at the sight of the color on her face, he gently pinched her cheek and said, "You look adorable when you blush."

Suppressing an embarrassed smile, she slapped his hand away from her cheek and gave his chest a gentle push, "Go set the mat beside the fireplace before I’m done with the cooking."

****

Five minutes later after their meal and after Neil had done the dishes as agreed, Mia sat on the floor beside the coffee table with her legs curled up beneath her, a pencil in her hand, and a small notepad on the coffee table where she was writing down everything Neil was telling her about the night of the murder. She studied the things she’d written down so far about the people he suspected as the main culprit.

As she was busy studying the names, Neil was seated on the sofa beside her, watching her and carefully suppressing his smile at the absurd notion of him and Mia finding the murderer and ending everything before he’d had the need to be separated from her again. But he knew the chances of that happening was so slim so he tried to spend every second with her before that time would come.

She was wearing another set of his clothes again today, with her long brown hair gathered at the nape and bound with a red bandana, she looked more like a teenage girl trying to solve a difficult math problem than an adult woman trying to solve a murder case, and she bore absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to any detective, real or imaginary. She was too beautiful and innocent for that. She was an angel, his angel. Sunlight streamed in from the glass wall behind her, illuminating her shiny hair in a golden light, highlighting her glowing skin and vivid coloring, giving her an angelic appearance that made his heart swell with pride.

And soon enough she interrupted his pleasurable sight of her profile by turning her large brown eyes up to his and saying in a puzzled voice, "Do you remember the night I slept at your place five years ago, I saw a bloodstain on your shirt...if you don’t mind telling me who’s blood was that so that__"

"It was Alaric’s," he cut her off noticing she was trying not to sound offensive or accusing. "I told you I punched his face and broke his nose, but he was alive when I left him." He informed, reluctantly turning his attention to the business at hand instead of focusing on how beautiful and unreal she looked to him.

Mia nodded her head recalling his words this morning about confronting Alaric because of her. Though she’d been angry five years ago at the fact that Diane and Alaric had plotted against her, she’d never wished them death, and the only way to find the person who’d murdered her mom was by finding the person who’d murdered the two. If she remembered clearly, her late mother had no enemies who’d wish her death, so the person who had killed her could only be someone who was trying to get back at Neil and ruin him, which was why she wanted to know everything about that night and the people who he suspected to commit the crime.

"From all the names you’ve listed of the people you think would do such a thing to frame you, Jason Wallace is at the top of the list. Why?"

The amusement vanished from Neil’s expression and he rubbed his hands over his face as if he could somehow rub away the violent hatred that exploded inside of him whenever he let himself think of Jason as the murderer. "I think Jason did it." He looked up at her, immersed in his own thoughts. "No, I know the bastard did it and then deliberately let me hang for it. Someday, if I live long enough—"

Mia recoiled from the savage sound of his voice. "Why did you think he did it?’

"Because he blamed me for his cousin’s death in that mall explosion for years and looked for every little opportunity to ruin my name and send me to prison. He threatened me all the time."

Mia was listening to him with an expression of such immersed intrest that a smile tugged at his lips. "Any other general questions on the topic of the mall you’d like to know as well?"

"Several questions," Mia said with great curiousity, "About that bomb incident, did you really let it explode on purpose?"

"No, I didn’t." He said quickly and firmly, "Though on the day of the incident, I was triggered by my childhood trauma and shakened while defusing the bomb, I was certain I defused it and took it away with me. Then ten minutes after I left, the mall exploded. And because every single person in the mall died, none of them could say anything about me being at the mall, so my uncle made it appear to the world that I never arrived at the mall before the bomb exploded, clearing my name of any charges until five years ago."

Mia digested those information as she wrote them down, silently coming to the conclusion that someone had been trying to ruin his name even before the murder happened. "Your uncle," she began cautiously, "You also mentioned him as one of your suspects of the murder, do you think he would also do such a thing to get back at you because he hated the Galverra family?"

He shrugged, "I don’t know. Anyone could be the murderer, I have a lot of enemies I am unaware of. Like the Da Kroll for a start."

"Then can I have all of their names?"

"You can’t, because I don’t know them." He said, his face starting to harden from the mention of the Da Kroll.

"Alright, let’s not mention the Da Kroll." She rolled her eyes at him, trying to tease him and ease him into the discussion about his enemies, which she knew he didn’t want to speak about. With all the years he’d spent destroying the Da Kroll’s illegal activities, it was only natural that he’d be a target and they’d do anything to get him out of the picture; and this made her put the Da Kroll as number one suspect of the main culprit.

Neil, however smiled at the way Mia’s romantic mouth tilted up at the corners and at the successful effort she was making to keep the discussion on a lighthearted level as to not upset him.

"You said you don’t know the man who’d killed your parents, could he be the one responsible? I mean, you told me you had the same face as your late father, and if my assumption is right, then I think the person must have seen your face on the live show event of Ivy Grove and did something utterly heartless to ruin you. Like killing my mom for a start to make me hate you, then killing Diane and Alaric to make it even more believable that you’d had a reason for it, then bringing the mall incident to the light and__"

"Breathe, sweetheart," he interrupted her intelligent connection, which even he had connected the day he was sent to prison. And knowing that very soon she’d put everything together and try to get involved in this when she went back home, Neil tried to downplay everything to protect her. If his enemy found out how much she knew and was involved with him, she would most likely be the next they’d target.

Neil saw her pouted lips and displeased frown of cutting her off and immediately smiled. Softening his tone, he stood up and held his hand out to help her up, "Let’s put all this away and decide what to do with the rest of our evening. We will continue this some other time."

Mia fought down her instinctive urge to argue that she wanted answers now so she could make a story about his case when they returned to the city and cleared his name of any of this murder, but then she forcibly reminded herself not to argue with him so that what had happened last night would never, ever happen again. She didn’t want to have any reasons to argue with him like last night that would lead to them being separated.

"Alright." She placed her hand into his and he swiftly pulled her off the ground and into his strong arms, causing her to laugh in surprise at his unexpected gesture of carrying her. "I can walk on my own, Mr. Wayner!" she teased, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I am aware, but I felt like giving you a princess treatment. So, what do you suggest we do to pass the time?"