Fire - Betrayal (11 page)

I
breathed in deeply, moved by the emotion that I could see in his cerulean eyes.  My heart pounded and my body ached for him.  But I would have to wait.

Ben led
me back to the dance floor, holding me close as we danced.  We danced in comfortable silence. I was so deeply in love with him.

“
Cate, I love you so much more that I can express with words, I deeply, deeply love you,” Ben spoke softly and with emotion.

“And I love you so very deeply Ben, forever,“
I declared.

“I wish you were my wife
Cate, “Ben stated.

“Why’s that Ben?”

“So then I could take you home and make love to you,” he whispered into my ear.

“Ben, don’t say things like that when I am trying so hard to be good.  One day it will happen, won’t it? “
I questioned.

“Yes, the sooner, the better,“
he said, “Let’s go home now, I’m not coping with your closeness in public so well.  We need to be alone.”

He led
me off the dance floor, left money for the dinner and drove me home.  He was unusually quiet.

He
stopped his car at my house, and sat, staring out of the front windscreen momentarily. He did not look at me, and I started to worry, the feeling of dread coming over me.

Then h
e got out of the car and went around and opened my door for me, taking my hand as I climbed out of the seat.

Our
eyes met, but Ben looked away, breathing deeply. I hated that.  He was avoiding something, but not telling me about it.

He held
my hand as we walked through Katie’s gate to the front door, where we stopped for me to unlock the door.

“Ah,
Cate, I’m going to go home now.  I really can’t come in with you.  I am feeling absolutely no strength in my self-control with you.  If I go into your house with you, I know that I will break my promise to you.  This is …very difficult right now,” Ben explained.

“Ben, “
I said concerned.  I placed my hands on his chest worried about him.  I could see how much he was struggling with his emotions.

“Will I see you tomorrow?”
I asked, doubting whether I would.

“I hope so, I mean, I want to, but the way I am feeling right now…Aah, I really have to go!”

He turned quickly, not looking at me and ran to his car.  He sat there for a moment before turning on the ignition and driving away, screeching the tyres.

I
entered the house alone, and upset.  I wanted Ben to be here with me.

I
went to bed, worried about Ben. Normally, his self-control was 100 per cent indestructible.

Proposal

Ben arrived at my house
at the break of dawn the next morning.  I was up harvesting the fruits from The Magnificent Tree for the hungry people, placing them in baskets in the back yard.

From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of him
jumping the fence, and then jogging towards me.  But, he stopped when he saw me.  I looked at him, and he took my breath away. He was wearing a sleeveless body hugging white shirt, revealing his muscular build, and black shorts with a black belt. I watched as he turned around as if he was about to leave. It was strange feeling high at the sight of seeing him again, to feeling disappointment that he may leave, and then confusion as to why he was reacting to me in this way.

“Hey,” I said to him, watching him for his reaction. He stopped in his tracks.

“It’s a beautiful morning Cate,“ he said, his face unreadable as he turned to face me.

I looked at him again.  “Yeah, “I smiled.  He was closer to me now, and looked into my eyes deeply, but I looked away.  I felt a little uncomfortable with him this morning.

“I am sorry about almost leaving when I saw you Cate.  I was thinking of me, but then,  I didn’t want to punish you because of my lack of self control. I am sorry Cate,” he explained.

Then h
e lowered his head down to look at the grass as he walked even closer to me. When he lifted his head again, I was standing there, staring at him with a compassionate smile. He smiled back shyly, shaking his head.

He looked into
the baskets to see which fruits I had collected, and then went to The Magnificent Tree to collect more. As he was reaching up to twist the fruit off the branches, I walked up behind him and hugged him and felt his heart skip a beat.

“Ben
jamin Adams, I love you!” I said.  Then I let go of him and went back to collecting the fruits.

When the basket was full, Ben carried it out to the front fence on the house. 
I walked closely next to him, holding on to his shirt. Together we gently placed the fruits into the seven baskets hanging off the front fence.  No sooner had we done this, that the people started coming to collect their fill.

I could feel
Ben’s eyes on me as I interacted with the homeless, offering them advice, encouragement and words of wisdom.  I glanced over at him, and he pointed to his eye, his heart and me.  I interpreted it as I love you.  And while I was placing the last of the seven fruits into the baskets, the black car parked a little way up the street, the exact same one that I had observed recently.  The expression on Ben’s face changed from happy and content to one of questioning and suspicion.

I noticed that h
e stood out of sight of the car, but still able to see it clearly himself.  He watched the occupants, dressed in black, walk carefully to the fruit baskets, and then take one of each of the seven fruits.  They did not talk and they did not make eye contact with anyone.

Then, Ben watched as t
hey returned to the black car, which then accelerated slowly, turning around to head back in the other direction.  They intended for their car not to be seen.  As the black car drove slowly away, I saw Ben memorizing the number plate.  I knew that he would investigate it when he returned to work.

I wanted to discuss that black car with Ben. I could see that he was as
perplexed about the incident as me, but he did not mention it to me. So I pretended that I did not see anything that happened. Surely, he would give me information about the black car once he had investigated it.

He returned to the back yard
before I did. I found him sitting under the garden gazebo. His eyes were closed as I quietly went over to him. He didn’t outwardly show that he had heard me coming, but I knew that he was aware of me standing next to him. He always knew. He could sense my nearness much more acutely than I could sense his.  He was a Terrean after all.

He opened his eyes to
my happy face looking down upon him.

“Thank-you for helping me today Ben,”
I said, smiling at him.

“Would you like to stay for breakfast?”
I asked.

“I would love to stay for breakfast
Cate, and spend the entire day with you.  I promise I won’t go running off because I can’t control myself like last night Cate.  I am sorry for ending our enchanting evening together like that…please forgive me?” he said, searching my eyes for forgiveness.

“And what if I don’t forgive you Benjamin Adams? “
I asked.

“Then I would
have to chase you, capture you and tickle you until you give in and forgive me Cate Adams!” he said teasingly.

“Mmmm. I like the sound of that, but, I have to admit, I am finding it hard to forgive you!”
I teased back.

And with that,
I took off at top speed, and he pursued me.  He could have easily outrun me with his Terrean build and athleticism, but he was enjoying the chase as much as I was.

I
surprised him with my agility, and of course I had a better knowledge of the garden than he did.  But still, he seemed amazed every time that I outmaneuvered him in some tricky situations.

Finally
though, he had outwitted me.  I found myself cornered and backed up to the wall of the house behind me.  There was no escape for me this time, and I knew it. I watched Ben’s every move scrupulously, watching and waiting for my chance of escape.  But it did not come.

His eyes never left
mine as he moved slowly towards me. I could not move left or right, up or down.  He was coming in for the tickle, and I hoped that it would not be too painful.

He
stopped at a very short distance from me.  He placed his hands on either side of me on the wall of the house.

“Do you forgive me
Cate?” he threatened.

“It depends Ben,”
I replied.

“Depends on what?”
he asked.

“On whether you kiss me or not,”
I said.

Ben took in a
quiet breath and closed his eyes. And that was what I was waiting for – his inattention.  Quickly, I slid down the wall and took off again, enjoying outwitting him.  I turned around to tease him at my escape. But I found him still at the wall of the house, his forehead against the wall, his hands up and around the back of his head.

Suddenly,
I felt his pain.  My smile disappeared from my face, and I walked slowly back to him at the house wall. I gently ran my hands up his back to his shoulders, wanting to reach out to him.

He did not move.  He stood very still. 
I tilted my head towards him until it rested between his shoulder blades.

Then he slowly stood more upright, bringing his arms down beside him and then carefully turned around to face
me.  He looked at me without smiling. His face was deadly serious.

Then all of a sudden,
he bent down and grabbed me in a fireman’s hold and ran off with me.  He had outwitted me!

H
e took me to the soft grass and placed me gently down onto it.  He crouched over me, so that I had absolutely no chance of escape.

“And now,
do you forgive me?” he asked, with humour in his voice.

“Maybe!”
I whispered.

“Torture by tickling it shall be then,“
he declared, and then started to tickle me.

“Stop! Stop! “
I yelled out while doubling up with laughter.  I pushed my hands towards him.  He stopped tickling me and looked at me seriously.

The silence between
us was electric, and his cerulean eyes were smoldering.  He slowly brought his face closer to mine.

I
ran my hands up behind his neck and put my fingers into his hair.  He hesitated slightly before he tenderly brought his lips to mine. Then he moaned in pleasure as he kissed me.  I pulled him closer, thoroughly enjoying the kiss, and then, I pushed him gently away.

“Thank-you,”
he whispered to me, “thank-you.”

He rolled off
me and lay on his back on the soft grass, his eyes closed, his hand over his heart. I left him there while I went to prepare breakfast.

For the remainder of the morning,
we decided to catch a movie together.  We couldn’t remember the last time that we sat side by side, holding hands in a movie, so it was sort of a novelty for them both, one that we thoroughly enjoyed.  Was it because of the movie, or was it because we could just sit together closely, holding hands, enjoying the electricity flowing between us?

Mid afternoon was spent lazing around at
my house.  I fussed around in the kitchen while Ben relaxed upstairs for an afternoon nap.  He had not slept a wink last night, after he had left me abruptly after our intimate dinner together.

I was enjoying the silence of the house when there was a
knocking on the front door. I looked out of the view finder to discover it was the visitors from Une Autre Terre.

I
opened the door, and invited them in after seeing the distress on their faces.  I led them to the kitchen where I made them a pot of hot tea, and served up some cup cakes that had been freshly made. We sat around the wooden table together.

While
I poured the hot tea, the eldest male spoke.  His name was Jack.

“
Cate, we have been trying to get some work, but people seem to be scared of us because of our eye colour.  And then, when we wear our sunglasses to cover our eyes, we are not trusted.  We do not know what to do.  Would you have any ideas for us?”

I
considered my answer carefully before delivering it.

“Well, you certainly dress as we do now, so that’s good.  Your communication is much better, and I do have a solution for your eye colour.  You can buy coloured lenses to cover up your eye colour – it’s simple, but you will need to put them in every day.  Just wait here while I go and get some of mine to show you.”

I quickly raced upstairs to my bedroom and found my coloured contact lenses, being extremely quiet not to awaken Ben.  I left quickly and returned back to my special visitors.