I am the Queen

Satele's heavy eyelids slowly opened. A series of blurs crossed her eyes before it cleared, and stumbling on her view were unfamiliar colors and furniture.

Her brows creased. She thought that she was still in a dream since she was dreaming every night. Only to be awakened by the heaviness on her waist.

She let out a groan, and for once, it was not a frustrated groan of rousing from a nightmare, but a cry of protest from waking up from such a peaceful slumber.

She didn't know when was the last time she slept so soundly.

Maybe I should drink before I go to sleep?

At the sudden thought of this, her still groggy face and droopy eyes, which wanted to continue sleeping, widened when she was shocked awake by the memories of last night.

That's right! That man!

She jumped out of bed only to find herself immovable when that heavy feeling on her waist tightened.

Frowning, she shifted to her side.

At first, panic crept inside her at the sight of Asher's sleeping face, and she raised the quilt to check herself. She only breathed the air held between her tightened lips when she saw her clothes were still intact. Not a piece was missing.

Her sighs of relief then turned into a scowl when she gazed at Asher once more. But any protest and dissatisfaction clogged in her throat when her eyes took in the wonderful view. And instead of slapping him silly to wake him up and swat his arm away from her waist, she found herself ogling him.

He was handsome . . . even more so if he was asleep. And Satele hoped he remained that way forever.

He got that bronze Adonis-like skin going on with an aquiline nose and thin, pale lips which somehow made her knees weak, remembering what those lips had done to her that night.

At the thought, her stomach churned. Not from hunger, but from something burning which rose quickly in her throat while her face contorted like she ate something rotten.

That familiar sensation enveloped her again. Disgust. Not for him, but mostly for herself. Even in the past till now, she was disgusted at herself for not feeling disgusted at the man who took her virginity.

In truth, she even felt the electricity crawling on her skin whenever she remembered how his hands caressed her.

She shook her head to shake away the dirty thoughts inside her brain.

"What's wrong with you?"

Her eyes swept towards the person beside her, and her pupils narrowed when she saw the slight tugged at the corners of his lips, holding his grin. And she was surprised to found there was softness in his eyes and gentleness in his repressive grin.

At that moment, her body grew warm, and he might have realized what was going on with her because that repressive grin blossomed into a smirk while the glint in his eyes was as much as cheeky as his smile.

Satele slapped his hand away from her waist as she snappily said, hiding her embarrassment, "Why did you bring me here?!"

Asher's smirking lips snorted while a scowl replaced his cheeky face, and he flung the quilt towards her.

"What's with you?! Instead of thanking me for not leaving you there alone to fend for yourself by bringing you here in my home and let you sleep on my bed, the first thing you say to me are words of ungratefulness? Is it that hard to thank me?"

Something like guilt hit the center of Satele's heart, and she tried to explain while she fervently got out from the quilt's embrace, which was blocking her view.

"That's not what I meant! You should have let me sleep at one of the empty rooms instead of doing me the honors of sleeping on your be––Oh my god! W-what are you doing?!"

Satele shrieked when she was caught off guard the moment she got a full view of her surroundings and found that Asher was parading with nothing but his boxers on.

She slapped her palms against her red face without thinking as she lowered her head and cursed.

"Asher you pervert! You brute! You exhibitionists! There is a girl here!"

Rolling his eyes, Asher didn't retort. He walked towards his closet and casually flung some clothes on his shoulder, yawning along the way before he sauntered towards the bathroom. Leaving Satele, who was still squealing like a little girl, behind.

While Satele couldn't recover from what she saw, the image of that annoying man kept on replaying in her head. Prominent jaw, firm chest and abdomen, strong arms, bold thighs, sexy butt and that . . .

*gulp . . .

He was an Adonis among men who each pale in comparison against him.

Not that she had anyone in mind to compare him with in terms of size and thickness.

Heating up, she desperately tried to remove out of her mind the image of his bulge against his boxers to no such luck. In fact, it only kept replaying in her head, flashing in her brain like a light bulb. Not just his bulge, all those raw memories and things it did to her.

Damn you!

She hissed uncomfortably. It bothered her. Bothered her to no end that her body kept responding to him even though she didn't like him.

She shot to her feet and paced back and forth to cool her head just in time for Asher to walk out from the bathroom completely fresh and in clothes.

Thank God for that!

Seeing the man in a simple shirt and jogging pants, she breathed a respite relief.

Asher snorted upon seeing Satele's reaction. "What are you so dramatic about? It's not like you haven't seen it before."

The embarrassment which gradually died stirred in full throttle and Satele's breathing hitched when those raw memories jumped around her mind once more –– taunting her. But instead of arguing with him, she glared and walked past him, pretending to be angry.

"I think I have already extended my stay. Thank you for taking me in," she said, voice monotonous as her face. She didn't want to waste a single second and got out of the room.

But before she could completely pass him towards the door, Asher grabbed her hand. She stopped when that familiar electricity crawled from the contact of their skin and quickly shot in all parts of her body, weakening her knees while her brain short-circuited.

She pulled her hand away, and luckily, he didn't make it difficult for her when he let her go.

To hide what she was feeling, she growled in a pretend, angry voice, "What?!"

Asher didn't mind Satele's hissing like a little kitten as he answered in utter calmness.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

To his astonishment, this was the time he should be at Evangeline's kitchen, cooking his cousin's breakfast. But instead, he found himself asking the woman before him to join him for a meal.

This definitely wasn't his gig. What is wrong with me?

On the other hand, Satele didn't answer. Caught off-guard at the sudden question which came out of nowhere.

"I'm not hungry." She dismissed, yet the growling sound came from her stomach caused her ears to glow in red.

Raising an eyebrow, Asher smirked. "Right." He then casually grabbed Satele's wrist and dragged her out of the room. "Let's go. I know a restaurant near here which serves this delicious juicy bacons and wild duck eggs."

While Asher kept pulling her, Satele was still in a state of disbelief and couldn't react. In fact, she was shocked that he was this forceful and . . . kind? What does he want?

Could somebody tell her what he was doing? They should be strangers. Resuming their lives. Pretending they didn't know each other after that night.

And yet, here they are, acting like they were the best of friends.

She pulled her hand away from his grasp, which wasn't hard since he didn't put too much strength in gripping her wrist.

"What are you doing?"

Asher paused, looking at Satele from behind complete with a raised brow as he controlled his irritation, which started to bubble in his chest. Every time that she was looking at him with those angry eyes and talking to him in that snapping tone, his heart itched while an overwhelming desire to punish her corroded his mind.

Still, he answered in a nonchalant tone, "Going to eat breakfast."

Crossing her arms, Satele stared at him. "You go and eat your breakfast, but I think it's inappropriate for me to come along."

"And why's that?"

Satele frowned, didn't know what was happening at the moment. The man was acting weird, allowing her to sleep on his bed and now forcing her to have breakfast with him.

Is he like this to every woman? At the thought, her face darkened while her voice sounded foreboding.

"Mr. Cole, the last time I remembered, you and I are nothing more than strangers. I think there's no reason for us to act familiar with each other just because of what happened in the past. You don't owe me anything, and I don't owe you anything. I'd appreciate it if you stop being too familiar with me."

The bubbles of irritation wanted to burst out from Asher's chest while the itchy feeling in his heart became more unbearable by the second.

"What's so wrong with me asking you to join me for breakfast? It's not like I'm asking you to be my girlfriend. Don't flatter yourself."

He sneered before walking towards the door. Opening it, he gestured with his hand. "Get out then."

Asher didn't have to ask twice, Satele curled her fingers against her palms and marched forward. Glaring at him, she stormed out of the room, feeling humiliated.

That was right. She was raising herself so high, thinking that he might have other motives all because he was nice to her. Only to be reminded by the same man on how ordinary she was. Totally out of his league!

SLAM!

She hadn't gotten far away from the door when it slammed hard, echoing in the corridor that her eardrums almost burst.

JERK!