Chapter 7

Kimberly couldn t help but laugh at Ian who was repeatedly grumbling about the welcome party his mom mentioned earlier. "Babe, please finish your meal." she said stiffling a laugh. "You don t understand. I told her that a party wasn t necessary since I'll be leaving soon." he replied with a frown. "It s okay, babe." "It s not okay! She never listens to me!" he yelled making Kimberly flinch. Ian noticed her reaction and felt bad for frightening her with his unnecessary anger. "Baby, I'm sorry. I didn t mean to scare you." he apologized, taking her hand in his, placing light kisses on her knuckles. "I understand." she quietly replied, stabbing her food with her fork, suddenly losing her appetite. "Would you at least finish your meal?" she murmured, glancing at Ian who still had that upset look on his face. "Alright." he replied and resumed eating. After lunch, Kimberly did the dishes while Ian stayed in the living room watching a movie. She couldn t help but think back at Ian s outburst. He scares her whenever he gets angry and that tends to happen pretty often. His anger was always triggered by little things which makes her wonder if that was a military thing, but she decided not to dwell too much on it so she doesn t ruin their time together. When she was done with the dishes, she joined Ian in the living room, cuddling up against him on the couch. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and whispered, "I m sorry." She smiled at this simple gesture, her insides fluttering from his touch. They stayed like that watching the movie before falling asleep in each other s arms. Kimberly was woken up the next morning by her ringing phone. She looked at her surrounding and realized that she was in the bedroom. How did she end up here? The last thing she remembers was that they were in the living room watching a movie. She was brought out of her thoughts by her phone ringing again, then she felt a movement on the bed and realized that Ian was also asleep and would wake up any minute, if she doesn t pick her call. The alarm suddenly went off, causing her to flinch. "Just great!" she exclaimed, immediately turning the alarm off so Ian doesn t wake up. Just to make sure, she stole a glance at her fiancé and thankfully he was still asleep but it won t be long before he wakes up, she told herself, letting out a yawn and wiping off the remaining sleep with the back of her hand. She reached for her phone while quietly getting out of bed and looked at the caller ID, a wave of guilt instantly flooded her as she saw her dad s name on the screen. "How stupid of you, Kim." she muttered, mentally face palming. "Hello? Dad, I'm so sorry, I should ve called last night, please forgive me. God, I feel so awful right now." she apologized, quietly making her way out of the bedroom. Her dad only chuckled at her rambling. "It s okay sweetheart. I only called to check on you." he assured her, not one bit offended by the fact that she didn t call. "How are you doing?" "I m so excited dad. Ian is back, I still can t believe it!" she whisper yelled as she settled on one of the arm chairs in the living room. "Hey, don t get too excited. You know he'll be leaving again pretty soon." "I know dad and I hate it." She couldn t hide the sadness in her voice. "Don t think about that yet and just enjoy the moment." "I m trying, dad." "Please do… so, how are you coping with having to be at the hospital and later be with Ian?" her dad asked with concern. He knew Kimberly too well and he could say for a fact that she wouldn t be able to handle work and pleasure at the same time, especially when there is a time limit. "I asked for a leave of absence and got lucky cos the director approved it." she explained, smiling at the memory of how she had to explain to her boss the reason why she needed a leave of absence. Just then she noticed Ian dragging his feet downstairs. 'Gosh, this guy needs to learn how to put on a T-shirt' she thought to herself as she lustfully stared at his shirtless torso. "You re lucky this would be the last time he d be going back to sea." her dad said, bringing her attention back to the phone call. "Fortunately yes… but I can t help but feel like shit whenever he s gone." "I know honey, but you have me." "I love you, dad." she said with a smile as she was now sitting on Ian s lap while he played with her hair. "Dad?" "Yes honey?" "Ian would like to say hi." "Alright honey, give him the phone." "Hello sir" Ian began, after collecting the phone. "How long do I have to tell you to call me Ben?" Mr. Wright said. "I m sorry, I'm so used to being formal with my dad and superiors and I consider you as one of them… I can t help it." he explained, earning a laugh from Ben. "I m really flattered to hear that son, but just call me Ben." "My bad. So, how are you doing Ben?" Ian corrected. "I m fine. It s a good thing you re back, Kim will be a little relaxed now. She had been worried sick about you." Ben explained, causing Ian to let out a laugh. "I m happy to be back as well… how is work going?" "It s going great. I'll be traveling next week for a lecture." "Sounds interesting." "It sure is… I better leave you two now to catch up cos you both need that… I hope you have fun" Ben teased at the last part. "I ll make sure to do that." Ian replied, tightening his arm around Kimberly s waist, making her gasp in surprise. "Have a nice day, Ben." "You too, son." her dad replied and the line went dead. "You didn t let me say goodbye to my dad." Kimberly said with a pout, playfully punching Ian's arm. "He asked me to take good care of you." Ian told her with a smirk. "I m sure he did, that s typical of my dad." She gave an eye roll because that wasn t news. Ian leaned closer, his breath fanning her neck as he nuzzled her neck causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. "You didn t get my message." he whispered, now nibbling her ear. "He wants us to have fun." he seductively whispered in her ear and her eyes went wide with surprise. "He did not!" she gasped. "You re just being naughty." she giggled as Ian caressed her stomach which was ticklish. "Well… you can t blame me for that now, can you?" he replied still nuzzling her neck. "Sometimes I wonder how you even joined the military?" "Be careful what you wish for, you don t want to see that side of me." his tone now dark, making Kimberly shiver both in fear and excitement. "Show me." she blurted out, making Ian go stiff, not believing what his fiancée just asked for. Kimberly also couldn t believe herself. 'How did that end up coming out from your mouth, Kim? she wondered, but deep down, she honestly wanted to know every bit of the man she would be spending the rest of her life with. "You asked for it." Ian suddenly said, picking her up and carrying her bridal style into their bedroom.