Ardor: A Storm and Silence Fanfiction

5. Looking for Truffles and Butterflies (Rikkard's POV!)

So the oneshot requested by two people was Chapter 69, Seeing Stars (a.k.a. the first kiss!), from Storm and Silence in Rikkard Ambrose's POV. I had planned to write that chapter, yet I wound up starting from chapter 68, with the showering scenes. And I wrote so much from that chapter and thought it'd be too long if I included both chapters in one; so I ended up deciding I'd write both chapter 68 AND 69. Chapter 68, is, of course, called "Looking for Truffles and Butterflies", and is in book 1 of the S & S trilogy. Note that all of the dialogue used comes exactly from the real Chapter 68 by Rob Their; I only take credit for my interpretation of Rikkard's thought process here. I hope you enjoy it :D

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She was drunk.

He couldn't believe it. He had left her alone for all of ten minutes, and she had proceeded to disobey his every order to a point. She had, once again, put a wrench in his plans, and he had no choice but to clean up her mistakes.

The carriage ride had been less eventful than their narrow escape from the stupid men who had tried to attack them outside the tavern. The girl had fallen asleep quickly and he had had a few blissful moments of silence to himself.

He deliberately chose to ignore the memory of her soft skin when he had stroked her cheek gently for the duration of the ride to Empire House. Now was not the time for such distractions.

Rikkard sighed as he waited for Lilly to emerge from the shower--his shower, to be exact, although he was also considering ignoring that too based on what had happened earlier. He mentally kicked himself as the image of her body sprang forth in his mind; shoved his thoughts away before they could linger too long in his head.

He concentrated on his pocket watch instead, watching the minute-hand spin merrily around the clock-face as time passed. Ten minutes went by. He waited, tapping his foot absentmindedly. The sound of the shower echoed outside his bathroom. Rikkard allowed himself a fleeting glance at the bathroom door, then began to pace, stuffing his watch inside the pocket of his trousers.

Knowing his secretary, she would be a while. And in this state...well, it was safe to say she would not finish showering anytime soon. With an irritated sigh, he resigned himself to a long wait, silently bemoaning the loss of his precious time.

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When the sound of the shower finally stopped, Rikkard glanced immediately to the bathroom, wondering what the inebriated girl would try to do once she came out. His watch kept ticking away, and he gripped the smooth surface of the timepiece, running his thumb over the cover. Slowly, he stood and walked near the bathroom, pausing a few feet away.

There was a moment of rustling clothes and muffled exclamations from within the door in front of him, and then all of a sudden the door tore open and out stumbled his secretary, dressed in a shirt and trousers, her wet hair dripping down her back.

Something jolted within him at the sight of her without her usual attire, yet he restrained himself from revealing anything that affected him. She gazed up at him in slight befuddlement, and he frowned as he noted her continued drunkenness.

"What exactly did you do in there, Mr Linton?" Rikkard demanded, flipping open his watch. "You spent thirty-one minutes, four and a half seconds under the shower. The average time people require to take a shower is eight to fifteen minutes."

She blinked at him. "How do you know the average time people need to make a shower? Do you spy through people's windows through a telescope?"

He didn't know how to answer that, so he told her, "I only require three and a half minutes."