Aris: A Sexy Romance Novel (Thief of Hearts Series Book 1) by Elody Knight Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t care.  Or the way he handled everything with complete confidence as if that’s the way things worked.  Her hands rested on his chest as she dozed in his lap. 
    She didn’t know how long she had been dozing.  The torch had gone out.  Aris was still below her  but his hands were moving.  One was rubbing her hand on his chest, the other one was pulling her closer to him.  He was still rock hard underneath her but his hips were shifting to the right. 
    “Saoirse.”  Aris’s voice was barely audible as he shifted his hips harder to his right wrapping his legs around hers under the blanket. 
    She tightened up getting ready to belt him, but his body settled down in this position.  In another minute he was still again, his breathing in long calm cycles.  She relaxed waiting to see what would happen next, but he appeared to be asleep.  She moved her hands out from under his, lifting herself up from his chest.  Aris woke with a start.
    “Are you cold?”  he began pulling at the blanket.
    “I’m going in to bed.”
    Aris nodded his head in the moonlight.  Moving his legs to either side of the hammock, he sat her back up as he did so.  From her room’s windows, she could see Aris finish folding the blanket back up before picking up the plate coming into the house.  She laid down across the bed in the room without bothering to move the pillows or blankets.  She listened for his foot steps on the stairs or even in the hall, but she heard nothing.  That fight was beginning inside her.  Part of her wanted Aris himself, the other part kept reminding her he was a bad guy.
    “Seer!  Wake up sleepy head.”  Denise was pushing her shoulder,  “Aris is already up.  He said today is Mata’s shopping day.  We can go too.  Come on, grab a quick shower!  I want to see the village.” 
    She showered, dressing in a plain pair of shorts and short sleeve blouse.  She pulled her socks on, carrying her shoes downstairs.  Denise was laughing in the outdoor room with Aris.  Saoirse sat down on the last stair to put her shoes on.  It irritated her that she had a headache this morning.  It pissed her off royally that Aris had been right about it.
    “Is Mata your mother?”
    Aris chuckled slightly, “I don’t have a mother.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry.  When did she die?”  Denise looked sad for him.
    “No, I mean I don’t have any parents.  I’m a street kid.  I’ve never had anyone.”
    “I don’t understand.  How can you not have anyone?”
    “I grew up on the streets.  I don’t remember any mother or father.  Noah started coming down from the citadel when we were about seven.”  Aris frowned, “I don’t know when my birthday is, so I’m guessing.  We were still little boys.  The men of the citadel used to take some of us.  If they were smart boys, they were kept at the citadel to be taught like Noah was.  If they were hopeless, like me,” Aris smiled at her, “they were left to their own fate.”
    “But who fed you?  How did you get clothes?  I don’t understand any of this.  How could you do this as a child with no adult?”  Denise frowned cocking her head to one side.  “Wait a minute, if you have no parents, how do you have a name?”
    Aris laughed, “I had several names when I was growing up.  Different people called me different things depending on who I was to them.  When Noah, Jerith, Khar and I decided what we had to do, we picked our own names.  Names that we knew each other by so no one else knew who we were.  The idea was that if we got into trouble we couldn’t accidentally give the others away.  Over time, they have become our names.  I have no idea who my parents are, or when I was born, there’s not even a birth certificate for me.  To governments, I don’t exist.  We didn’t realize that then.” 
    “Are all of you from the streets?”  Denise wasn’t sure if she should be asking the question or not.
    “The vast majority of us, yes.