Chapter 18- Dont Worry

I yawned with a stretch as my eyes fluttered open. I patted the spot beside me, feeling only the ruffles of empty sheets instead of the hard chest of the man I fell asleep beside.

A frown pulled on my lips as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, seeing that it was 3:09 am. Confusion dawned on me as I thought of all the places where he might've gone.

I grabbed my robe from the chair close to bed, wrapping it around my naked body as I ventured towards the exit of Tristan's room. I was still very much tired, but I knew I wouldn't be able to find sleep again until I knew where he was.

Panic rose in me for a quick second when I noticed he wasn't anywhere downstairs, so I rushed back upstairs and headed to where my room was, deciding to get dressed just in case I had to leave the house.

However, that panic disappeared when I saw light peeking below a door down the hall from the room he gave to me, and I quickly made my way towards it. As I opened it, I couldn't help but smile once I saw him sitting around the desk in his office, with a cup of coffee in front of him and some papers scattered all over the surface.

His head snapped up once I stepped further into the room, and a small, tired smile pulled on his lips as we made eye contact. I sighed deeply, hating how he never allowed himself a break from work. It wasn't the first time I woke up and didn't feel him beside me, but I was too invested in sleep then to get up; and whenever I woke up in the mornings he'd be there.

"Hey" I greeted softly as I made my way around the desk. He welcomed me in open arms as I sat on his lap, and he immediately buried his head in my bosom with a sigh. "Why are you up?" I asked, frowning at how tired he obviously was.

He sighed too, tapping the pen on the table before meeting my eyes again. I glanced over whatever he was working on, seeing that it was a case I was far too familiar with.

"I've been looking over this case non-stop, seeing if there is anything that I might've missed that can lead me to Mia. "

"But Tristan, it's three in the morning. Don't you have like nine hours at work to do that?"

"I couldn't sleep," he simply said. "I can't sleep knowing the woman who is trying to hurt you is out there. "

"And we'll catch her Tris. But you need sleep. " I tried to talk some sense into him, but he was just so stubborn and persistent.

"I'll sleep when you're safe." He sighed again for the umpteenth time. "It's been a week Cianna. That's enough time for her to find a new plan. I can't sit around and wait for her to-"

"Hey look at me" I held his face between my hands as I gazed into his deep brown eyes. "I agree as much as you that Mia needs to be stopped. But you can't beat yourself up like this. You need to stay energised, and two hours of sleep can't grant you that"

We stayed quiet for a while as I massaged his scalp soothingly. He had his head against my chest with his arms wrapped tightly around me as if I'd disappear.

I've come to learn that this position really calmed him, and he liked to just hold me for minutes on end without saying anything. Tristan seemed to be taking the case way harder than me, and I was the one who had a target on my back.

As much as we have been getting closer over the days, learning new things about each other and having the best talks, he spent a lot of time working. Sometimes I'd cook for him, or give him a massage while he worked, simply to try and get some of the stress from his mind and body.

He was really committed to his work, but I had a feeling a big part of it had to do with keeping me safe as he promised.

I hated that I was the cause of such a burden on him, but it also made me feel assured. I had no clue what Mia had planned next for me, but as Tristan proposed, we'd find out soon I'm sure.

"Sometimes I just feel like it's my fault" He mumbled almost inaudibly, but I heard anyway. I eased his head from my chest so that he could see me when I said my next words.

"That psycho woman being after me is not your fault Tristan. Don't you ever say that" I didn't understand how he could come up with such a logic, but the reason didn't matter. He just needed to know that it definitely wasn't his fault.

"But I had her Cianna," he said with a pained expression on her face. "From the beginning of the case, I had her but I couldn't see the truth. Instead, I had you in that interrogation room. If I had known..."

"But how could you have known Tristan?" I argued back sternly but as soft as I possibly could. "You couldn't have known."

"You even said it" He didn't seem to be listening to me. "That day in that room, you suggested that she could've been the one but I..." He buried his head in his palm as he continued. "I told you that she couldn't have been the one"

I sighed, seeing how much this really took a toll on him. Despite what I say, I knew that if something should happen to me, he would blame himself.

"Tristan listen to me. You are a damn good detective, you better know that. You use your knowledge and solid evidence to unravel truths, and that's exactly what you were doing. You didn't know me. All you knew was that I ended a relationship with the victim three days prior to his death in a very wordy text message. Not to mention that my fingerprints were on his doorknob. And this was all before you got all that evidence from forensics and the autopsy to know for sure that it wasn't me. But don't you see? You were just doing your job, Tris. And you will continue to do your job until Sheldon's killer is brought in. Okay?"

He nodded slowly against my chest as I kissed his head. I felt so much like a mother cheering up her child, but I knew this was what he needed. Men had a tendency to bottle what they were truly feeling. He just needed me to show him the truth from a different perspective.

"Besides" I added playfully, "If I wasn't in that interrogation room, how would we have met?"

He looked up at me at this with a ghost simper on his lips, causing me to beam brightly at him. "That's what I thought" I mumbled as I slowly leaned down and captured his lips in mine.

I moved my lips against his slowly and sweetly for a while, showing him through the kiss that I was there and I wasn't going to leave him. We'll get through this together. Mia won't win.

He pulled on my bottom lip suggestively as I hummed in approval, granting him access as he thrust his tongue between my lips, slowly massaging mine with his.

His hands fiddled with the strings of my robe for a while as he pushed it from my shoulder. He left my lips for a second as he drank in my bare top half with his eyes, no doubt remembering our activities before we both went to bed.

He dipped his head to my chest, immediately sucking one of my sensitive buds between his lips as I threw my head back with a moan. He knead the other with his hands, and I impatiently pulled his head back up to mine to ravish myself in another of his kisses.

This time it was more steamy and heart felt, and I felt as he eased himself up a bit as he pushed his sweats down his waist. I immediately filled myself with his titillating fullness, and we both took each other on a ride that always did wonders to my heart and body. And even after seven times of having him since the very first night, every time felt like the first. Even at 3:30 in the morning he had me screaming his name like there's no tomorrow. But I loved it.

He slipped himself out as he emptied himself all over my stomach, and I breathed heavily as I recovered from my own high that I had reached only seconds before him.

We both panted quietly as we rested on each other--him resting his head on my shoulder and I resting mine on his. We didn't have to say anything else, we only stayed in the others' embrace. It felt right. And though we were both aware that our lives could change any second, I felt like nothing else mattered as long as I had him.

"Cianna?"

"Hhmm?" He was silent after I replied, so I shuffled so that I was looking him straight in the eye. "What is it Tristan?" I frowned when I noticed the uncertainty in his eyes.

"You can tell me," I urged, seeing the reluctance behind his beautiful orbs. But when he did, I was more than shocked.

"Be my girlfriend Cianna" His voice was small, but I heard him clearly. I was left speechless, but when I didn't reply, he continued. "I know it's soon, and you're still mourning, but I haven't been so sure about a woman in my life. Be mine Cianna. I want to be more than just a friend, and I want this to be more than just physical intimacy. I want to explore emotional and spiritual intimacy with you too. So what do you say? Will you?"

The way he looked at me told me that he was telling the truth, and if I was being honest with myself, I felt the same way too.

I knew some people would think I was 'moving on' too quickly, but Tristan made me feel ways that Sheldon never even sparked.

I smiled brightly at him as I nodded a few times, answering his question. His face lit up at my gesture as he wrapped his arms around me impossibly tighter.

"Really? You'll be my girlfriend?" He asked one more time, as if just to be sure. I answered by pulling his lips in a kiss that I loved so much. I'd never get over his kisses.

"Yes Tristan I will" I confirmed verbally, just to seal the deal.

He wasted no time in re-initiating the kiss again, and nothing in me protested. That's how I knew that I made the perfect choice.