"God Alice, it's seven in the morning on a Sunday and you've managed to wake me up with all of your noise."

I wasn't being noisy. In fact I'd made sure to be almost silent to avoid waking up Ryan. That meant I'd get an extra few hours without him and his wondrous presence.

"I'm sorry, I figured that because your parents were coming over today I'd get everything ready for the breakfast."

It was father's day. And that meant that we had to have Ryan's parents over. They were arriving early from San Francisco for a large breakfast and if I wanted to go without his mother hammering me about the messy state of our apartment and poor quality of the food then I'd have to get cracking as soon as possible.

"I hope you know that your not going to wear that today?"

I looked down at my outfit. I actually thought that I looked nice, blue jeans and my white blouse. Not giving me a chance to reply, Ryan gave out his next order.

"You'll wear that nice rose colored dress with the matching heels."

I nodded my head in agreement.

"Yes of course."

What Ryan said was what went. At least, that's how it worked in our relationship. I felt like more of a slave then girlfriend to Ryan. Perhaps that's all I ever was.

Ignoring me completely, Ryan walked over to the fridge and scanned it's contents. I was exhausted because I'd gone to do the shopping last night. Ryan was busy at the bar with a friend so I had to go after work instead.

"There's no soya milk Alice."

Crap. I totally forgot. Ryan's mother was on a vegan diet so I had to make her a separate batch of special pancakes and of course she'd need the milk for her tea or coffee.

"I'm so sorry, I'll go and run out for it now."

I quickly moved over to the key draw and rummaged around for the car keys. I didn't care that it was so early. I just had to get the milk for Ryan before his parents arrived.

I suddenly let out a cry of pain when my hand was slammed shut in the draw. I slid to the floor, hand still stuck and squeezed my eyes shut and ground my teeth together in discomfort. Ryan's hand was pushing against the draw, his cruel eyes staring down at me.

"It's too fucking late for that Alice! They'll be here in an hour and will be hungry and tired after their long flight. All I wanted was for my parents to have a nice fresh meal, but you can't even do that right!"

He pressed in the draw further, adding more pressure to my already crippled hand.

"You can explain this to my mother."

He left me there, in my sunken spot, cradling my hand. It wasn't broken but I wouldn't be surprised if a finger or two were. I slowly stood up and rinsed it under freezing water before wrapping it tightly and continuing with the food preparation while Ryan went back to bed.

That morning when Claire and Samuel arrived I told them that I'd been sorting out the files at work and accidentally slammed my hand in the cabinet. They told me that I should be more careful, I was so careless and clumsy and Ryan had to take better care of me. Then we all sat down for breakfast after I'd moved their bags into the spare bedroom. Half way through breakfast Claire announced that she wasn't vegan anymore. She'd given up with the diet.

She didn't need the damn milk anyway.

My eyes shot open as I remembered that day in my dream. I cautiously turned to check that I hadn't woken Antonio and once everything was safe I let out a deep breath.

I remembered how father's and mother's days would go down with Ryan. It didn't matter to him that my mother was dead and that my father had left. It always had to be a huge event, purely so Ryan could show off his girlfriend's pristine cooking skills. He would parade me around like a Barbie doll, constantly seeking for his mother's approval. But of course no woman can ever match up to a man like Ryan's mother. In his eyes, Claire was perfect. And in Claire's eyes her son was too.

So after every mother's or father's day, I'd lock myself in the bathroom and cry under the warm embrace of the shower. I cried for the loss of both my parents, one who left by choice and the other who I knew would have if she could. My mom never really loved me. Sure occasionally we would laugh together and I could see that she was trying but I knew she blamed me for making my 'dad' leave.

After attempting to go back to sleep after about an hour or so I knew that it wasn't going to happen. So accepting that, I climbed out of the bed and wondered over to our wardrobe. I wanted to go for a midnight swim out in the dark, deep ocean. I knew that that would calm me down. The dark, navy sky that was dotted with glitter like stars, the moon that looked like a single pearl, hanging from the heavens above and of course the relaxing cling of cool ripples against my skin.

But then I remembered that our clothes had already been packed into our suitcases in preparation to leave tomorrow, apart from an outfit each for the plane journey back home. I didn't want to mess them up by digging through in search for a swimsuit so instead just pulled my nightgown off over my head. After all my underwear could have easily passed for a bikini anyway. They were the exact same thing apart from their materials.

I then swiftly moved out onto the decking before climbing down the ladder, lowering myself into the sea.

Fuck it was colder than I expected.

However I soon got used to the chilly temperature and my body adjusted itself. I wasn't freezing but wasn't particularly warm due to the absence of light from the sun.

Suddenly my breathing hitched in my throat and my body tensed when I felt a warm hand on my upper arm.

"Why are you out here?"

It was just Antonio. I let out a deep sigh but remained in my position, staring up at the shining moon.

"Couldn't sleep."

I felt a low vibration against the nape of my neck when Antonio hummed a response against my bare skin.

"Why couldn't you sleep?"

I turned around, facing Antonio and glanced over his appearance. Yet still, I had no intention of answering his question. He already knew enough about me, keeping the secret of what went on in my head couldn't hurt.

He had done the same thing that I had, simply come out in his boxers. There wasn't any point in hiding from one and other now. We had already seen each other naked anyway. I shuddered at the memory of our 'wedding night'.

I was so confused with myself. I should despise him for all that he had done to me, but instead I felt myself ooze with a need for him. There was no denying that he was handsome and sexy. He was tall, attractive and had a voice that made me melt like butter. His aura screamed dominance and he was of course an extremely rich and powerful man. If I'd have met him in a different circumstance then there would be no doubt that I'd love the man instantly.

"What are you thinking about?"

My gaze found his way back up to his eyes. His beautiful eyes.

"Everything..."

He kept eye contact with me but moved in closer, breaking the invisible barrier that stood between us. He just remained still, waiting for me to continue further.

"I'm thinking about everything that's happened in these last few months."

His gaze faltered to my neck.

"And everything that I've missed too."

He lowered his mouth to it and began to lightly dust my neck with kisses.

"Part of me wishes that I'd never gone back to work, to treat your brother."

I honestly didn't know if Antonio was listening to my words, he seemed so focused on my body.

"And how much fun we've had this week."

I let out an unintentional gasp as I felt the pleasure of Antonio's contact on my skin. I felt his lips pull into a knowing smile against my neck.

"And how fucked up I am for not hating you more...."

His kissing stopped and in my mind I was screaming at him to continue. I ached for his touch. And then suddenly everything stopped as his warm lips crashed down onto mine. It took me a few seconds to comprehend what we were doing, but once I did I was the first to pull away.

Antonio didn't seem surprised but there was not a single trace of regret or confusion in his face. Only lust as he scanned my reaction. I swallowed hard. This was wrong. I shouldn't be feeling this way towards someone like this, let alone kissing them. Maybe it was because I had no choice in what we did before, he decided when and what, but now....now I had a choice. And it was so much worse than him just taking control because now I wanted it. I was choosing to allow his affection. Did that make me sick in the head? Probably. Did I care? No. So I moved back in and once again, reignited our kiss.

His tongue began fighting for dominance as our kiss grew more heated and messy by the second. My hands found their way to his hair and pulled unconsciously as his own, warm hands cupped my face, forcing me to come closer. I moaned against his lips and I felt the vibrations of his own satisfied groans. My whole body was throbbing with need for him and as soon as Antonio grabbed my upper thighs I jumped up, knowing and trusting that he'd be able to hold my weight up against his own body. Our kiss continued as my legs were wrapped around his torso. He swallowed hard and pulled away. I groaned and the loss of contact.

"Are you sure?"

Was I sure? In my head I knew that this was morally wrong to do, but I had never wanted to have sex with anyone as badly as I did with Antonio right now. And he asked. This time he didn't take, but he actually asked me.

And I could only nod my head in approval and certainty as we moved our way up the wooden ladder and into the bedroom.