Page 7 of Never Have We Ever
André absentmindedly pulled on the few blond hairs sprouting from his chin. Valeska would soon learn that was a nervous tic whenever he was in deep thought. Particularly, when he attemptedto communicate something complicated to her and worried about any language barrier still erected between them. “This is more romantic,non?”
She sighed. “Can you appreciate how nervous I am? I married you for reasons unrelated to… that… but I wasn’t sure what was going on. We never discussed it.”
“I never knew how to broach the subject. To be fair, you never brought it up, either.”
“We’ve beenon some pleasant dates, André, but they were quite chaste. You never hit on me once.”
“I did not take you for a lady who appreciates being hit on.”
“Because I am well-bred?” He should have seen that one sex tape she made with her college boyfriend before she deleted it in shame. Some real good stuff in that!
“Because you are Valeska Reiter.”
“What does that mean?”
He was only a few centimetersfrom her now. Close enough for her to kiss, although she refused to make the first move. “It means that you are on another level from the type of woman I would normally date. Perhaps it is not a modern thing to say, but the women I used to date before agreeing to marry you… they were for fun. When I met them, I knew they were only forl’amour.For playing. It was an agreement between us. I spoilthem, they spoil me… we move on when it is time. But you? I create a marriage with you. Maybe we have some children.”
“So it’s a respectability thing?” He was right. That was not a modern thing to say. Valeska wasn’t impressed.
“Ah, not so much. I don’t know how to explain it in English. Or German.”
Valeska probably wouldn’t understand it in English anyway. Her English skills were already deterioratingthe angrier and more frustrated she became.
“You were to be my wife. I must think of you differently. Not because of respect, but because I did not want our relationship to be nothing but physical communication. It was best to come later.”
He was right. He couldn’t explain it well in English. “I thought that maybe you weren’t interested. Or that you had someone else.”
“I told you. I brokeup with the girl I was with. There is no one else but Madame Dubois.”
“Well… there is no one else in my life, either.” Valeska didn’t want to divulge how agonizing it had been for the past year and a half having no partner to share her body with in the bedroom. She had been hopeful that she and André could gradually start having sex before they married. It had never happened. She still wasn’tsure she knew why. “I have needs. So, if you’re not interested in a sexual relationship, please let me know so I will stop thinking about it. If it’s all the same to you, I can spend my wedding night taking a nice hot bath.”
She turned. He took her by the wrist, hand overshadowing the simple diamond ring on her left ring finger.
“I am interested.”
Valeska stopped breathing. His words, histone, his touch… this was the side of him she had hoped to see over the past year. Therealman she was marrying. Dear God, she had hoped!
Now here he was. He had waited until their wedding night, because he wanted to wait until she was his wife. Perhaps that was romantic in a way. Romantic, but so frustrating!
“Really?”
“Madame Dubois,” he began, grip tightening around her wrist. “I must insistthat you sleep with me tonight. The only reason we would not is if you do not want to.”
She sucked in her bottom lip and gently dislodged her wrist from his grip. Her gaze lingered on her trousers.
“Do you need to see before you agree?”
Valeska scoffed in disbelief. “So this is the real you, huh?”
“Are you disappointed?”
Her face softened. “No. Forgive me, I’m nervous.”
“You think I am not?It’s my wedding night, too.”
“But…”
“And you are my wife. And you are beautiful. And I have spent many nights wondering what it would be like to makel’amourwith you. Do you not believe me?” He continued to laugh as if she were so silly to think otherwise. “Maybe I want to impress you.”
