Thunderbird - B. Bridgerton

8

„I can't believe that we're really already on our way back home", Benedict pouts like a litte kid. The newlyweds are in the carriage, returning from their honeymoon.
„People are going to gossip, if we stay longer", Sofia insists.
„We were in Scotland for only five weeks. Kate and Anthony were on honeymoon for six months!"
„Yes, because they traveled to India. People don't mind if newlyweds travel the world for how long they want, but if the bride and groom are only a few hours of traveling apart from their home and yet insist on staying for months and months, it makes them talk."

„What would they be talking about?", Benedict asks with a wide grin.
Sofia turns red immediately. Benedict still can't believe how easily he can embarrass her, even after having spent the last month with her and seeing everything of her. „They are going to assume that.. well, that-"
„They are going to assume that we're so busy in our bedroom that we completely forgot to return home you say?" She nodds, turning into even a darker shade of red and he laughs loudly, before he puts an arm around her and pulls her closer. Sofia closes her eyes as she feels his lips on her forehead.
„I mean.. they wouldn't be wrong, would they?"
„Benedict!", she bursts out, escaping from his hug. Benedict once again laughs loudly. Sofia demonstratively stands up and sits to the seat opposite to Benedict, preventing him from touching her. She crosses her arms and begins looking outside the window in silence.

"Well, your decision of returning home that early actually will put us under pressure", Benedict says after a while.
Sofia pretends like she didn't hear him, but after a while her curiosity wins: „Why?"
„Because", Benedict begins, trying very hard to not laugh and make her angry again, „if newlyweds return home from their honeymoon too soon, people might first not think about it, but if a few months pass and the bride's belly doesn't seem to be growing, people usually start gossiping about whether or nor everything is going well between husband and wife. They might even start asking themselves, if I ever touched you or not."
„So", Sofia sums up, her forehead covered with lines of worry, „when we stay too long, we are engaged in marital activities too much, but when we stay too shortly, we might be having not enough of these activities?"
Benedict giggles. „That pretty much sums up our situation, yes."

„I don't want to have a baby.. yet", she adds as his eyebrows go up in suprise, „I would like to spend my time with you first, you know.. get used to throwing a household."
„Plus", Benedict agrees, „my family has already enough babies at that moment."
Penelope had given birth to a little baby boy just two days after the wedding and Sofia and Benedict are really exited to meet him.
She smiles at him while they drive home in silence.
„Do you care coming back next to me?", Benedict asks.
„Why do you want me to sit next to you?", she asks innocently, looking at him with big puppy eyes.
„I was planning to just hold you tight and play with your hair, but I might start to do other things if you continue looking at me like that", he truthfully answers.
She laughs and it still makes him skip a heartbeat. Then she stands up anf directly throws herself in his arms. „Looks like I'm not the only one who loves to be this tightly together."

„I breathe better when I can inhale your scent", she says and Benedict can feel his body tensing. While he has never been shy to announce how much he is love with Sofia, she has always been very reluctant. These kind of confessions are happening very rarely and it makes him heads over heels happy every single time.
„I love you", he whispers, while placing kisses on her hair. His hands are both placed on her back and he draws circles up and down with one of his fingers, while his other hand is staying completely still, holding her tightly.
She suddenly looks up at him and the sight of her, looking up to him, her mouth slightly open, is leaving Benedict breathless. He is just about to lean in and kiss her, as the carriage suddenly stops.
„Oh! We arrived", Sofia notices after a glimpse out of the window.