"Just about done, babe," She smiled, stepping up into the truck and setting them down."We made good time on the loading this morning," he noted, looking back into the truck bed. Just about everything he intended to bring along was packed, locked, and loaded, ready for the short journey to their new apartment. At this point, there remained only one thing to do.
Stephen took a deep breath, and sat on the ledge of the truck bed, watching as Grace settled the boxes as best she could. When she was done, he looked over to her, and patted the seat beside him. "Grace, will you come here for a second?"
"Your wish is my command," she grinned, giving him a goofy smile while bouncing down to sit next to him. He had no idea how she might take this, but it was worth a shot any way. Grace was too real, too much a human, with her own wants, needs, and desires to be enslaved to him forever.
"Something is on your mind," she commented, watching the array of emotions as they danced upon his face.
"Yes," he commented, "There is. Something important I want to talk with you about."
Grace nodded, but otherwise said nothing. In that moment, it was like the air around them became supercharged, heavy with the fate of the words he was about to speak. For Stephen, it felt an awful lot like the period before the first time they made love: pregnant with the expectation of what was to follow.
"I"ve been giving this a lot of thought, and there"s something I want to do for you. Something that I think I need to do, after seeing some recent events. I just hope you aren"t put out by it," he began, watching her face for any hint of what she might be feeling. If she was reading his mind in this moment, it certainly didn"t show. Her expression remained calm, but there was a degree of alertness about it.
"Okay, what is it?" She pressed.
"It"s not an easy decision to come to this, but here goes: I"m having a hard time, both mentally and morally, with keeping you bound to me, Grace."
Her eyes widened, but she said nothing. There was an awkward feeling in the air, and Stephen pressed forward to get around it.
"Please, let me explain," he said, taking her hands. They felt warm to the touch, and returned a squeeze. "I"m very much, one hundred percent, and totally in love with you, Grace. You are everything I could have asked in a woman, a partner, and more. Everything about you brings me happiness: the way you cuddle against me at night, the way we make love, the way you kiss me in the morning, and how effortlessly you fit into my life. All of it."
Grace frowned, looking at him more closely, "So what"s the problem?"
"Grace, I"m so in love with you because of who you are. You"re my dream girl, and I can say I truly love you of my own free will: because you"re perfect for me. Can you exactly say the same?"
"What? I don"t understand what you mean. Of course, I love you, Stephen," she replied, her eyes softening. This was getting harder.
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
"Does Grace the woman love me, or does Grace the genie love me? Grace the genie loved me from the moment I opened her portal, but my mind makes a distinction between the two. I want to be loved by Grace the woman."