I smile. “You’re my only hit right now.” My statement is solemn, and I feel an ebb of melancholy dampen the moment.
“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?” he asks, and I shake my head almost too violently back at him. “Whatever happens, I want to know that you believe me, Amelia. I need to know that you trust me enough to make right on everything that happened in the past. I know it’s not simple, but I don’t want simple. I want to fight for you. You make fighting worth it.”
“It was always my plan to make it a little difficult,” I quip sarcastically, my arms coming up to loop around his neck. “And, if anything, I know the best way to die.”
“Oh, yeah?” he begins to ask. “How’s that then?”
“Like this,” I tell him and force him to lean down so our lips can meet. As we stand alone in this perfectly shrouded wooded wonderland, I can’t help but just unwind. I know we could be seconds away from being caught, but the thrill of it only aids how I really feel. I can tell Zane’s the same as his arms wrap around my tiny frame and he draws me up onto my tiptoes, his hands running down to grasp my butt.
“Definitely a good death,” he tells me between kisses. “But right now, I want to take you against that tree and smother the scream of my name with my lips. I want to have you feeling me between your legs all night.” As he speaks, a swirl of warmth begins in my stomach, my panties moisten, and I bite my lip with anticipation. “I want you to remember I am the only man who belongs inside you.”
He steps in, the finale to his words is to exact them as we begin. I don’t care for dirt marks or messy hair. I care for Zane. I care for myself. Everything else is insignificant.
“Amelia!” My father’s voice echoes through the yard, throwing Zane and me apart. Our reaction was as if we had burnt one another, scorching our skin and forcing us to part to spare us the pain.
“Yup, the blood flow’s gone,” Zane remarks, looking down at his pants. “Seriously? He had to come out now?”
I shrug, stifling my mounting amusement. The adrenaline and mounting desires of our libidos are now flattened and left a pulp on the floor. However much my amusement wants to erupt, this moment just turned deadly.
“You need to leave,” I whisper to Zane as we stand with the same gap between us. “Before you get caught.”
“I’m going, but only once you answer my question.” I see the tiniest of grins begin to break out on his face. “Will you go on a date with me?”
“Amelia? I know you’re out here!” my father’s force booms out from nearby.
“Yes, I’ll go with you,” I tell him, and his smile breaks into a high voltage grin. “Now go before you get caught by my father,” I coerce him, pushing my palms on his chest. “Go.”
“I love you, Beautiful,” he whispers delicately to me, and I watch him lean in. His lips hit mine in a tender show of love. It doesn’t last as he reluctantly pulls away and disappears away through the trees. My fingers linger on my lips, tracing the feeling he has left me with. I lose my alertness lingering in the cloud of sweet love Zane has left me in.
“Amelia?” my father’s voice breaks the air from my right, and I’m forced to turn quickly to face him. “What the hell are you doing in there?”
“Oh,” I stutter, trying to find a reason that suffices enough. “I just needed to get away,” I tell him as I come out from my hiding place. “There’s so much going on inside.”
“I understand.” He nods in agreement and stands awkwardly before ridding himself of such an undesirable emotion. “Come and sit with me,” he gently commands and motions to a nearby cabana. He crosses the distance and sits on the edge and pats beside it. “We’re in no rush to go back inside.”
I agree by sitting beside him. There’s a moment of silence between us, and it’s comfortable for the first time in days to be beside him.
“We can discuss Zane Maverick if you wish,” he pipes up suddenly. “I want to know the God’s honest truth of how you feel over it.”
I don’t want to tell him the God’s honest truth over it.
“I thought of my best plan on the matter actually,” I counter and turn on my perch to look to my father. “I want this to be my best kill yet, Papà.” I watch his eyes twist and turn with curiosity. “I want to lure Zane back here so I can kill him here. I want him to be my ultimate kill. The one that I make sure is unforgettable.” I gulp as I wait for the approval to show on his face, and when it does, I relax.
“When did you think this up, Amelia?”
“When my original attempt failed,” I admit solemnly. “He’ll be expecting anything I have to do to him now. He’ll be on guard, but if I admit weakness, lure him in to love me all over again, then I know this will be easier than I had first assumed.”