“Hey, you always got me,” Sebastian exclaimed, picking her up and swinging her around and around until she shrieked loudly.
I had an epiphany, staring at them. “It was right in front of me the whole time,” I said with excitement, while they looked at me in confusion. “Of course, all that blond hair, the cocky attitude. Yep, Sebastian, you’re the king of the jungle . . . which is a total misnomer . . . really, the lion is the king of the savanna, whatever . . . I digress.”
Sebastian sat Mila back on her feet. “This I gotta hear,” he said, walking over to me. “Okay, lay it out for me. You’re saying I’m a lion?” he said sarcastically, but I could tell he really wanted to hear it.
Mila gave him a hip bump. “At least you’re majestic. I’m a freaking rabbit. A scared bunny with a nose that twitches,” she huffed.
I chuckled and cocked my head to study Sebastian. “Like a lion, you’re dramatic, obviously, and regally handsome . . . don’t get a big head about that one. You’re tough and ferocious and protective when someone hurts your loved ones. But in the end, underneath all that hissing, you’re still just a big ole *cat at heart.”
“Here, kitty, kitty,” Mila said, poking him in the ribs.
“Huh, not bad,” he said with a teasing smile. “You might make a good mom after all.”
I yelled and took off after him . . .
***
Around one in the morning, Leo was still talking to his guests, yet periodically sending me hot looks. I’d send them back, my body throbbing with need.
Soon though, I headed back upstairs to get in his bed. Before I did, I opened the shuttered window in his room and gazed out at the stars. The sight of them gave me hope, and I thought of a quote by Van Gogh: “I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of stars makes me dream.”
I didn’t know what the future held for us, but my dream was that we’d be together forever. I did know with certainty that life is full of bad people, broken people, sad people, betrayed people, twisted people, and people with secrets and scars the world never sees.
Yet, it is also full of people who love each other. People who are happy.
We all have a choice in life, to either quit or try again, and you can be sure I was going to try, try, try. Even though I was far from being what I wanted to be, my path would lead to happiness. Yes, life would suck and be scary sometimes, but I would keep going and searching for those happy moments, because in that direction lies grace and love.
I didn’t want to do bad things; I wanted to be true to myself. And being true meant I was not the bee champion, beauty queen, piano-playing genius my parents had shaped me into. No, I was just a simple, young girl whose love for a boy would last until the end of time.
––––––––
Leo
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It was two o’clock by the time I got the last guest out, and I was exhausted, but all I could think about was her upstairs where she belonged. Mine. She was mine. Forever.
I eased quietly into the bedroom, remembering another time when I’d lain beside her in a bed. I’d tried so hard to distance myself from her then, but she’d broken through my defenses. Even at eighteen, she’d been smarter and wiser than me.
She was naked, lying on top of the covers on her stomach, her body an honor, her love a gift. Full of light and optimism—even after her trials—her hope for the future was the beacon I would use to keep myself anchored. And now...now she was his. Her red hair was spread out over my pillow, and I stroked my fingers down her luscious wings, tracing the tips over the script. Cherish, a word not used much in my vocabulary, came to mind.
She stirred a little, and I straightened up and took my clothes off. I pulled a condom from the side table and rolled it on. I set out to make her mine.
Getting in bed, I leaned down to kiss down her shoulders and back, worshipping her body. The sweet sensation of her soft skin underneath my hands nearly undid me. She was utterly perfect to me. She was the girl from the parking lot, yet she wasn’t. Sadness no longer stained those beautiful eyes, darkness no long haunted the shadows of her face. She’d grown along with me. Elated and light of heart, I kissed behind her knees and down her calf. I kissed the arch of her feet. I kissed her sweet toes. My body clenched in desperate need, and I prayed I could hold out and make it good for her.
“Nora,” I murmured. She whimpered out my name, and I got harder from the invitation I heard in her voice.
She turned, and I reached for her piercing and flicked it with my finger. Cupping her breasts, I sucked each nipple in my mouth, my eyes narrowed in on her green ones shining like emeralds as she gazed at me.
“Tell me you love me,” I demanded after I’d kissed her thoroughly.
She smirked and arched her brow at me.