I was breathless—breathless at his closeness. Breathless at the intensity in his dark expression. His blue eyes searched every part of my face. “I wanted to do this right,” he said. “I wanted to take this slow. This date. Us. Tonight.” He shook his head, his forehead creasing as he fought whatever he was battling inside. “But I can’t. I won’t.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but his thumb drifted to graze my bottom lip, his attention on my mouth. “You’re my Poppy. Poppymin. You know me. Only you know me.” Taking my hand, he laid it over his heart. “You know me, even under this anger, you know me.” He sighed, edging so close that we shared the same air. “And I know you.” Rune paled. “And if we only have limited time, I’m not going to waste it. You’re mine. I’m yours. To hell with anything else.”
My heart fluttered like an arpeggio in my chest. “Rune,” was all I managed to say. I wanted to shout that yes, I was his. That he was mine. Nothing else mattered. But my voice failed me. I was too overcome with emotion.
“Say it, Poppymin,” he demanded. “Just say yes.”
Rune took a final step, trapping me, his body flush with my own, his heart beating in tandem with mine. I dragged in a breath. Rune’s lips brushed against mine, hovering, waiting, primed to possess them completely.
As I looked into Rune’s eyes, his black pupils all but eliminating the blue, I let go and whispered, “Yes.”
Warm lips suddenly crashed to mine, Rune’s familiar mouth taking them with single-minded determination. His warmth and minty taste drowned out my senses. His hard chest kept me pinned to the wall, trapped, as he owned me with his kiss. Rune was showing me to whom I belonged. He was giving me no other choice but to submit to him, to give myself back to him after withdrawing for too many years.
Rune’s hands threaded through my hair, keeping me in place. I moaned as his tongue pushed through to meet mine—soft, hot and desperate. Lifting my hands up his wide back, they landed in his hair. Rune growled into my mouth, kissing me deeper, taking me further and further from any fear or trepidation I harbored at his return. He kissed me until there was no part of me that didn’t know who it belonged to. He kissed me until my heart again fused with his—two halves of one whole.
My body began to weaken under his touch. Feeling me completely surrender to him, Rune’s kiss slowed to soft, gentle caresses. Then he broke away, our breathing heavy, an arc of tension above us. Rune’s swollen lips kissed my cheeks, my jaw and my neck. When he finally withdrew, his quick breaths blew against my face. His hands slackened their grip on me.
And he waited.
He waited, watching me with his intense gaze.
Then my lips parted, and I whispered, “Kiss three hundred and fifty-seven. Against the wall of my house … when Rune took possession of my heart.” Rune stilled, his hands tensed, and I finished with, “And my heart almost burst.”
Then it came. Rune’s pure smile. It was bright, it was wide and it was true.
My heart soared at the sight.
“Poppymin,” he whispered.
Gripping his shirt, I whispered back, “My Rune.”
Rune’s eyes closed as I spoke those words, a soft sigh falling from his mouth. His hands gradually loosened their grip on my hair and he took a reluctant step back. “I’d better go in,” I whispered.
“Ja,” he answered back. But he didn’t look away. Instead he pressed against me again, taking my mouth quickly and softly, before pulling back. Then he stepped back several spaces, putting a good distance between us.
I lifted my fingers to my lips and said, “If you keep kissing me like this, I’ll fill my jar in no time at all.”
Rune turned away to walk to his house, but stopped to glance over his shoulder. “That’s the idea, baby. One thousand kisses from me.”
Rune rushed back to his house, leaving me to watch him go, leaving me with a dizzying lightness flowing through me like a rapid. When my feet finally moved, I walked into my house and straight to my room.
I pulled out the jar from under my bed and wiped off the dust. Opening the jar, I took the pen from my nightstand and wrote down tonight’s kiss.
An hour later I was lying in bed, when I heard the window opening. Sitting up, I saw my curtain be pushed aside. My heart leapt into my mouth when Rune stepped in.
I smiled as he walked forward, shucking off his shirt and throwing it on the floor. My eyes widened when I drank in the sight of his bare chest. Then my heart almost exploded when he raked his hand through his hair, pushing it from his face.
Rune walked slowly to my bed, standing to wait by its side. Shuffling back, I lifted the cover and Rune climbed in, immediately wrapping his arms around my waist.
As my back nestled perfectly against his front, I sighed in contentment. I closed my eyes. Rune pressed a kiss just below my ear and whispered, “Sleep, baby. I got you.”
And he did.
He had me.
Just like I had him.
Rune
I woke to Poppy staring up at me.
“Hey,” said Poppy. She smiled and nuzzled further into my chest. I let my hands wander through her hair, before tucking my hands under her arms, pulling her up until she lay above me, her mouth opposite mine.