Page 99 of It Must Be Fate

Phoenix grabs my hip and pulls me against him, hooking one of my legs over his and palming my ass.

“No— Nix, you can’t buy me a planet.”

His brow furrows, that deep line he gets when he doesn’t understand emerging between his eyes.

“Why not?” He fingers strands of my red hair, wrapping them possessively around his fist and staring at them with dark, obsessed eyes. “You’re the sun,” he whispers. “Every planet orbits you, desperate to bask in a moment of your attention, just like the rest of us. It’s only fitting that they should also belong to you.”

When my father walked me down the aisle on our wedding day, he hesitated when handing me off to Phoenix. He wouldn’t release my hand, asking me one final time if I was sure, if I knew what I was doing, if Phoenix really could make me happy.

Back then, I simply assured him that he could and would.

Today, I’d tell him that my husband is a man who would reach into the heavens and pull down the stars from the sky just to give them to me. A man who would steal the moon itself just to see me smile. A man who would stand between me and the most violent of storms just to protect me.

When your husband looks at you the way a sunflower looks at the sun—turning every which way in desperate attempt to follow its journey, to bask in its light—you can’t help but feel like you might actually be the sun; bright and burning and beautiful.

I knew it back then, but I couldn’t articulate it to my father.

I can now.

Phoenix loves me more than he loves the breath in his lungs.

I cup his face and seal my lips to his, relishing in his taste after a couple days of separation.

“Leave some of the sky for others, Nix. I’m happy with my five thousand and sixteen stars.”

His eyes are lowered to my mouth, pupils blown. His thumb brushes across my bottom lip.

“Five thousand and seventeen.”

I kiss his thumb, then his words register. “What?”

His gaze remains fixed steadfastly on mine as he reaches into his back pocket. “I’m sorry it took so long; they were stubborn as fuck at the IAU.” He unfolds a piece of paper and hands it to me. “It took me every day of ten years, but I won in the end.”

I peruse the document in my hands.

The deed of sale.

The date of purchase.

The name of the star.

Sirius.

Sirius, who we first looked up at when I wasn’t sure we would make it. Sirius, who we’ve watched countless times and has been our guiding light these past fifteen years. Sirius, who Phoenix promised he would get for me even though it didn't seem possible.

And he did.

“How?” My hands shake, as does my voice. “I-I thought it was impossible.”

He’s satisfied by my reaction, his grin as arrogant as I’ve seen it. “Impossible is nothing when it comes to you.”

I smash my lips against his, my arms wrapping around his neck in my desperation to be closer, infinitely closer, to him. He rolls over onto his back with an appreciative groan, taking me with him. One hand palms my ass greedily while the other cups my nape, keeping me pinned to him.

“Nix—” I rip my lips from his with difficulty, breathing heavily. “We have to keep it PG-13…Astra.”

The way he pulls air into his lungs reveals his breathing is equally affected. “We’ll finish this later,” he promises or warns, I’m not sure which. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He throws back the covers and stands, walking over to where he hastily discarded his coat and picking it up off the floor.

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