Page 54 of Love or Leave

"That's Cassiopeia A. It was the only supernova visible from earth with the naked eye, but it exploded in the sixteen hundreds. It looks pretty amazing through a telescope, though."

"How can you see it if it exploded?"

"You don't see it how it is now. It's too far away. What you see through a telescope is how it looked in the past. In Cassiopia A's case, approximately four hundred years ago."

"Huh?"

"It's too far away to know what it looks like now, because the light hasn't reached us."

He nodded, trying to wrap his mind around that. Why hadn't he learned more about space? It was cool as fuck.

Cara turned back toward him and reached for his shoulders. He thought—hoped—she was going to kiss him, but she just smiled and said, "I'll show you sometime," before twisting his body around.

He let her spin him until his back was to her, then she reached over his shoulder and pointed up.

"That's Orion, the hunter," she said. "It looks like an hourglass. See?"

He nodded.

"The brightest star at his shoulder is Betelgeuse. Across is Bellatrix, where his weapon starts, and the three little dots in the middle are his belt."

Antonio committed the details to memory as he reached for her outstretched hand, worried that her fingers would freeze without gloves. Sure enough, she was ice cold.

He turned toward her and took both her hands in his to warm them before realizing what he'd done, but when his brain told him to drop her hands, he refused and held them tighter. He looked up at her eyes that he loved so much and found her staring into his soul.

It was almost too much, as if she was viewing him under a microscope. He drooped his gaze to her lips, but thatreallydidn't help matters.

She moved in close until her body pressed against his with their intertwined hands between them at their chest. The heat of their bodies radiated together, swirling around them and keeping them warm.

When she rose slightly on her tip toes toward him and moved in close, it didn't even occur to him to stop her. He wanted her close. And now that she was, it felt right. As natural as breathing. It was as if something tethered him to her.

There was probably a scientific reason, maybe there was some astrophysical concept that could explain why he couldn't break away from her, like the same reason stars don't break from their constellations.

He didn't know. All he knew was that some cosmic force had made it physically impossible for him to step back at that moment. In fact, it felt as though he was being sucked in closer.

Antonio moved in, leaned forward, and gently touched her lips with his. In an instant, he ignited—as if he'd touched a star. His skin fluttered as heat shot through his veins, lighting every atom in his body on fire.

Cara's lips parted, opening for him, soft and warm, and he deepened the kiss, finally moving his hands to touch her face. Her hands reached up, coming around to the back of his head, and a little sigh escaped from her as his fingers touched her ear.

Everything in his heart and head and body fell exactly into place. It was as if he'd been putting together a million-piece puzzle for the last thirty years and he'd finally found the last missing piece to complete it.

His heart drummed hard, almost painfully, inside his chest as her soft, wet lips slid against his, causing a light headedness he'd never experienced before. An overwhelming need to touch her—explore her—overcame him. He wanted desperately to erase everything between them.

He reached his hands around her waist and pulled her up, pressing her against him. Why was she wearing such a thick coat? He wanted to feel her warmth, touch her skin, kiss her neck.

"Cab."

It took half a second before Adam's voice registered and Antonio remembered he was standing on a sidewalk outside of a bar in Montreal.

Shit.

He jumped back as if someone had electrically shocked him, and he snapped his eyes to the bench, where he found Adam sitting up, holding the armrest, and trying to stand.

Cara's hand landed on Antonio's shoulder, and she pushed him toward Adam. "We better go."

Antonio nodded in a daze. He hauled Adam to his feet and he happily took the help, flopping his arm across Antonio's shoulder as they made their way across the sidewalk to the car. Antonio placed Adam, who was mumbling something incoherently, in the front seat of the cab, then closed the door and got into the back seat.

Cara was already in the warm car, waiting for him. She moved in close to Antonio and he reached his arm out toward her without thinking, pulling her into his side until her head rested on his shoulder.

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