Page 92 of Resilient Love

I feel his fingers tickle the base of my spine as he pulls me to him, my legs winding around his waist with ease.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” I tell him, pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose just how I know he loves but never asks for.

His eyes glitter as I do, and a swarm of butterflies threatens to carry me away from their place in my stomach.

“This isn’t even the most impressive part,” he says, slowly walking us to the saltier part where large crystal formations are growing from the ground up, but he carefully manoeuvres around their sharp edges. “The person posting that video you showed me clearly hadn’t done their research.”

“Lie on your back and close your eyes,mi vida.Just float with me,” he says, helping me untangle myself from him as he holds my hand while we lie back in the water. I don’t close my eyes until he has, but the moment I do, it’s like my whole world comes to a blissful stop for just a brief moment, andit’s heavenly.

My whole body floats beside his, effortlessly being supported by the salinated water surrounding us. My ears are just beneath the water, blocking out all other sounds besides my own breath, the slow and steady beat of my heart, and the gurgling of the falls as it plunges into the pool at the cliff-side.

This sweet, calm version of euphoria is one I’m not familiar with. It leaves me realising just how much noise I’m surrounded by, making it more difficult to regulate my emotions. These passing seconds of solitude ease some of the overwhelming feelings I always carry around with me, sometimes without even knowing.

Rafael’s gentle squeeze to my hand draws me back to the here and now. I slowly crack my eyes open, the edges of my vision erupting in an intense rainbow of prismatic beauty that steals my breath one last time before he tugs me to him. Rafael wraps his arms around me as I come back down to earth from this tiny piece of heaven he’s shared with me.

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

SUNDAY, JUNE 8

Music plays softlyover the radio as we drive back to my childhood home. Elise has her forehead smooshed against the glass of her window, unable to take her eyes off of the beauty surrounding us.

“Would you ever want to move back here?” she asks, catching me off guard.

“Uh, I’m not sure. I love it here, but ultimately, I guess it depends on where you are and what kind of opportunities there are for your career and mine,” I answer without much thought, and the sudden weight of the words that just slipped so effortlessly from my mouth has my stomach twisting as I wait for her response.

I hear her shift in her seat and chance a brief glance in her direction. She’s got that full bottom lip sucked between her teeth as she looks at me, her gaze searing my skin as I wait on bated breath for her to say something,anything.

“I like it here, and Argentina does have a fantastic women’s football team,” she says so simply, as if she hadn’t just flipped my whole world upside down.

I reach for her hand, pulling it to my lips, and press a kiss to each of her knuckles. “That’s certainly something to consider,” I murmur against her smooth skin, placing her hand on my thigh.

“It definitely is,” she says with a confidence that calms me so easily. “Hey, do you mind if we cancel our plans for tomorrow?” she asks, suddenly changing topics, not that that’s out of the ordinary for her. I’ve seen her at her highest, her lowest, and on an average day, she seems to live somewhere just toeing the line between a little low and a little high. I never know what each day will bring, but I’m flexible, and getting to be there for her in either is a gift she has no idea she’s given me.

Today it seems she’s riding a bit of a high.

“Sure, you have something else in mind?”

I catch her little smirk in my periphery before she tries to suppress it. “That’s for me to know and you to deal with later,” she says with a chuckle.

“Well, alright then.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

SUNDAY, JUNE 8

This is either goingto backfire completely and blow up in my face, or I’ll get to keep my promise to Rafael and help him understand that the guilt he carries isn’t his to bear.

Either way, the moment I saw it from the window of our rental car, I knew it was just the kind of thing I’ve been searching for.

CHAPTER SEVENTY

SUNDAY, JUNE 8

The sharp counteredge digs into my hip as I lean against it, watching Elise dancing around the kitchen with my mother, apparently in her new element.

She’s integrated herself into my family so well, it feels like it would be impossible to ever go back to a life without her. I’d never be able to move on. Never be able to bring another woman home without my family comparing them. Anyone else would fall short because Elise is the closest thing to heaven on earth I’ll ever know, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

She’s stunning in an unattainable way that makes my chest ache, and the way I feel about her makes me physically ill to think about living this life without her.

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