Page 418 of Eternal
He chuckles low. “You’re gonna make me burn the damn thing.”
“You’re that obsessed?”
He shakes his head with a slow, lazy grin. “If only you knew.”
“Okay… I’ll wait there then.”
I head to the couch, pop a disk into the player.
Background music for healing.
I pull off my jacket and toss it beside me. The FBI badge is still in the inside pocket. I see it, but I don’t touch it, I exhale slowly and lean back. I’m way too tired of fighting everything.
When Damir brings the food, I straighten up, he sets it on the coffee table and sits beside me. I curl into him without hesitation, pressing my cheek to his chest. Breathing him in, for a small hug, but then I freeze.
“Mansaf?” I whisper.
“Mansaf,” he murmurs.
It hits me, the first meal I ever made him. My mother’s dish, my childhood, my home.
He kisses my temple, then pulls back, holding up a spoonful. I let him feed me. I close my eyes, and for a second, I swear I could cry. It’s perfect. Salty, creamy, warm.
He made this forme.
When I open my eyes, his face is the first thing I see. Glasses still on, blue eyes steady on mine, that beautiful half-smile. He looks soft, but solid. Like safety with big arms and soft skin.
“It’s really good,” I murmured.
His fingers brush the corner of my lips, then pause. “You’ve got something here,” he says.
Before I can react, he rips his glasses off, tosses them on the table, grabs my jaw, and kisses me. Deep. Full. Like he’s been starving all day and I’m dinner and dessert.
“You taste better than the meal,” he growls into my mouth.
I gasp, laughing. “You’re so corny.”
“That’s how we court a woman,” he says with mock pride, then kisses me again, rougher, pulling me onto his lap like it’s second nature.
My hands slip under his shirt, his skin is warm and tight beneath my palms.
And for a moment… nothing else exists.
He pulls back slightly, eyes heavy-lidded, voice low. “You’re going to need to be patient for that, baby.”
I can barely breathe, I simply hum something soft, dazed. “Mmh…”
He chuckles low in his throat. “Be a good girl, alright? Wait for me here.” He sits me gently beside him, stands, and disappears down the hall.
I’m flushed, lips tingling, heart pounding. And when he comes back… he’s holding a cake.
Iblink.
A round one, chocolate, clearly homemade, with ETERNAL scribbled in blue frosting across the top. A single candle shaped like a star flickers above it. He kneels in front of me, all of him soft and golden in the candlelight. “Happy birthday,partner,” he says. “Make a wish.”
I blink again.Harder.
The little girl inside me, the one who never had parties, who never believed in wishes, she’s crying. He waited until midnight. He remembered. He made me a cake.
