Page 30 of Chasing After You
“It’s a wonder you never developed some sort of pyromania,” I tease him, moving in at his side again. Same as I did that night on our first fire.
“I believe the line you meant to use was, ‘are you sure you’re not some sort of pyromaniac,” he teases right back.
“Then I believe you meant to say...”
He turns toward me, hands finding my hips, moving us closer until we touch. “I wasn’t before.” He dips his head down until his forehead touches mine. “But standing here with you...I might become one.”
A smile tugs at my mouth, and I’m unable to restrain it. “God, that was so cheesy.”
He grins. “You liked it.”
“I liked you.” And I liked the way he made me feel. Like I was an impulse he’d never be able to resist.
CHAPTER SEVEN
MATTI
It’s surreal, standing here with her, reliving this moment. No, surreal isn’t the word. Because it doesn’t feel strange or unbelievable. It feels more real than the heart thundering inside my chest. More tangible than the earth at my feet. And more natural than the air moving through me with every breath in and out.
“I think maybe we’ve discovered time travel,” I whisper, gently moving against her, guiding her arms to drape over my neck before I wrap mine around her back, holding her to me as we start to sway in a slow dance to the fire’s music, same as we did that night.
“I think you’d look younger if we had,” she teases, though her face stays serious. “Will you sing for me?”
I rest my head against hers and close my eyes. Feeling her this close to me, her soft skin against mine, the sweet scent of her rose shampoo slowly intoxicating me with every inhale, and the familiar ways she moves like she’s a part of me, it’s almost more than I can bear. I know I agreed to go along with this but reliving this night will only go so far before reliving the past and altering the future will begin to overlap.
At the end of ourfirstfirst date, we kissed.
And maybe we were just two foolish kids sharing a tender first kiss, but it was a kiss so intense we both believed at fourteen it had sealed our fate for eternal love. If we allow tonight to follow that same path, if we reach that same destination, the very moment I felt I had only two choices, kiss the girl or let my heart burst from sheer anticipation, I can’t say I won’t choose the same way I did back then.
But if I kiss her here tonight, what will it mean for us tomorrow?
“You really want me to sing?”
Her head moves up and down, making her hair brush back and forth across my jaw. “You haven’t forgotten the song, have you?”
Never. I wrote it specifically for her. It may well be the best damn song I’ve ever written, but it’s one I’ve never recorded, never played on stage, never sung for anyone else but her.
Now, darlin’ let me sing to you the words I cannot say
‘cause you need to know, what I feel for you, girl, it’s here to stay
I place one hand her on lower back and use the other to seek out her palm until it’s resting in mine. Then, gently, we start to dance again.
You might call me crazy, you might call me ‘fool’
But you gotta know it’s real, darlin’ everything I feel is true.
Baby, you’re my first thought, every single morning
And once I think that first thought of you girl, yeah, they just keep on comin’
Like how you make me laugh out, laugh so damn hard now
Then your words they spin my mind, make me wonder all the time
Loving you’s the stars and the moon and the sun
Darlin’, you’re the one
