Page 78 of Knot Their Safe Haven
"Cancer doesn't get opinions on my love life."
The casual way he mentions death, love, and me in the same sentence makes my heart stutter.
"This is insane," I whisper.
"Which part? The dancing? The compound fracture of your previous relationship? The fact that we're scent matched after nearly two decades?"
"Yes, the last part," I breathe out and try not to giggle.
"Clarity at last."
I pull back to look at him properly. The firelight turns his green eyes into kaleidoscopes, shadows carving his face into something classical.
Beautiful, but not pretty. Dangerous but not cruel. Young but not naive.
"What happens when reality sets in? When you realize I'm difficult and stubborn and set in my ways?"
"Then I'll be difficult back. Stubborn is my middle name. And I'll learn your ways until they become mine."
"You make it sound simple."
"It is simple. The execution is complex, but the concept?" He shrugs. "Love someone. Choose them. Keep choosing them. Simple."
"Love?"
The word hangs between us like a challenge.
"What else would you call seventeen years of obsession?"
"Stalking?"
"Dedicated research."
"Creepy?"
"Thorough."
"Probably illegal?"
"Definitely illegal. But statute of limitations and all that."
I laugh despite myself, and his face lights up like I've given him a gift.
"I love your laugh," he says quietly. "Hated that you stopped doing it so much. Every year, less laughter in the surveillance."
"Surveillance. Jesus."
"Only the public spaces. I'm a stalker, not a complete violation of privacy."
"That's a very fine line you're drawing."
"I'm excellent with fine lines. Comes from all those Swiss banking regulations."
The song ends, but we don't stop moving. The silence between tracks is its own music, fireplace percussion and wind through trees the only orchestra needed.
I hook my arms around his neck, forcing him to bend, bringing our faces close enough that our breath mingles. His hands settle on my waist, thumbs stroking the silk.
"This is dangerous," I tell him.
