Page 99 of Infinite as They Come
“Keep that blindfold on for me, honey. I’ll help you out. Stay put, okay?”
I followed his instructions and waited for the sound of the door clicking open to hit my ears. Then his fingers laced with mine as he helped me out of the car, giving me a gentle spin around. He was behind me before I knew it, hands grasping my waist as he slowly guided me forward. I could feel that hot wind again on my skin. All heavy and wild and filled with an addictive sort of heat. It was carrying the scent of something. Flowers, something fresh and crisp, but besides that, the air was wonderfully fresh.
“Don’t take it off yet,” Sawyer said behind me.
There it was again. That layer of anxiousness there in his voice. Maybe I was just being dramatic, but with one of my senses cut off, it was like I could hear things that little bit more acutely.
“I won’t,” I assured him.
“We’re doing this properly,” he said.
“Doing what properly?”
A second later, I was scooped up in his arms, and I couldn’t fight back my giggle as he held me tight to him. I was safe there in his arms. With him, around him. Like nothing bad could touch me and that feeling just tripled as I felt him move. I leaned into his chest, the material of his T-shirt smooth and warm against me. Sawyer always felt warm, though. He held me close to him, his strong hands keeping me secure through each and every bounce of his step. I could hear his shoes thumping up against something. There was a creak. Stairs, maybe? I was pretty sure. He was going up stairs, keeping me steady the whole time. Then there was another sound. A creak, a whine. A door being pulled open?
“Alright, work with me here,” Sawyer muttered.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“I was talking to the door,” he said before his fingers suddenly fidgeted against me. “I mean, there’s no door. You’re imagining things. You’re asleep and this is all a dream.”
I laughed. “You’re the silliest boy in the world, you know that?”
I had been right about the door, but I still had no clue what he was up to. I was more than happy to stay put, his hold on me so secure. I let the side ofmy face rest against his chest, my senses once again going into overdrive as I let myself melt into him. He smelled too good. Woodsy, masculine, that trace of cigarette smoke that always made me want to lean into him more. There in his arms, I did. I nuzzled my nose into him some more like I could get more of him.
There were more sounds around me. Something padding against the floor, and then a new scent hit me. That deep, earthy scent of old wood surrounded me as Sawyer gently set me down on my feet. Grasping my waist, he spun me around, his hands moving up slowly to my face.
“Can I take it off now?” I asked.
For a little while, it was just silence. Just the sound of a few birds there outside. Then he let out a long breath. “Yeah, princess. I’ll help you.”
I felt his fingers at the back of my head as he undid the blindfold and gently slipped it off me. My first instinct was to blink again and again. There was sunlight coming in from all directions and my fingers rubbed at my eyes, trying to fight off the harshness of new light. It took a little while, but those sharp blotches faded, and I could finally open my eyes back up. Sawyer was the first thing I saw. He was letting out a trembling breath, one hand pressed to one of the pockets of his jeans. His long fingers curled against the denim, his eyes looking extra green with all the light pouring in.
My eyes reluctantly moved from his, taking in my surroundings. A room. A place I had never been to before, but there was something about it that I instantly liked. The floorboards were a deep brown, coated in that little bit of dust that gave it that old home charm. White walls surrounded me with big windows that let so much light flow right on in. When I let my eyes move over to the left, I saw what I assumed was the hallway, where Sawyer had probably carried me through before he set me down.
My head tilted. “Where are we?”
“Where I want us to be forever,” he said.
Forever kept replaying in my head. Forever, forever, forever. I wanted him forever. I wanted every month and day and second with him.
“Wait…” I whirled back around to look at the walls, then back at Sawyer, then over at the sea of trees I could see in the distance in the big windows. Lush and green and about a million of them. If I squinted, I could see there were wildflowers on either side of the dirt driveway, the pinks and purples all pretty amongst the green. There were daisies too. So much color around us. When I squinted that little bit more, I realized I couldn’t even see any other buildings over on that side. Just a stretch of green grass that seemed to be never-ending. Me and Sawyer were all alone, and that quietness that filled up the room confirmed that. Just… stillness. No cars, no voices, no footsteps. Just us. “I’m confused.”
“Do wanna know why I brought you out here?” he asked.
“To kill me?”
He smiled. “No, far from that.”
“What is this place?” I asked. My eyes found the windows again that showed off the front, all that green grass stretched out like the longest of blankets. The blue sky too. It was absolutely cloudless. “It’s so beautiful here. Where are we?”
“Moody.”
“Moody…” My brows pulled together. I had never been there before, but I had heard of it.
“I wanna show you something,” he said quietly.
I nodded, his fingers lacing with mine, letting him pull me towards the back of the house. Through the door and down a hallway, the floors that deep brown and the walls that same white. My eyes flickered left and right, spotting a couple doorways here and there that I assumed would lead to bedrooms. Sawyer guided me through the house, finally getting to the kitchen, the cabinets a slightly lighter shade of brown to the floors. He placed his hands on my hips, standing behind me as he ushered me forward.
