Page 114 of Fly Back to Me
I always expected my infatuation to remain solid, but knowing him like I do now, I think I’m even more drunk on him.
Our mouths break away, his hand dropping to mine before he leans back in his chair again. “Come here.”
My bottom lip folds between my teeth, and I’m standing to join him. When I sink onto his thigh, he scoops an arm under my legs to turn my body sideways into his. I burrow into the cotton of his hoodie, and his torso shifts to pluck the plaid blanket to drape over me.
His left elbow stands on the armrest while his right hand frames the side of my face. The metal ring tickles my cheek, a shudder rocking through me as his eyes slice through the indigo sky.
“You always make me feel so warm,” I whisper.
He plants his left hand on his chest. “Even when you aren’t with me, I feel it right here. Ever since the day I received your letter.”
The crackle of the fire bursts through the silence, golden sparks reflecting in his eyes. “You didn’t want to know me. Why?” I ask softly.
He shakes his head, tilting it empathetically. “That’s not true, Olivia.”
“Yes, it is,” I say before shrugging. “I just want to know.Please.”
Our gazes stroll along each other over a spell. The memory of that night ravels around us like rope, tying us closer.
My hero finally has a face.
His damsel finally has a face.
“I didn’t want to complicate your life by reminding you,” he explains. “Knowing what I know now, it’s the only wish I’m grateful was never granted.”
“Me too,” I breathe.
His Adam’s apple bobs, eyes stationing on mine. “Olivia, do yousee me?”
My brows mildly cave. “What?”
“Or do you only see my wings?”
The pop of the timber injects the quiet air, the meaning of his question casting over me like a sudden ominous cloud.
He goes on, “I see you for all that you are. You’ve lit a candle in each dark space of my heart. The flame has grown brighter with every conversation with you. Every single touch from you.”
I exhale a shaky breath, our fate devastatingly perfect as it is crushing. He’s worried my love for him came too early, but does love have a timeline? Does love know boundaries when it’strue?
“I see you,” I whisper. “My feelings for you shouldn’t be measured in length, but in their power.”
He combs a curtain bang back, a shiver skipping down my spine. “You bared your soul to me, and it looked like…” His voice tapers, brows gently pinching as his throat bobs past a tight gulp. “Like the other half of mine.”
I puff out the tiniest breath, warm and blinding destiny on his lips just as the pads of my fingers land there.
“When I died inside, you brought the stars,” he rasps. “Andif there is anything I ever promise to do, it’s to keep the stars suspended above us.”
My heart soars, ascending somewhere above the moon, only to be replanted beneath my chest. But it’s sturdier this time.
Invincible.
The flames of the fire glow on our skin—a spotlight on this exquisite moment of fate. Two people brought together and torn apart by chaos, only to be rebuilt in serenity.
In our story, the storm came before the calm. The thunder forced us to listen, and the lightning forced us to look. We look into each other’s eyes, and we see the two people who ached for so long.
Just to befound.
The sky has morphed into a stark black of scattered stars, and a smile creeps on my lips when I begin to slip the wool off me. “Join me?” I whisper.
