Page 80 of Without Bound
Her eyes close, a small smile gracing her face, and continue until all the tangles are free and her waves begin to curl up.
“You’re so beautiful, my little butterfly,” I whisper and kiss her jaw. “Let’s go to bed.”
I take her in my arms again and pull off our towels, leaving them in a heap on the floor. I walk us to the bed where we tuck in and I pull her close to me. I lock my arm around her and lay sweet kisses on her bare shoulder.
“I love you, sweet butterfly.”
“I love you too, big guy.” She rubs my arm then twines her fingers in mine, falling into a sound sleep.
“How did you know I was home last night? I could’ve been gone.” We lay in bed until the early morning hours, talking about yesterday's events.
“Well, I came by after I finished eating and took Keyara back to our dorm. There was a package on your doorstep and after ringing the doorbell a few times, I figured you were gone. When I came back after studying, I noticed the package was missing. My best guess was that you were finally home and hiding inside.” Her wild hair tickles my chest and stomach where she lays her head.
“Very good deduction, Ms. De La Cruz.”
“So what did you get?” She asks me.
“What are you talking about?”
She places her chin on my chest and looks up at me. “The package. What did you get?”
I push up to my elbows and tell her, “I’ll show you.” I slide out from under her, still naked, and walk over to my bookcase, that holds my vinyl player and collection of albums, and pick up the box that lies just at the bottom.
I carry it carefully over to where Anais is still stretched out in bed and hand it to her.
She looks at the box then back at me and asks, “You want me to open it?”
“Yes, baby girl. It’s for you.”
Her eyes light up and she bites her bottom lip as she takes the box out of my hands, her arms giving a little not realizing just how heavy the box is. She inspects it before she takes her nail and slides it right through the thin tape. She pulls open the flaps and begins pushing the filler paper aside. She reaches in only to pull out another box, but this one has a picture on the box to tell her exactly what it is.
“A record player?” She asks, her brow knit.
I shake my head. “No. Not a record player. It’s a vinyl player. It’s for vinyl albums. I thought, since you like mine, that you might want one of your own.”
She places the box down and crawls out of the sheets and over to me, rising up on her knees.
“I love it. Thank you.” She presses her lips to mine and my body, as it usually does with her, immediately responds. “Now I need to start building myvinylcollection.”
“Good girl.” I kiss the tip of her nose then, with her arms still gripped tightly around my neck, crawl onto the bed and take her with me.
Her body lays flat and I hover above her. “I thought we might go to this little shop that sells vintage albums. It’s out of the way in Old Town Village, and I was thinking we could go there before we go to the stadium for the game.”
Tonight will be the last game of the series and it’s tied three to three. Nix asked that we all be there as early as possible, and with the game starting at seven, we agreed to all be there at four to watch warm-ups and take in all the pregame festivities.
“Okay. I like that.” She kisses me again but before we can get lost, she pulls away, a serious look on her face. “I want to talk with you.”
I lean all of my weight on my forearms where they rest on either side of her face and steel my features. “What about?”
She wiggles underneath me and circles my back with her arms, her nails scraping up and down. “We’re not doing this push and pull thing anymore. I’m not a toy that you can put on a shelf and take out whenever you want to play.”
“Anais. No. I–”
“You seem to want to push me away every time you think about our age difference or where we are in our lives, and it’s not fair. I know what I want. I don’t have to think about it. But if we’re together, no more of thisyou should be with someone your ageorI’m old, you don’t want me.I’m not hearing it anymore. Got it?”
Her words are full of confidence and I absolutely agree, but her face is so damn beautiful that it’s difficult to be serious and not smile.
“Got it. No more being a jerk. We’re together. Me and you and no more age crap.”
