Page 54 of Falling Into Forever
“Then why are you laughing?” This time she does growl.
“Because, Oscar. I’m trying to figure out when you went from dealing with the bad days to letting them own you. You’re close to becoming a full-on curmudgeon, and you’re stronger than that.”
Her nose scrunches up, and her mouth hangs open with a loud scoff.
“It’s okay. I’m here now. Just like old times. I’ll teach you to have fun again.”
“I have fun,” she mutters.
“Do you?”
“Yes,” she says with an indignant nod of her head.
I step forward, invading her space until her breath almost touches my bare chest. “When’s the last time you had fun? Really had fun. Not a laugh or two. When was the last time you had so much fun that you lost track of time and the world around you?”
She tilts her head up to look at me.
I can’t keep my gaze from tracing her lips as I speak, and my words dip low with desire. “When was the last time you were so fully immersed infunthat you forgot to worry, or plan, or overthink?”
She swallows, and I watch the column of her neck work. Her creamy skin pulls taut as she stretches to meet my gaze. The wild pulse of her heart at her throat is entrancing, and I want to run my tongue over it. I want to…
“We—should—probably… Oh shit.” She bounces on her toes, smashes her coffee into my chest, and then runs to the table in the corner.
By the time I set down her mug and turn to her, she’s holding two different pens in her right hand. Is she writing with them both?
Moving closer, I sink into the chair opposite her and watch as she scribbles across the paper. With a flick of her thumb, she switches between the different colors without ever having to put a pen down.
It’s pretty impressive, actually. I lean forward, trying to peek at what she’s writing, when I notice what she’s writing in. It’s a notebook I remember, or a duplicate, anyway. To her right is a giant stack of them, all carbon copies of the one I gave her all those years ago covered in poppies.
She did keep a piece of me with her after all.
“It’s a resort,” she mutters to herself. “On an island. His entire company is supposed to be there for a court-mandated team-building weekend because he’s an ass. But…”
I lean closer to see what she’s writing. It’s words like tension and lustful. She flicks the pen again, and this time she writespulsing, and my cock decides it likes that word.
Jesus. I’m even turned on by stupid fucking words now.
Another flick, and she writeslonging glances,desperate,needy, andwanton.
“Saylor.” She doesn’t stop until I place a hand over her paper.
“What…”
“If I can give you this much inspiration with a simple conversation, imagine the inspiration you’ll get”—I lean in to whisper in her ear—“when we’re out having fun.”
The hairs at the base of her neck rise to attention as goosebumps cover her flesh. My heart throws up a fist bump in victory, and I inhale her scent, thankful it’s one of the things that hasn’t changed.
Salt air and citrus. My little summer raincloud.
She shivers, and I lean back. I can appreciate her flushed cheeks and blistering gaze with some distance between us. How would she describe them in one of her books?
“You’re so sexy. So. Damn. Sexy.”
She looks from me to her paper and back again.
With her attention trained on me, I infuse my voice with a rasp and deepen the tone. “Come havefunwith me, Sayls.”
She’s nodding and pointing one delicate finger toward me when she gets to her feet. “I have fun.” Her tone is slightly less grouchy. If I hadn’t seen her body react to me, I’d worry we might be a lost cause.
