“I just want to be loved,” she said. “I didn’t think that was asking too much,” she added softly.
“It’s not,” he said. She was so easy to love.
And it was a hot night, turning to dusk. Soon it would be dark and people would be setting off fireworks and all he could think of was setting off fireworks with this woman, who gave so much and seemed to ask so little.
He set down his bottle, moved closer, took hers and set it down, too. “Arianna, be honest. If I kissed you, how would you feel?”
She blinked. Then her face lit up. “Like the Fourth of July,” she said and grabbed for him.
22
They came together like two bullet trains. Her lips were like rose petals and her perfume invaded his senses. She felt soft and perfect in his arms and he was on fire. He could go on kissing her forever. In fact it felt...eternal, and like they were the only two people in the universe, like in those movies where the couple kissed and everything around them faded to background blur.
“Oh, man,” he managed when she pulled away and looked at him, probably to see if he was still breathing. A good idea, since she’d almost killed him with that kiss.
“I couldn’t help myself,” she said.
“I’m glad,” he said, and grinned.
“Your ex must have been out of her mind.”
He grinned. “Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. It sounds like those wounds are still pretty fresh, though. You’re probably not ready for a relationship.”
Who said? “Are you?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But having you in my life, in our lives, feels so right. I don’t want you to feel pressured, though. If you’re not ready to start something.”
“Oh, no, I’m ready. I wasn’t sure before, but I think I’ve been ready for a while,” he said, studying that lovely mouth of hers. He ran a hand up her back, tracing her spine. “You are so beautiful.”
She made a face.
“No, I mean it. You are. Inside and out.”
“Funny, I could say the same thing about you,” she said. “You know, I was so unhappy this last Christmas. Kind of a stinker,” she added, not looking at him.
“You were an adorable stinker.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, you were just a stinker, but it didn’t take me long to realize that you were adorable,” he amended and ran a finger along her jaw. Such soft skin. He moved it to her lips and she kissed it.
“You were so nice, and kind. And you’ve been so good to us, so...heroic,” she said.
Heroic? Him?
“You’re like a belated Christmas present.”
He laughed at that. “Hey, no such thing since you’re celebrating Christmas all year long.”
“I am,” she said.
The sky was getting darker. In the distance he heard a boom. The fireworks were starting. He ran a hand through her hair, brought her lips back to his, and kissed her again. His mom was right. What was he waiting for?
“You’re looking happy,” Sunny observed when she came over to Mia’s house the next week to shoot some videos.
“I am! We were at the doctor’s and Mom’s tumor is shrinking. She can actually swallow food again. Not big stuff, like meat or bread. But soft food. We celebrated this morning with yogurt.”
