I blink hard, swiping away the fog of my daydream. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ve never been better, actually.”
She smiles, and the sky opens up, spreading warm, radiant light across the sands. And I could not imagine anything more beautiful.
“Eloise,” I whisper, “I?—”
I love you. I yearn, I ache, I… want. Wholly and desperately, I want. Your hurts and your smiles, your sound and your silence. Hell, I even want your anger, your claws, and your teeth, if only it means they’re for me.
“Riot? What is it?”
“I was just thinking about how beautiful you look in this light.”
“Oh.” A tinge of pink spreads across her cheeks. “Thank you. You’re very sweet.”
“Not sweet.” I step closer, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her close. “Never sweet. Just honest.”
She shakes her head, biting her bottom lip. “I think you’re sweet. At least to me, you are.”
“You, little muse, are the exception to every rule,” I murmur, leaning in to nip her bottom lip. She gasps, her eyes wide, pupils dilating.
Mine.
The words crash to the front of my mind as I press my lips to hers. It pulses through my veins, flooding my being with an overpowering, unbearable heat. A desire so intense and all-consuming, it’s like flames licking at my insides, devouring me from within.
She pulls away all too soon, stifling the raging fire. There’s an apology in her eyes, a twist to her mouth that makes my heart drop to my stomach.
“Don’t. Don’t say it.”
She shakes her head, her eyes dropping to her feet. “I have to.” She gestures to the horizon. “My guard, Forest, wakes up soon, and he can’t find me missing. I don’t want to go, but I have to, Riot. I have to go home.”
“When will I see you again?”
She reaches out, taking my hand in hers. The touch offers me some comfort, but not enough. “When, Eloise?”
“Next weekend? Dave is leaving on another work trip on Saturday. Imightbe able to get out that night.”
A week? I have to wait an entire week to see her again?“Can I talk to you?”
She shrugs. “I might not get my phone back before then. Either way… plan to meet at midnight? You know the big Australian pine tree at the end of my street? I’ll be waiting there.”
“Okay. I’ll be there.” I step forward, wrapping her in my arms, deeply breathing in her scent, allowing it to calm my racing heart. “Next week.”
“Next week,” she repeats, burying her head into my chest.
It makes it so much harder to let her go.
21
Eloise
Saturday…
I stand beneath the large Australian pine at the end of the street, eyes closed and listening to the waves crash in the distance. All the gulls have returned to their roosts for the night, and there’s hardly any other sound save the occasional rustle of branches overhead. The air has a certain stillness tonight, and it’s not entirely peaceful.
I can’t shake the feeling that something’s not quite right, that things have been too good lately, and I’m going to be punished for it. It’s probably just paranoia because I’m sneaking out to see Riot once again, but I worry.
The engine of Riot’s motorcycle roars in the distance, and I perk up, gazing in the direction of the noise. As long as I’m with Riot, everything will be fine. As soon as he touches me, all my anxiety will fade.
It’s all going to be better soon.
