"I will die for you!" I blurt out. Desperate for her to understand that this shit serious. That I’m serious as a heart attack.
Her arms slowly encircle my waist.
"I don't want you to die."
“So you want me to live?"
"Yes."
"Then never talk about leaving me again."
I'm not sure when they left, but I notice that Nate and Bucky have disappeared. That can't be good, but it doesn't matter right now. I have to talk some sense into my girl. I think I'm breaking through.
"Everything is a mess."
She falls into my arms.
"Life is complicated," I say in her ear. "But I've learned a big lesson since I've met you. Someone once told me that things are not always black and white. That life is full of grays. Your father is not the villain and neither is Bucky. Well not totally anyway. We will work it out."
"But Silas–"
"Is not going to kill me. I know that finally for the first time today. If he was going to do it, he would have done it by now."
She squeezes me tighter.
It feels like home.
"I missed you, Stone."
"Not as much as I missed you. I've been lost without you. You're my north star, baby. Without you I'm totally adrift."
She reaches up and pulls my head down to hers.
Our foreheads meet.
Then I move in for a kiss.
Sliding my tongue home where it belongs. Home. Inside of her masterful mouth. When we break for a breath, she giggles.
"You've been reading some of my books, haven't you?"
"Uh-uh," I lie. "I don't read."
"The hell you don't. When I threw you out of the house, I think you stole some of my books. That line is from a novel I read about three months ago."
"Could be." I feign ignorance.
"You don't have to borrow other people's words, Stone. You talk to me in all the ways that matter. Better than any character in my romances ever could."
"Then let me take you somewhere where I can talk to you in every way that fucking matters. I've got a lot to say to you, baby.”
* * *
