“Good. Thank you,” she breathes, relieved, shrugging out of her coat.
I brace my hands on the counter, grounding myself as she walks toward me. She wraps her arms around my waist, rises onto her toes, to place her chin on my shoulder.
“This smells good,” she whispers, eyeing the food.
“I made it just for you,” I say, still sounding defeated.
“What is it?”
“A little taste of home.”
“Are you homesick?”
I turn, take her face in my palms, and press my forehead to hers.
“No. Becausethisis my home. Right here. Right now. With you.”
Stella closes her eyes, letting the words settle into her bones.
She demanded I leave the future outside the door but she can’t force me to hide my love for her. Not anymore.
“I like it here too,” she murmurs so softly I almost miss it.
“You do?” I lift her chin so I can see every inch of her truth shining brightly back at me.
She nods, emerald eyes steady and sure. “Did you think I’d say something different?”
“I don’t know what to believe sometimes,” I admit honestly.
She places her palm over my heart, then takes my hand and presses it to hers.
“I like the way we dance,” she whispers. “Don’t you?”
It’s the closest thing to an‘I love you’I’ve ever gotten from her.
“I like how our hearts dance too,dusha moya,” I breathe. “It’s what I live for.”
Her eyes go soft as she continues to stare deep into mine.
And we stay like that for a long time.
Just breathing.
Just feeling.
Letting our hearts dance and beat in the same rhythm.
Two pulses moving as one, so perfectly in sync it feels inevitable.
No… it’s not an‘I love you’…but it sure is fucking close.
Chapter 22
Kirill
Can a man die from too much happiness? God, I sure hope not.
Because if he can, then I’m the first in line to get taken out.
