Before I can reply, she faces it and touches the glass as if to touch it.
Stepping forward, I stand beside her.
“Look!” she says, pointing to the sea turtles that come close to us as if greeting us. There’s this one particular that can’t stop staring at my girlfriend.
I narrow my eyes on him, hoping he’ll get the hint but he only swims near.
“Oh hi,” Rose speaks with such softness and sweetness in her voice it evaporates my anger.
But remnants of it linger when that fucking turtle doesn’t back off.
Rose laughs and says, “I love it.”
I do not.
A second later, a shoal of fish bursts past them — their colors so many and beautiful — and all the turtles separate as if to make room for them.
Rose waves at the turtle then turns to me. Her expression drops. “What’s wrong?”
I let out an annoyed sigh. “I don’t like that turtle.”
“What?”
I just stare at her. “He was watching you a little too much.”
A few seconds passes, then her lips wobble and she’s laughing openly.
I fight the urge to scowl.
“Are you jealous of a turtle?” She asks in between her delicious laugh.
This time, I can’t withhold my scowl and narrow my eyes on her.
Sea creatures float over to us behind the glass, just as Rose steps into my space. Her delicate, pretty face gets closer to me. A rugged breath leaves my lungs.
Fuck.
This girl is so beautiful that it knocks the air right out of me, like I’ve forgotten how to take a simple breath.
“You don’t need to be jealous,” she tells me. “I only want you.”
I only want you.
Those words keep turning over and over in my head, a relentless mantra I can’t put a stop to.
I only want you, too.
Rose gets closer, until her chest brushes across mine. The contact sends a rush of heat through my system, and an ache settles deep into my bones to infuse her inside of me.
“Besides, a turtle can’t take me away from you,” she grins.
I lean my head down, and stare at her. The world fades away into a blur of colors, noises and distant murmurs, and she is the only one who has all my attention.
My expression smoothes out, and my body relaxes, the burning sensation in my chest disappearing.
“No one is taking you away from me,” I tell her.
She grins wider and my lips twitch until a smile is forming on my lips.
