Scarlett melts into my touch at that admission, sinking against me with a warm smile on her lips. Her affection burns a hole through my chest, piercing me straight down to my beating heart.
It’s been so long since I’ve felt any sort of tenderness or endearment. I feel stupid for getting emotional over it, but shit, it feels so fucking good to be wanted.
“I love how you feel against me too…”
To be loved.
“I have something for you,” I murmur against her skin. Pulling out the box stashed in my back pocket, I hold it out to her, waiting nervously while her eyes widen in surprise.
“Theodore… what’s this?”
“Open it and find out.”
Gently, Scarlett plucks the case from my palm and reveals its content.
“Theodore.” She gasps, gazing in awe at the sparkling necklace nestled inside. “It’s beautiful,”
“As are you, my love,”
Scarlett lifts her hair away from her neck, waiting for me to clasp the chain around her throat. My fingers tremble as I secure it around her, but when I see the delicate heart resting in the hollow of her neck, all my nerves vanish.
“Let’s go, pretty girl.” Placing my hands on the bottom of her thighs, I stand tall. Then, like they belong there, her legs wrap around my waist, squeezing me firmly while I walk us up the stairs.
The tiny box falls to the ground, but that, along with the mess in the kitchen, can wait. I couldn’t care less about the half-eaten food on the table or in the pans, and the dishes in the sink aren’t going anywhere. Right now, Scarlett is my only priority.
As I climb the steps, her clothes seem to disappear. First is her shirt, followed shortly by her satin pink bralette. The patter of her pulse reaches through her chest, drumming directly against my own. The synchronization of our hearts only cements what I already knew.
I knew it the first moment I laid eyes on her when she walked into my class.
I knew it when I felt her skin for the first time.
I knew it after our first kiss.
And I know it now as I lay her across my bed.
“Scarlett, I-”
Scarlett Dane
CHAPTER XXVI
“No,” I whisper, placing my finger against his lips. “Don’t say it.”
I don’t need it. Not in words.
Theodore says it with every kiss, every touch. With each look upon my skin, I feel his love. And that is more than what words could ever say.
But just so he knows… “I do, too.”
With one palm on my cheek and the other behind my neck, Theodore draws me up, searing my lips with his flaming touch before stealing my breath away. I give it to him freely, happily. He could have it all if it meant I could live in this moment forever.
“I love how this looks around you,” he mumbles against my lips, fingers dancing along my collarbones as he admires my new necklace.
I hold my breath as his touch becomes firmer, feeling my heart drop into my stomach when his hand replaces the chain around my neck. The little diamond resting against my chest becomes an afterthought as his grip turns into my favorite accessory.
Twirling around, I press farther into his hold, moaning gutturally before capturing his lips between my teeth.
I lose all sense of reality as he returns my kiss, completely ignoring how his skilled fingers begin toying with the buttons on my jeans, popping them off in rapid succession.
