I’ve watched humans kissing before, many times. I never thought anything of it. Experiencing the intimacy made me understand why humans were so fond of the activity.
Willow moaned, and her body wavered a little. I wrapped my arms around her, pressing her against me. She felt soft as she molded her body to mine. I wanted to tear our clothes off so we could press skin to skin, but I didn’t want to stop kissing.
Time flowed past us as I got lost in sensation and taste. Words could never describe it. I’d need more poets than have ever existed to do justice to this moment. Even then, I doubted anyone could come close.
When Willow pulled away, I whimpered a little. “Please more,” I begged.
She chuckled. “Yes, more. But maybe we could go upstairs? I want this to go much further than kissing.”
Upstairs! Yes, I needed to take her up there to see all the lovely things I’d prepared. I took her hand and sprinted to the staircase.
She cried out and stumbled behind me. Letting go of her hand, I turned and grabbed her before she could fall to the ground. I was about to start apologizing profusely when she laughed.
“I’m flattered,” she murmured, cupping my cheek. “But maybe slow down a little. Remember, I'm human.”
“The most beautiful human ever,” I reminded her, cradling her against my chest. “I’ll solve the speed issue for both of us.”
I carried her to the stairs and walked up. She shook her head. “You’re strong.”
“You barely weigh anything,” I answered. Her body was as light as her sweet soul.
She laughed. “Well done! Are you going to compare me to a summer’s day next?”
I recognized the reference but didn’t understand why she was so amused. “If that would make you happy.”
Her expression went from amused to affectionate. “You make me happy.”
I’d never made anyone happy before. It was a novel concept, and I wanted to keep doing it. “I vow to do everything in my power to always make you happy.”
“All you need to do right now is not drop me,” she quipped. I could tell I’d made her uncomfortable, but didn’t understand why. All this emotion was overwhelming, so I refocused on the physical.
“I didn’t have a bed up here before,” I explained as I walked up the stairs. “Sorrow helped me pick everything out. If you don’t like any of it, then we can replace it with something of your choosing.”
She tilted her head. “What if I want to redecorate everything?”
“Then we gut the place and start over,” I said.
“I can’t believe you mean that,” she murmured. She was going to say something else, but we crested the stairs, and her eyes went wide as she took everything in.
As with the downstairs, it was mostly one big room. The bed stood in the very middle, the centerpiece I’d created for her. Sorrow told me it was dumb, that humans liked to put their beds against walls, but I ignored him. I wanted Willow to understand that she was the center of my world, just like this bed was the center of the room.
The bed was a large four-poster with diaphanous white fabric draped all around and streaming down at each post. The bedding was all a soft yellow, the color I most associated with Willow.
At both the head and foot of the bed were long, narrow tables covered in thick pillar candles of all different heights. Each candle had hurricane glass over it to keep everything safe. Sorrow had insisted on the glass because humans were delicate, and even a little escaped fire could hurt Willow.
I’d told him that there shouldn't be any candles if that was the case, but he insisted that there was nothing more romantic than candlelight. Now that I could see Willow’s face illuminated by the flickering flames, I had to agree. It gave her normally beautiful features an otherworldly quality.
Everything else in the room had been carefully considered and picked by Sorrow and me for optimal romance. A large tapestry of a garden scene in greens and golds hung on the wall closest to the bed. An oil painting of a lush mountain valley hung further down. The only furniture in the large space besides the bed was a Victorian chaise and a matching chair. Both were finely crafted and sturdy enough to put up with some "shenanigans" as Sorrow had phrased it.
“Put me down,” she asked, her eyes moving rapidly as her attention jumped from item to item.
Reluctantly, I set her on her feet. “Please don’t touch the candles, they can burn you.”
“Fire hot, got it,” she murmured with a half-smile. She waved a hand to indicate the entire room. “You did all this for me?”
I couldn’t tell if she liked it or not. “Yes, but remember, we can replace everything.”
“No, this is—” Willow’s words were interrupted by a little gasp. She pointed to the bed. “Are those real?”
