“Yeah… some first kiss.” I giggle in agreement.
He leans in, slowly pressing his lips to mine again briefly, then pulls back and slides his body off mine, sitting back on his heels. “I’ve been waiting to do that since I first saw you.” He smiles and looks past me to where the sun is rising.
Ryan moves in behind me as I sit up, wrapping his legs on either side of me and sliding his arms around my waist as his head nuzzles on my shoulder. “This is nice,” he says.
“It really is. It’s nice to not have you pranking me. Wait! Is this a prank?” I ask, turning my head to look at him.
He chuckles. “No, this is real. Now watch the sun rise.” Ryan leans in and kisses my cheek.
“Yes, sir.”
The sun rises over the hills in an endless array of vibrant hues. It’s a magnificent sight as the sky is filled with a powerful glow, splashing the clouds with its unending rays of beautiful sun-drenched color. My stomach is a swarm of giddy butterflies as Ryan holds me tightly in his embrace, mesmerized by Mother Nature.
It’s so lovely to be on the same page finally.
I just wonder what all this means for us now.
Where do we stand?
Are we a couple?
Do we tell people that we are a couple?
I have so many questions, but I don’t want to spoil the mood of the moment. The main one being, what changed? After the two ‘almost’ kisses, I was starting to believe this was one-sided. But based on this kiss, I was definitely wrong.
Ryan kisses under my ear, making me smile. I like this side of him, and I could get used to it quickly. He exhales as the sun finally rises, and the orange fades into yellow, and the yellow fades finally to blue. The day has dawned, and the sunrise is officially over.
“That was beautiful,” I say.
He nods against my shoulder. “Yeah, it sure was. All the better with you being here. It’s so lonely when I do it on my own.”
I turn to face him. “You come up here on your own?”
“Sometimes. Not often. I think I’ve seen the sunrise up here twice… three times now.”
I smile and tilt my head. “Well, thank you for inviting me.”
“My pleasure. Right, shall we eat?”
I look down at the food on the platters and nod in delight as my stomach growls.
A warm, gentle laugh escapes him, soft and genuine as he hands me a croissant.
“Thank you.” I take a bite and look down at the blanket, wondering if we’re going to talk about us at all.
Ryan exhales, takes a sip of some juice, and crosses his legs, sitting up taller. “So, I guess we have to talk about where we go from here?”
Glancing back up, I swallow my mouthful and half-smile, not sure if I’m excited or terrified by the prospect of the conversation that’s about to take place. So I simply nod.
“Tillie, I want to be honest with you.”
Oh God!
“I like you, and it scares me, but I’ve finally admitted to myself that I actually like you.” I smile but let him keep talking. “The thing is, I’m not sure I’m ready to go public with anything massive just yet. I want to see where this can go. So, if you’re okay with it, I’d like to keep it just between us for now while we figure out what we are. I don’t want to rush anything.”
Swallowing hard, I take a second to process. He wants to be with me, just not publicly. I take a deep breath. From a publicist angle, I see where he’s coming from. I would probably say the same thing, but not telling the band and our families, well, that’s a little different. It makes me feel like he might be ashamed of me, but I’m not sure if that’s the case or if he doesn’t want the other members of the band to get angry at him. After all, I do work for them, and if things go south, then it could be bad, andthey would be pissed. So I can see why he wouldn’t want them to know.
“I’m fine going slow. I want to get to know you,the real you.But I need to ask. What changed?”
