I smiled, resting my hand over his heart again. “For now’s enough.”
He pulled back just enough to look at me. His fingers threaded through mine, thumb brushing the back of my hand in slow, thoughtful strokes.
Kit’s hand slipped to my waist, drawing me closer again until I could feel his heartbeat against my ribs. This, right here, was everything I never thought I’d get to have.
Peace. Warmth. Him.
He tilted his head, lips ghosting against my temple.
“You sure you can live like this?” he murmured.
“Absolutely,” I answered.
Later, after the sun had slipped fully below the horizon, we sat outside on the porch.
The air had cooled, and the stars were beginning to appear one by one. They looked like faint pinpricks of light scattered across the sky.
Kit sat beside me, legs stretched out, a blanket draped loosely around his shoulders. The faint light from inside spilled across the porch, turning the edges of his hair gold.
He’d brought out an old portable radio we’d found in the cabin, and static hummed faintly between stations until it landed on something soft.
An old song, low and crackling, full of longing.
He nudged my shoulder. “Dance with me.”
I blinked. “Here?”
“Why not?”
I laughed quietly. “You know I don’t dance.”
“Then I’ll lead.”
I stared at him for a long moment before taking his hand. “Alright,” I told him.
He pulled me to my feet, and I followed his slow steps across the small porch. The music swelled softly, mingling with the sound of the lake lapping at the shore.
We moved clumsily at first, feet brushing against each other, but it didn’t matter. He was warm beneath my hands, solid, alive.
He looked up at me, eyes shining faintly in the starlight. “Do you think they’ll ever stop looking?”
“The Guild?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe they’ll just lose interest when they realize we’ve stopped running.”
He smiled faintly at that. “Stopped running, huh?”
“Yeah.” I pulled him a little closer. “We deserve that much.”
He rested his head against my shoulder, and for a long time we just swayed there, the world small and quiet around us.
When the song faded, the radio went back to static. I reached over and turned it off, leaving only the sound of the night.
Kit looked up at me, eyes soft and unreadable. “You really think we can make this work?”
I brushed a thumb over his cheek. “We already are.”
