Being with Lennon was a feeling that I would never get past. It was like slipping into my favorite sweater that had been misplaced for so long. That initial excitement you have once you’ve found it and relief that washes over you when you realize it’s exactly how you remember.
I took a leap of faith and ducked my head down to place a gentle kiss where her ear and jaw met. Her lashes fluttered briefly.
We walked next door and her hand stayed clasped in mine as I absentmindedly rubbed my thumb along the back of her hand. Two or three passes over her hand and my brain registered that where I should have felt the cool metal of her wedding ring, there was nothing. A quick look down confirmed her finger was bare,and I didn’t quite know what to make of it, but she offered me another small smile as an answer.
I opened the door to the gallery and moved my hand to her low back and guided her in. Her mouth parted slightly as an “oh,” escaped her. “Theo, look at this. This is beautiful.” We were barely in the building when she let go of my hand to go to the photo in the middle of the room. She examined the photos, her head cocked to the side in thought, and I knew I could watch her like this forever.
I led her around the front room. We stopped at each photo andmadesmall talk with the guests that were mingling around. Archie appeared from one of the back rooms, and I pulled Lennon to meet him.
“Lennon, this is Archie, my boss for all paperwork appearances. Archie, this is Lennon.” He took her hand in his. “The famous Lennon? Well, it makes sense why you’d cross the ocean to be near her. You’d be stupid not to.” My eyes pinched close at his confession of mine. Lennon bit back a grin, and when he dropped her hand, it found mine again. I was back in a haze from the closeness of us. For months, this was all I had been thinking about, and now, I couldn’t even focus long enough to enjoy it.
I couldn’t tell you what Archie was saying to her, but she threw her head back in laughter and clutched me tighter while leaning into my arm, and everything was in slow motion… again. I really should get this checked out. Whatever he was saying, I would pay an exorbitant fee to have him do it again and again. Anything to keep her like this, because having her on my arm felt like home.
We finally left Archie and slowly walked through the front rooms. She studied each one as if she wasn’t at the exact place with me in real life. A couple of hours passed, and I led her in the direction of the last room. “One more to go,” I leaned down and said by her ear, and a shiver moved through her body as my breath hit her neck.
Stepping into the last room, Lennon didn’t speak, and I was suddenly watching everything go down in flames. A minute passed and still nothing, and I was beginning to think I had definitely fucked this up, but then I moved around to her front and looked at her. There were tears brimming along her waterline as she looked back at me with wide eyes. “They’re all of me.” It was my turn for silence.
We were walking a ship’s plank and we could either both jump or one of us was going down alone.
“Don’t you know?” I moved a piece of her hair off her forehead and let my finger trail down the side of her face and under her jaw. With my finger, I tilted her head up slightly, so her eyes were back on me. “You have been and will always be everything to me. So yes, they are all of you. I would spend forever behind the lens as long as you were on the other side.” My truth had me jumping off a cliff into the vast unknown. I wanted her to jump with me so we could fall into the next chapter of our lives together.She sucked in a breath but said nothing, and suddenly I was on my own. But as long as she knew, the jump didn’t seem as daunting.
Then she joined me in a freefall.
She lifted up onto her toes and crashed her lips into mine. It wasn’t a kiss filled with trepidation. It was passion in its purest form, almost frantic. My hand moved through her hair to the back of her neck, and I pulled her closer, my mouth parting when her tongue traced the seam of my lips as she molded her body against mine.
It didn’t matter that we were in the middle of an open room or that there were still people mingling around. I kissed her with seventeen years’ worth of unspoken words. Every moment I had of longing and remembrance was poured into her in this one moment. It all melted away, every doubt and worry I had that she might not return my affections, and was replaced with unyielding devotion. Her hands dragged across the front of my stomach and around to my back as she clutched on to me.A groaned stuck in the back of my throat when she broke the connection. We were left intoxicated by the intensity of the moment.
Her chest was heaving, and I was no better off. Her cheeks were flushed a dark pink and her lips reddened by my mouth. Even her hair was falling from her pins like I had imagined earlier. “Do you want to go back to the room?” she asked, barely above a whisper, as she tucked her bottom lip in between her teeth.
“Okay,” was the only word I managed to get out before she led the way out the front door.
twenty-seven
Lennon
There was complete silencein my brain the moment his lips touched mine, and it was overwhelming. The only thought that forced its way through was how familiar this was and that I didn’t want to stop. The elevator dinged shut, and gravity pulled us together again. We were all hands and tongues, pulling and grasping. My body flushed with heat and electricity surged through my veins, causing a whimper to escape me, but Theo’s mouth was on me again and swallowed the sound with a groan of his own.
We broke apart briefly to dash down the hallway. I trailed behind him into the room with my hand still clasped in his. He turned back around and pulled me against him. The air in my chest came out as a small gasp with his name attached to it as I hit the hard planes of his body.
He planted hungry kisses along my jaw and down my neck until he reached the base of my throat, where he placed another kiss andthen slowly dragged his nose back up my skin. His breathing was labored, and I was feeling everything and nothing at the same time. My senses have gone into overload and I never wanted it to stop.
Then my knees hit the bed as he walked me backwards, causing my eyes to fly open.
What was I doing? Did I want this?Yes, my brain screamed at me while my heart wept. Camden flashed through my mind, and my stomach lurched.
“Theo, I umm…” I stuttered. He pulled back and roamed over my face. Whatever he saw, it was enough to douse the fire that was in his eyes mere seconds ago. He cupped both sides of my face, his thumbs rubbing small circles in the hallows of my cheeks.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know if I’m ready.” I gulped down my embarrassment. “For that,” I said as I nodded my head back towards the bed. He pulled me in for a final lingering kiss and added a peck in for good measure.
“Let’s get ready for bed,” he said as he released me from his arms, and I was suddenly rethinking my decision, even if I knew it was for the best.
The coolness of the water from my shower did nothing to quench the heat that was coursing through me. I took my time drying off, dragging the towel down each limb, acutely aware that the only thing separating Theo and me was a door. Pulling my pajamas from my bag, I realized how unprepared I was, as I only brought sweats and an oversized shirt to sleep in.
Barefoot, I padded out of the bathroom and saw Theo was already under the covers of his own bed. A tight black t-shirt stretched across his chest and I found it hard for me to skip past him to my own bed.
But I did it.
