“I ache for it.”
“Then it’s a date.”
We pay for our meal and leave the restaurant, wandering through the dark streets under a strikingly white moon and a thousand stars. Arm in arm, our wandering takes us past several other couples scurrying away to share their romantic momentswith each other, and I eventually lead Faina down to the pier. The water turns to a pool of liquid silver under the moonlight and the soft crashing roll of the waves is soothing music while we walk down the stone pier.
“You know, I love the water,” Faina murmurs as her head drops down to rest against my shoulder while we walk. “Ever since I was a kid. But I never get to spend much time near it.”
“Are you hinting toward a midnight dip?”
“If it wasn’t March, absolutely.” She chuckles. “But no, I was just thinking about the things I’d like to do when this is over. Swim more. Eat more. Maybe get a dog.”
“You’re a dog girl, huh?” We stop at the edge of the pier where the world feels infinite with the water stretching out beneath our feet.
“You’re not?” She turns to face me and gazes at me with slightly hooded eyes.
“I’m a cat guy myself.”
“Since when?”
“Since now because it makes you look at me like you want to take my kidney.”
Faina rolls her eyes and laughs, lightly nudging into me, but her laughter fades when I cup her face and softly stroke her cheek. Her eyes close briefly, her eyelashes tickling the top of my thumb, and her full lips part to help her breathe.
She’s so beautiful. The moonlight accentuates the sharp, angular lines of her face and the soft, round swell of her cheeks. Her hair is inky black with no lights around and the thick waves almostmelt into the silvery-black water behind her. When she opens her eyes, the blue is so deep that I feel like I’m falling over the edge of a cliff and toppling down into an infinite dark blue abyss.
Nothing can stop me from kissing her.
Pulling her close, I close my lips over hers and kiss her slowly. Deeply. My breath catches in my throat and stays there as I kiss her, leaning into her slightly while winding my arm around her waist to keep her supported. Both her hands rest on my chest and the warmth seeps through my shirt to tease my skin underneath. Her lips move subtly against my own, and I break the kiss just briefly to adjust my angle. Then I kiss her again, deeper this time, with my mouth pressing over hers in soft waves. I write my love and adoration against her lips and then slide my tongue very briefly against the seam of her lips.
As soon as they part, I tease my way inside and slide my tongue against the soft heat of her own. She leans into me, and her flat palms ball up into fists as she grips my shirt. She pulls me in while our tongues dance together and the world melts away into nothing.
This is all I want.
This is to be my end of days.
We kiss until the chill from the ocean air renders us too cold to remain and we reluctantly part, making our way back to the motel.
“We should pack,” Faina says quietly with her hand wrapped in mine. “We’ve stayed there too long. We need to change.”
“I’ll start as soon as we get in,” I assure her. “Maybe we can—Faina!”
Her name tears from me in a blind panic as three shadows suddenly lunge from a nearby closed cafe and consume her, dragging her kicking and yelling from my arms as something hard crashes against the back of my skull.
“No!!”
19
CIAN
“Cian!”
Faina vanishes from sight as the blow to the back of my head sends me crashing down to the ground. I throw my hands in front of me just in time to stop my face from smashing into the sidewalk. Landing in a heap, pain blooms across the back of my skull. I roll to the side and narrowly avoid the boot of my attacker slamming into the ground. I kick out at him and catch him behind the knee.
He stumbles and slouches, giving me time to climb back to my feet and punch him square in the face. My knuckles meet the black cloth of a balaclava, the only soft thing before I crush his nose beneath my fist.
As I punch him again, one of the strangers who grabbed Faina is thrown past me, and he lands in a heap, crushing a wooden chair beneath him.
Faina’s fighting two other men. She’s giving as good as she gets but when one lands a blow on her ribs and she stumbles, I throwmyself toward her only for my attacker to grab me by the back of the shirt and haul me backward.
