He smiled. “Can I get in on this throw?”
She opened it like a flasher and let him inside. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and she burrowed into his still-warm-from-the-bed body and clasped it shut in her fingers.
They were quiet for a long time. This was new and beautiful: each other and the dawn. They’d known each other forever but so many new and beautiful moments could lie ahead.
“They want me to fly to Los Angeles,” she said finally.
“Yeah?” he answered softly.
“I’ve never flown. Let alonealone.”
“You’ll love it. You’ll love all of it. You were made for it.”
“They said words likeagentandproducerandpublicistandstylist. Though they kinda like my style.”
“Who wouldn’t? I like what you’re wearing now, for instance.”
She smiled again.
They were quiet. He savored small things: how her head fit snugly beneath his chin, how it felt to breathe with her.
The stars retreating, giving way to the sun.
The silence with her in it.
He broke the silence.
“I love you,” he said softly.
He hadn’t fully known he was going to say those words then. They’d just sort of emerged as naturally as a breath. Part of the moment.
But he knew why he’d said it then when the words rang in the morning calm like a tolled bell. Or a chanted prayer.
He felt her breath catch.
He added softly, “I know you probably already know that. And before you say anything, Glory... I don’t ever want to be a reason you feel obligated to stay in Hellcat Canyon. I don’t ever want to be the reason your world feels smaller or constricted. What I want is for you to have whatever you want. Always.”
She burrowed more closely into him. She obeyed him: she was silent.
“Okay. I understand. But Eli... before I say anything... I have to show you something.”
“Does it involve the handcuffs?” he teased.
“Nope.”
“A tattoo I might have missed in my explorations?”
“Nope.”
Now she sounded nervous. And a little somber.
Which madehima little nervous.
“Not yet, though, okay?” she said. “It’s not here. We have to go to it at a specific time. Let’s sit out here and watch the sun rise.”
This was very mysterious. But he didn’t hate mysteries.
“Okay, let’s move to the chaise.”
