Page 89 of About Love and Revenge

Every time I enter her body, she rises to meet me halfway, making us a perfect fit.

“I'm changing the deal then,” she says, and I'm not sure she really knows what she's talking about.

“You are?”

“Yes. I promised myself I wouldn't worry or come after you like a wife every time you travelled, but I don't want to be so afraid anymore. I don't want to worry anymore that you might not come back.”

With her defenses down, I do my part, giving her what she wants, taking from her what I need. Allowing someone other than my family into my heart for the first time.

Now, instead of words, it is our private language that is spoken, creating a unique form of communication, a sublime union. Instead of exclamations, periods, or commas, we have biting, sucking, moaning.

It’s a race to possess and bestow in our endless, desperate need until we both find the release our bodies crave.

Still inside her, our foreheads pressed together, I promise, “I'm not going anywhere without you.”

Elina holds my shoulders, her legs locked around my body, pulling, trapping, making me a prisoner of her warmth, inviting me to live inside her.

“Say the same thing to me,” I demand.

"As long as you want me, I won't leave."

“No deadline,” I insist.

“No deadline,” she echoes.

“I thought you didn't care.”

“I'm good at faking it. I've done that my whole life, but I'm tired. I want to be myself.”

Elina

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“You cut your hair.”He's lying with me on his body and caressing my back. Odin seems to love keeping me like this, as a kind of willing prisoner, and I have to say I'm starting to get used to the warmth of his embrace.

“I wanted to change it up a bit. Zoe helped me decide the style.”

“Does it have something to do with the modeling career?”His voice sounds strained.

“No. It's just that I’ve never given myself the right to choose this for myself. Actually, it didn't matter, you know? My mom said I should leave it long and I didn't care.”

“Why the desire for change now?”

I remain silent. How can I answer that without looking like a fool?

“Elina?”He lifts my face from his chest, forcing me to look at him.

“You said that we . . . that we're going out to events together. I didn't want to embarrass you. People must be used to seeing you with exquisite women.”

“You're perfect. You don't have to change anything.”

“You don’t like it?”

“I like it a lot, but you're beautiful either way. What I want to knowis: do you like it? Because that's all that matters. You must please yourself before anyone else.”

“I felt a little weird when I looked in the mirror the first time, to tell you the truth, but I'm getting used to it now.”

“The long hair will be missed.”

---