Page 95 of Desolation

He presses a kiss into my neck, his arms wrapping tight around me. “I think we are all just looking to escape at some point.”

He couldn’t be more right. Because I want to escape my life now. I want to be here with him, in this spot every night.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Landon

I surprised myself when I took Mariela to my spot. I’ve never taken anyone there or told anyone about it. But for some reason I felt like she had to see.

Every day I spend with her the ice around my heart melts. I want to show her all of me because I know she won’t run. I know she will take me for me.

We sit and watch the waves for a few hours before we decide to head back to my place. I jump off the rock and help her shimmy down. My hands are on her hips as her feet hit the ground. I don’t want to let her go.

As I stare into her honey glazed eyes and I say the name Mar over and over again. It finally hits me why I call her that. She is my sea and she calls to me. I realize I need her, I’m falling in love with her. My love, depthless like the ocean. Her name, my calling.

“Mar,” I whisper against her lips. Her hands wrap around my neck as she presses her lips to mine.

“My sea.” I kiss her again.

She pulls me tighter into her.

“My calling.”

“Landon,” my name, a cry on her lips.

I don’t hold back and kiss her with everything I’ve got. I feel the shift between us. The turn we took from casual to real.

She pulls away from me, her eyes burning into mine. “Give me one truth?”

My hands move to her face. “I’m falling for you, Mar.”

Tears crest her lashes. “I’m falling for you too.”

I press a soft kiss to her lips but she pulls back.

“Can we do this? Can this be real?”

“I want nothing more than for this to be real.”

She smiles so sadly at me. “But it can’t be.”

I shake my head. Of course it can’t be. She’s still married. And I am still a broken man. “We can let it be real whenever we are together.”

She wraps her arms around me, her head resting against my chest. I hold her there knowing that I don’t have much longer with her in my arms.

* * *

When we get back to my apartment, we take it slow. We worship each other’s bodies. Stripping our clothes slowly. Using our eyes, hands, and mouths to take the other in. When we finally come together, I pour my love into her. The love I want to show her for the rest of my life but know I only have days left with her.

“I want this to work, Landon. I don’t think I’ve wanted anything more in my life,” she says as her head rests on my chest, her fingers trailing up and down my abs.

I press a kiss to the top of her head. “I know, babe. It’s just—”

“I’ll move here.”

“What?” I ask, surprised.

“Once all the shit in my life is figured out. My divorce is finalized. I want to be here.”

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