Page 61 of Sunshine & Sinful

Pulling his phone from his pocket, careful not to disturb him or the crystals, I unlock the screen with his password and select a low-frequency playlist we’ve listened to hundreds of times. I turn up the volume and rest the phone face up on the ledge of the pond as I lay down beside him, inches apart, and place my stones in their respective places as sunlight filters through the greenhouse, charging the crystals and us with its magical presence.

Reality bleeds into nothingness as the pressures, pains, and thoughts of life disappear, replaced with tranquility, surrounded by nature.

I am one with the universe.My lips move, but the words don’t come out.

Each affirmation is spoken in the unified language of the universe. Quiet. With conviction. Truth.

My thoughts are clear,I mouth, lips barely moving.

I speak my truth clearly.

I forgive myself and others.

I use my power for good.

My emotions are free and balanced.

I am supported by Mother Earth.

Warm knuckles brush the back of my hand, and a pinkie sneaks around and hooks with mine, connecting us as we become one with ourselves and each other. Accepting what is and what was.

For a moment, I’m Kali, the Goddess my mother always hoped I’d be—not only a woman but something else, not only here but there. I can almost hear her words of encouragement and love's warmth. They fill me, heating the quartz on my chest.

“You will be so much more than me. Give so much more than me. You’re my greatest gift to this earth.”Her affection wraps around my soul—a cocoon—a safe space, a place of rebirth.

Time bleeds as we linger, unmoving, unspeaking, basking in the gifts of the universe until it’s time to return to the now. Something only we can decide.

Once I open my eyes, Sunshine’s right beside me. His beautiful grays glisten in the sunlight as I roll onto my side, and the crystals tumble off me onto the gravel. Dropping his head my way, he smiles. It’s soft and relaxed, a far cry from his former fury.

“Better?” I grin.

“You always know what I need.”

Wanting to be closer to the man who fits me like a puzzle piece, I remove the crystals from his form and set them on the gravel before sliding my body on his. He welcomes me with a smile and a kiss and instinctively cups my bottom as I rest my cheek on his pec to listen to the soothing cadence of his heart.

Featherlight touches trace up my spine to the base of my head and back.

“I’m sorry for…everything.” His words are soft.

I kiss his pec. “There’s nothing to apologize for. It’s time to let it go.”

“It’s easy for you.”

“Sometimes. It is.”Because you give me strength.“Penelope is Dark’s problem now. Not ours. The stalkers are gone. Anthony’s dead. It’s a clean slate,” I reason, hoping he joins me on my path. To the future, not the past.

“Not yet, it isn’t. Not ‘til I burn the pictures.”

“Then burn the pictures. Burn the house down. Do whatever. But that doesn’t change anything.” I rub my cheek across the softness of his chest like a needy kitten.

Sunshine doesn’t disappoint when he groans a warm, gushy, satisfied sound and sifts his fingers through the base of my hair to scratch my scalp. “I don’t know how you can be so calm sometimes.”

“You’re usually just as calm,” I remind, so he doesn’t forget who he is.

“Yeah. When it doesn’t involve you.”

Snuggling my nose to the center of his chest, I inhale spice and all man, delicious man, and sigh dreamily, content. “Yeah. I suppose that’s true.” A small smile curves at the corner of my lips as his cock thickens between us. We pretend it doesn’t exist, but I feel it there. Throbbing. Persistent. Ready to say hello. Biting my bottom lip, I stave off a giggle at how cute this is. It’s like something out of a romantic movie. Till would swoon right off her feet if she saw us. Well, maybe if I wasdressed. I don’t think my best friend would like to get a front-row view of my bare ass.

Sunshine cuffs the back of my neck, and we fall silent. It’s companionable. So companionable and cozy that the sturdylub-lubof his heart lulls me into a peaceful dreamland where ravens fly and we dance nude under the stars.

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