Page 66 of Love Fire

“That tickles,” I say.

She pats where she kissed. “It’s for good luck.”

I look over my shoulder, smirking. “That’s the cutest thing you’ve said to me so far.”

“I haven’t had time to be cute to you. We’re almost dying every day.”

She jokes but it stings me to hear that. We met under dangerous circumstances but I don’t want it to always be that way. I don’t regret meeting her but would that actually be our story?

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Nothing. Just thinking about how we met.”

Erin clicks her tongue. She sits next to me on the edge. Concern’s written all over her face.

“Do you regret it? You got serious all of sudden.”

I rest my forehead against hers. “Of course not. Meeting you was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. But don’t you wish we met in other ways?”

She puts a hand on my cheek. “It doesn’t matter to me. Look where we are now. We don’t have to have a cute meet that’s ‘cute’. It’s us after all.”

I stare at her to look for any sort of doubt. The bright and daring eyes I fell in love with showed no trace of that. She somehow looks more adorable covered in band-aids.

I’m overwhelmed with happiness and push her down on the bed. She responds with an “oof”. We both laugh as we snuggle up close to each other. The soreness from our bodies are alleviated with just our cuddles.

“Do you think we’d meet in some other way?” she asks, trailing her finger in my chest.

I lay my chin on top of her head. “I think so. I’d look at you from afar and be completely hypnotized by you. Then, when you’d undoubtedly run away from me, I’ll follow after you.”

“Basically how we actually met?”

I shrug. “In different circumstances. In any way, my heart will go after you. I can’t imagine my life without you now.”

She hugs me tight, then kisses me. “Me too. I never felt like this for anyone. I love you, with all my heart.”

I kiss her back. “I love you too. You better not take your words back because you’re mine now.”

We give each other nose kisses, butterfly kisses, all the kisses. The “purring” in my chest starts. I rub my face against hers.

“I want to stay like this forever,” I say.

She giggles. Out of nowhere, she’s the one that got serious. She bit her lips pensively.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t stop thinking about what happened. Nothing’s been fixed. My father’s still out there.”

“It’ll take time, Erin. At least the law’s finally on his ass. We made a huge mess out of that warehouse”

She looks up at me. “He said you’d be next. You’re still not safe. We need to do something.”

“What can we do? He escaped.”

We’re interrupted by a knock on the door. Nate comes in.

“Family meeting on the porch. Now,” he says.

We walk out with him, as he sounded pretty serious. Erin and I sit together with Nate and Leanne. We sit on a porch swing, Nate's on the handrails, and Leanne leans against it. Erin and I rest our heads together while watching the sunset over the mountains.

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