Page 6 of Eternally Yours
The sudden movement makes her body turn into mine. I’m expecting to find her angelic face on the brink of tears, fully ready to console her. Yet I’m greeted with a wistful smile as if she was expecting my reaction to her words.
“Shit, I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t be, it was a long time ago. And besides the stories I was told, I don’t have any real memories of them. So, it’s not like I have anything to compare it to,” she says with a shrug. “Of course, the context saddens me. Growing up and seeing all my friends rush off to their parents after school wasn’t always easy, but I had my grandmother, so I wasn’t entirely alone, and she always did her best to fill that void.”
I’m not exactly sure what to say at this point—her story makes my heart ache for her. I just want to pull her into my arms and hold her as close to me as possible. To tell her that she’s not alone anymore, that I’ll be her family from now on. But I do no such thing. It would probably freak her out since we literallyjustmet.She’s not ready yet, but we’ll work on that.
She turns back toward the trail and resumes her steps with me following alongside before she speaks again. “Anyway, my grandmother was the one who raised me, and we had a good life together. She never made me feel as if I was missing out on anything. She would tell me stories about my parents and the love they shared, who they were, and what they did.”
She holds a nostalgic smile on her lips as she continues. “There were pictureshung up all over the walls in our home, some only of them and others with me as an infant. She made sure that even if I had no memories of them, I still knew them as if they had raised me themselves.”
“Does she live back home in Elora?”
She smiles ahead with a mournful look in her eyes. “No, she passed away a little over four years ago, a week before my twentieth birthday. Let’s just say that wasn’t how I had planned on spending my birthday week,” she ends her statement with a hollow laugh.
Jesus! This girl can’t catch a break…
I shove my hands into my pockets, the urge to have her in my arms getting stronger and stronger. “I’m really sorry for all your loss,” I say in a dejected voice. I wasn’t planning on us ending in such a depressing territory when I asked her on this walk.
Trying to come up with a new topic to lighten the mood, I look down at her. We’re so close to one another that her shoulder and biceps brush up against my arm. From up here, I can clearly see the top of her head, emphasizing our height difference. And clearly having no restraint, I decide to bring that topic back up.That will surely bring us out of this funky state.
“Okay, I have a serious question.” I give a suspended pause, making my question more dramatic. “Did your feet touch the floor beneath the table?”
Her audible gasp as she turns to face me has the serious look on my face break with a boisterous laugh. I know they did. I saw them from afar, but I knew that question would bring a smile back on her pretty face.
She smacks me in the chest with the back of her hand. “You asshole!” she says with no real venom to her voice before she starts giggling along with me.
My outburst ceases the second my ears register her laugh, like a beautiful melody falling from her lips. A carefree expression rests on her features.
Unable to help myself any longer, I reach out and take hold of her waist with both hands, bringing us chest to chest. Her laugh dies down with a soft sigh as we stare into each other, her golden hazels on my emerald greens.
My hand slowly comes up, pushing the strands of hair framing her face behind her ear before settling on the side of her neck. My thumb rubs tenderly back and forth on the soft skin along her jaw.
Her breath hitches, a pink tint taking over her cheekbones, lips slightly parted. I can see her chest rising and falling through her open coat. The smell of her vanilla and coconut perfume enters my nostrils with every movement.Fuck, does she smell delicious.
A stunning beauty.
I want to kiss her.
Chapter four
Cecilia
Talk about coincidences.
I want to kiss him.
God, do I want to capture those beautiful lips between mine. It’s taking every effort in my body not to. We just met; this isn’t even a date—at least not a date-date. And from the hunger in his eyes, I can tell he wants the same. But there’s also slight hesitation in them, unsure if he should act on my unspoken request.
After what feels like an eternity of us in this position, neither one of us making a move, I break eye contact, clear my throat, and take a step back from his hold. The hands that held me mere moments ago now fall to his side in defeat. Rejection flashes through his eyes before he looks away. The tension surrounding us is so thick you could slice it with a knife.
I don’t know what to say or do to make him understand why I stepped away. My intention was never to make him think I wasn’t interested. I’m just not usually the type to jump into things so quickly, and the fact that we met barely four hours ago seems a bit too quick for me. Still, I want him to know that Iam,in fact, interested in him.
With that resolution in mind, I stretch my hand out to his and lace our fingers together, smiling fondly up at him, hoping that gets the message through. He peers down at our interlocked hands for a moment before a voluminous grin forms over his lips.
“We should head back. It’s getting pretty late, and I work in the morning,” I tell him sweetly, pulling on his hand lightly to get him moving in the direction we came from.
“Yeah, you’re right. I have practice in the morning, and Coach is going to kill me if I’m anything but my best on the ice.” He shakes his head, smirking to himself.
