Page 69 of Crossed By the Stars
SAY YOU’LL BE THERE
“I gotta make you understand,
I'm giving you everything.
All that joy can bring,
This I swear.”
Performed byMØ
Written by Chisholm / Brown / Ema Bunton /
Kennedy / Halliwell / Buck / Aadams
We spent the next five daysprettymuch in bed.
I’d thought Jada would grow restless as her body healed and her mind returned to the work she’d left behind, but instead, I saw her relax in a way I’d never seen before. Soft smiles littered her face whenever she glanced my way as I continued to read Shinji and Hatsue’s love story out loud to her, as if the stargazer was emerging once more while the tiger lily rested.
We distracted each other with our bodies tangled together, with lips and hands on silky skin. The aching desire to have her that had been with me for twelve years had not been quelched even the tiniest bit by actually having made love to her. In fact, it grew, proving my words to her from the other night. I would never tire of her. I would always want us tied together.
In between our lovemaking, we cooked together in the kitchen, read books, and played childish games that I’d found in a cupboard near the kitchen. Sometimes, the security team joined in the games, resulting in one or more of the hulk-shaped men throwing tantrums because Jada almost always won. It was a bubble, like she’d said it was, and even though I knew it was going to burst, I did everything to prevent it from happening.
Each day, she got a new threat delivered to theVioletteoffices or my apartment. It counted down the days as if—like she’d said—she couldn’t do the simple math. Cillian and I had, by some unspoken agreement, stopped showing them to her after that first one that she’d insisted was from Ito-san. Nothing would be solved by us continuing to rub the threats in her face. I knew that if she found out I was keeping them from her, she’d be pissed. And in truth, she had a right to know, but I couldn’t do it, not when I saw her eyes sparkle and laughter trickle from her lips.
That fifth morning, we woke up, lost ourselves in each other again, and then curled together to finish the last few pages ofThe Sound of the Waves. When I was done, I set it down, thinking about how Shinji and Hatsue had been able to make their love permanent. Shinji had proven his character and strength. Hatsue had proven her loyalty. Her father had seen both. In many ways, our roles were reversed. It was my father who needed to see Jada’s character and strength and me who needed to prove my loyalty.
“I forgot how unsatisfying that ending was,” Jada said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking down at her, still lost in my comparison of the story to our lives.
“It just…ends. We don’t get to see their marriage. We never get to see them fulfill the longing they have for each other. A few chaste, childish kisses.”
I smiled, raising my chin in the direction of the romance novel that was on the other bedside table, the one Jada was reading when she was awake and I was still asleep. “Definitely not that.”
She grinned. “No. But it didn’t have to be all clit and cock to be satisfying. It just felt like it was missing something.”
My body heated at the words. It was stupid for someone my age, who’d had plenty of sexual experiences, to let two small words turn me on. I rose from the bed, heading for the shower.
“Are you running away, Armaud?” she demanded.
I turned back to her. “I thought we were past this. No more Armaud.”
She got up, meeting me in the middle.
“What was it that made you pull away?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I’m here.” But I made the mistake of letting my eyes travel to her book.
She laughed. “Was it my words? Clit and cock?”
I flushed even when I shouldn’t have. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
She closed the remaining distance between us and pushed my chest, backing me up against the dresser, hands strolling down the length of my naked body. I’d gratefully returned to sleeping without clothes on.
“Maybe we should read a scene from it. Give you some ideas?”
I growled, flipping us around and lifting so that she was on the dresser. Her legs went around me. “I don’t need any ideas,mon bijou.”
