Page 49 of Lost Starlight
My heart beat fast in my chest. I had a hard time catching my breath. Peter was smiling, his dark brown hair blowingin the breeze, his entire person glowing like the pixies who were mixed in with the boys running toward us.
“Peter? What are you doing?” Dominick asked, pushing forward through the group. I was in too much shock to move.
“Brother, I can fly; are you jealous?” He said with a laugh.
“Get down from there. What is going on?” he pressed.
I had the same question but found myself unable to speak.
“Gwen,” Peter said softly, landing right before me in the sand, the half dozen boys behind him. They looked well-off, and well-clothed. I was grateful for that. Peter smiled as he stood there. He had on a pair of pants and a green tunic top with three buttons undone, revealing nearly his entire muscled chest. I gasped, placing a hand over my mouth.
Peter’s eyes widened, and his eyebrows rose; then his smile turned to teasing. He knew the effect his exposed skin would have on me. It was not at all proper! I forced myself to take the rest of him in, trying not to dwell on his attractive male physique. He had a belt wrapped around his waist and a dagger tucked in rather dangerously, for it had no sheath.
“Peter,” I finally said, out of breath.
“Are you going to hug me, Gwen?”
“I—you were flying.”
“I was,” he saidwith a smirk.
“Your—your shirt—”
“Are you finding it difficult to look at me with my shirt unbuttoned, Gwen?”
“Peter, that is improper and you know it,” I said, continuing to focus on his face. He walked up to me, took my hand and placed it there—on his chest. My skin was touching his skin.
“I’ve missed you—my proper lady.” His smirk was still there, but there was a tenderness to his words.
“Peter!” I gasped, moving away when all I wanted was to keep my hand pressed against his warm skin. But words from my mother floated into my mind.You are not good enough for him. He has left you.
Peter noticed my hesitation; I knew it, because he gave me a look I was all too familiar with—a look that told me that he knew what I wanted to do was not what I was doing.
“Gwen, are we starting all over again? Must I call you Lady Darling, now? I shall button my shirt,” he said, pointing to himself.
“No, not yet, I just,” I said, ignoring my insecurities, and I touched his chest softly, feeling him shiver under my hand. Then I flung myself into his arms as best I could manage while also keeping it appropriate.
But I do not know the proper procedure for something like this. When the man I love is captured by pixies, I find outthat he knows how to fly, I come to save him, and I want to hug him.
What else could I have done but fall into him?
His warm embrace engulfed me. Others were speaking, but all I could focus on was how warm and wonderful being in Peter’s arms was. How I had missed it—him. He still smelled like he always did, of the sea. He leaned down and pressed a soft, chaste kiss on my head, his lips so warm–soeverything.
“I missed you so much, Gwen,” he mumbled into my hair.
I lifted my face up to look at him. “I missed you so much, Peter. I thought, maybe, you left to escape me.”
“Never,” he whispered closer to my lips. “Can I kiss you here and prove that to you, or do we have to wait till I have you alone behind a tree or two?”
I was about to answer when Dominick spoke. “I am happy you two are reunited, but we should leave.”
“I can’t leave; I am indebted to the pixies,” Peter said, still holding fast to me.
“What? So it is true. You made a deal with them?” I asked, stepping back to look at him.
His face blushed. He was apologetic, at least.
“When I came to rescue you and the other children, the pixies and I made a deal, yes. I would make it a thousand times to save you,” he said, buttoning up his shirt.
