Page 59 of The Marriage Deal
We lay like that long after the seizures were over. Loving his weight on top of mine. When he tried to disentangle, I held him fast. He relented. And we stayed in silence, listening to the raindrops tapping the windows and the roof above. As it subsided, we got off each other, both groaning when we pulled apart. Levi pulled me into his arms and we cuddled, something I never let him do before. I was always afraid of doing it. Afraid of developing real feelings, but it seemed like I already had.
"This feels nice," he said. I snuggled into his chest, inhaling the cologne mixed in with the musk scent of his sweat. The rain had died, and the sun was coming in, bathing our entwined bodies with heat that warmed our cooling limbs.
"Tell me something about you. Something nice."
His chin brushed against my forehead, tucking me into his embrace. "Something nice?"
"You know. A traumaless factoid about you."
He frowned. "Has everything I told you about me been nothing but trauma?"
"Everything that isn't your love for history? Yes."
"God, have I been trauma dumping on you?"
"No." My fingers trailed against his chest, drawing nonsense circles. "I love how open you've been to me."
"Let me think…Oh. When I was ten, Nolan sent me, Seb and Tyler to Disneyland. Best day of my life in all my ten years at that time."
I noticed it was his older brother and not his mother or father. I almost asked where they were until I caught myself. "Your brother sounds like a nice guy."
"He has his moments. Nolan can be harsh sometimes, but he tries to look out for all of us. What next? Graduation day. When I got my history degree. A ten out of ten day definitely."
"Boo. Doesn't count. Still history related."
"Okay." He squeezed me against him. "When I met—what about you? Tell me something about you."
I shifted in his embrace. "Like what?"
"Professor Phantom. Why did you call me that? In your email."
"Oh." Heat crept into my cheeks. "It's nothing."
"Now I'm even more curious."
"It's your nickname. What everyone calls you behind your back. Which I don't do anymore."
He jerked back, but did not seem as angry as I thought he would be." And it means…"
"Are you really going to force me to say it?"
He nodded.
I sighed. "It's a Phantom of the Opera reference. It means you're scary, but also…"
"But also hot. You're like a hot and scary guy."
"Huh. That doesn't sound as awful as I thought."
"You're not mad?"
"At you? Never. My students, however…"
The sound of a phone ringing trilled through the room, cutting into our conversation. Levi got up and went to his pants and shuffled out his phone. "What is it?" he said curtly into the gadget.
Muffled sounds came from the other end of the phone. Levi frowned and glanced outside. It was getting late, and the sun was setting.
"Yeah. We'll be there." He ended the call, a scowl marring his face. "We have to go back."
