Page 113 of Arianna

He reaches out and splays his strong hand across my chest, right where my heart lays. “I once believed your heart was dead just as mine was before you and my daughter crash-landed into my world, but I was wrong. So very wrong.” Sebastian says softly while piercing me with his intense stare. Holding my breath, I make sure to hold tightly onto the string, waiting for what he will proclaim next. “Your heart is strong, soft, and so goddamn pure, Arianna.” He says, rendering me speechless.

My brain cannot develop a proper sentence because I was not expecting this. Sebastian has a bad habit of stealing the breath right out of my lungs, and now he leaves me without words for the first time in my life.

He inches closer to me, leaning against the basket, so close that I can almost taste the words that come out of those luscious lips next. “This heart.” He presses his hand on my chest, setting me aflame even in this cold weather. “It is beating so hard, is it not? These beautiful hearts of yours. Do you feel it? Racing and strong.” Shivers tumble in a slow slide, and he chuckles low. “Whose heart is it, Arianna?”

Everything races now.

My pulse, my breath.

Scared out of my mind for what this all means, I lie through my teeth, deep down, knowing he can see right through me. I think he is the only one who can. The only one that made the effort to discover what is underneath the broken and mean girl facade. “Mine.”

Sebastian grins menacingly as if he has already won the war for my heart, his eyes flaring with challenge and sparkling so bright. “We will see.” Then he does the one thing I have been both dreading and dreaming about since I first laid eyes on this perfect man. He takes me into his strong arms and kisses me.

I have been kissed before, but it never meant anything besides curiosity. I wanted to see if I could feel something, anything other than emptiness. No kiss before Sebastian comes close to this.

The kiss is just as he is.

One of a kind.

Never have I felt like my soul caught on fire as I do at this moment. He kisses me softly and slowly.

Tenderly.

I would never have imagined that such sweet tenderness lived inside this man. How wrong I was about him. I once thought him cruel and selfish, and now…now, he is everything. All I never thought I wanted but all I so clearly needed.

He gently pulls away, breaking the kiss. Words are not needed between us, but the feeling is there. “Fraises.”

I frown, not understanding.

Then he licks his lips, “Your lips taste like strawberries.” A small smile forms on my lips when he says. “My favorite.” Before winking at me, so full of himself.

A soft laugh escapes me. “You are ridic–” Before I can finish my sentence, our guide cuts me off. “Eh bien regarde ça." Both Sebastian and I turn to look up at where he is pointing. “La première chute de neige.”

The first fall of snow.

Yet again, everything stops as I stare at the beautiful snow falling from above, blanketing everything it touches in pristine white.

I read once that snow represented a deep sense of sorrow and despair, but maybe it is more. More than just cold.

Pure.

Lovely.

Rare.

Maybe for me, it can be more than that.

Innocence and new beginnings.

Taking in the scene before us, I am filled with wonder. “It is truly a beautiful world, isn’t it? Despite the wrongdoings of evil men.” I take in another breath, calming the rage that threatens to spill when I think of the evil I met when younger. Instead, I focus on the now. The snow. On how the wind is blowing softly around us. The grandiose scenery. “I never thought this would be the world I got to experience…” I'm choking up on the last words. “Not me. My world was colorless. Black and white and gray.” Until you, I want to say, but I stop myself before it slips off my tongue.

Until you painted it.

Giving me serenity.

Peace when all I knew was war.

Lavender.

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