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“I know,” I sighed. “But it just drives me crazy. She didn’t seem like the rational type.”
“She wasn’t.” As Milo spoke, the hum of the fireworks began to die down. The crowd around us began shifting and dwindling as some people left their spots early in a hurry. “At least not once her heart was broken.”
“Any chance it’s healed by now?” I joked, though deep down I was serious, and I didn’t like the answer I already knew.
We both turned away as the leftover smoke from the fireworks drifted across the night sky, creating a spooky smog over the dark water. Hand-in-hand and dodging throngs of families and couples, we made our way back to the motorcycle. The wind from the ocean was giving me a chill, so I closed my jacket tighter around myself as Milo started the engine. I knew he noticed when he looked me over up and down.
“Cold?” he grinned. “Hopefully holding onto me will warm you up.”
I shook my head with a playful grin as heat flooded my face as I swung a leg over behind him. Gripping his shirt beneath his jacket, I clutched the fabric in my fingers and pushed my hands against his waist. With a snicker, he started off, and we headed back to Isabel School for the Arts. With my body pressed to his, I breathed in his scent. He still smelled of leather and amber, and no longer of salt. I remembered how I’d thought I’d lost him, but somehow, he was still here, and with him, I was home. And normally, I felt like together we could outrun anything as we’d done so many times astride this motorcycle. But tonight, as we left another year behind, I couldn’t help but feel that the haunting of Cordelia was the one thing catching up to me. And it knew exactly where to find me.
2
Sleep Like A Sailor
Milo
The cool of the night might as well have been icy ocean waves splashing against my fingers as I drove the bike onward. Katrina’s arms wrapped tightly around me fought away the chill. Even though I’d been free from my curse for a month, every sensation still felt like new. I’d almost forgotten the feel of the sticky night air, the taste of sweetness and bitter, and the feeling of a touch that could make my body flood with warmth and desire. In this strange new world, I had three centuries worth of feelings and experience to make up for, and I couldn’t have been more grateful for it.
I managed the turns gently and kept our speed slow. I knew Katrina wouldn’t let me know she was freezing, but by the way she was tensed and buried into my shoulders, I could tell she was fighting the wind. When we pulled to a stoplight, she lifted the face shield of her helmet and uttered something into my ear.
“On second thought, you don’t have to take me back to my dorm. I’ll stay with you tonight.”
“You know you’re always welcome,” I tilted my head back toward her.
“I know. I just feel like I’m not ready to be back in the dorm. McKenzie still isn’t back yet, so I don’t want to be alone.” She squeezed my core tighter.
“Whatever the reason, I’m never going to be opposed to spending the night with you,” I reassured. My breath mixed with the heavy, wet air, and it reminded me how much I looked forward to showering and feeling clean—a sensation that brought comforts I’d long forgotten.
When the light turned green, I gave the throttle a nudge, and we lurched forward on the motorbike. The way Katrina gripped me as she steadied herself made me warm. I longed to reach the apartment so that I could return the favor. Noah’s family was kind enough to offer me the room above the restoration shop in return for my apprenticeship with them. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my second life.
I parked the motorcycle in the garage, double-checking the locks and securing the alarm system, which still fascinated me, before heading upstairs to my apartment loft. Katrina followed, using her phone to light up the darkness as we managed the metal steps. I still needed to get one of those for myself. But it wasn’t exactly as though I had anyone to call or who needed to call me.
Taking her hand, I turned on the light to awaken my quaint living quarters. To me, it was a palace. Framed by the sloping roof, industrial lights hung from the ceiling. A small television hung on the wall opposite the bed, while a small kitchen counter wrapped the corner, parallel to a square table and chair set just big enough for two. One would hardly expect a former pirate now dwelled here, perhaps except for the compass hanging from the metal bed frame. A token I’d found had somehow survived in my pocket when I awoke on Katrina’s island.
“You’ve got to get some more chairs in here,” Katrina teased, placing her helmet on the kitchen table next to mine. “I’ve still got some money left over from the painting. We could buy some more.”
“As if I’m one for inviting guests over for get-togethers?” I chuckled at the thought.
“Well, maybe not, but there’s plenty of time to bring out your extroverted side.” She walked over to me, crinkling her nose mischievously. “But on second thought, maybe not.”
“Well, if I’m going to be adding anything to this place, it would be a swinging hammock. Now that I’ve made up for 291 years of lost sleep, my body can’t seem to adjust on this flat mattress.”
“You still want to sleep like a sailor?” Katrina raised a skeptical brow at me.
“Aye.” I winked, pecking her on the cheek as I walked past her toward the small bathroom that adjoined the room in the center. “But I don’t want to smell like one.”
Without another word, I tossed my jacket onto my bed and pulled my shirt over my head. I’d yet to find anything more comfortable than V-neck cotton T-shirts. As I crossed the threshold to the bathroom, a gentle hand stopped me. Katrina’s delicate fingers gently pulled me back by my bare shoulder, tugging me towards her. I turned to face her without hesitation.
“What if I like it when you smell like the sea?” She smiled, drawing into me, and placed her head in the space between my chest and chin.
I grinned, traces of my hair falling into my eyes as I looked down at her. “Then I suppose I’ll have to start bathing in the ocean.”
When she looked at me like that, it was as though time stood at a standstill in her eyes. The deepest trenches of the ocean knew no depth of peace like those dark brown pools of molten mahogany. Like smoking coals just before turning to diamonds, they burned into me, and yet soothed me all the same. Her hand remained still on my shoulder, and the other one firmly planted on my waist. As the moment commanded me, I embraced her more, pulling her small frame snug against my body and meeting her lips with mine. She stepped backward, taking me with her.
“You know better than to take your shirt off in front of me.” She giggled softly under her breath. My thoughts flashed back to the first night I’d kissed her, when I’d pressed my bare skin to hers against the lighthouse. When I’d caressed every inch of her for fear it would be the only time I ever could. But now, my only fear was that she’d wake up one day and realize she was worthy of so much more than someone like me.
She deepened our kiss, dancing in my mouth with hers. My blood ran hot, and I couldn’t help but swell with desire as I pushed against her gently. She didn’t realize what she was doing to me. I lived in a constant state of craving her more and more with each passing day. And she was feeding the ravenous inner beast with the heat of her body against mine.
