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My fingers traced the edges of my collarbone--Manuel's scorpion tattoo, now only scarred skin, a remnant of my tortured past--down to the clasp of the necklace around my neck--a black rock, I think I'd called it.
It was a literal star, found in the waters off the Gulf of Mexico near Havana, and had taken months for Knight's hired geologists to find it.
Just for me.
In honor of the night he professed he’d fallen in love with me.
His stardust.
And now, there was something about the silence between us that spoke of an intimacy, deeper than the lust and childishness of our youth.
It had been a long journey.
Years of pain and suffering.
Of healing, of releasing all the anger, sadness, and betrayal of my past. Of embracing all sides of myself – both the good things, as well as my faults.
Of knowing I was worth more than I believed.
Of looking in the mirror and loving the person staring back at me.
And, three years since Knight had found me in that Costa Rican cove and claimed me as his.
Three years of him chasing me across lonely and desolate landscapes.
Always finding me.
Staying true to his word.
Never forcing me to stay.
But every time I left, he chased.
Time that now consisted of tangled sheets, full laughter, and the endless murmuring of conversation into the deep, fathomless nights.
Of becoming more than our past.
No longer the prince and seductress of the island, but rather, anonymous visitors, traveling from country to country, in an endless chase and test of loyalty and trust.
The blue sky brightened, oranges and pinks blazing, slowly turning into deep blues and purples. And then, the stars began to glimmer overhead.
It made me think of the falling star tattoo now coloring the skin of his shoulder. I leaned my head on it, my knees curled up to my chest and he leaned down, kissing my forehead.
A rush of sentimentality swelled in my chest and tears pooled in my eyes.
He'd left his family for me.
I'd seen the proof with my own eyes, the text messages between him and Dante and Coulter, updating him of their lives, with pictures of Rose's kids (she had two now), as well as Aster's own adopted ones.
They'd been unable to have their own, but were making do with what they had, loving the little girl they'd adopted with all the love two parents could give her.
And yet, he'd left them, for me.
And now that all the lies and secrets were gone between us, the love left remaining was so strong and emotional, that sometimes I wanted to tear open my chest and show him how my heart beat for him. Let him wrap his fingers around it so that he would know how much I trusted him.
I was so deeply in love with this man, that I never, ever wanted us to part.
I glanced at him from out of the corner of my eye. He was still the handsome man I'd first met when I was a kid, except now he had newly formed wrinkles around his eyes that spoke of bright laughter--a sound that I hoped I would never, ever forget.
