Icould feel how beet red my face was the entire way home, and yet I didn’t care. If anything, it only made me grin wider, sending more blood flow to my sun-kissed cheeks. This side of the isle was quiet, or maybe I just thought it was. All I was focused on was the way Dom and I tugged each other along by the arms and loose strips of clothing we still had left to cover ourselves with.
Every so often, we would look over each other, half dressed and bed ragged without the bed, and burst out laughing. I should’ve thought to stop back inside the house. Proper clothes would’ve been upstairs from when I had first come in, but then I had a feeling of where Ryan and Lu had run off to, and I wouldn’t have wanted to disrupt their own celebration.
When we pushed open the door and went back into the apartment, everything looked back to normal. Except for us. We stepped through a portal from the magical world back into the one we knew well, only this time, we weren’t going to be wasting the present. The magic still hung between us. I could feel it.
I chuckled again, looking him over, unbuttoned and untucked. His tattoos were bright against his skin over his arm and left pec. I wanted to trace them like I used to while lying on top of him. I wanted to do a lot more than trace them.
For now, I stared, stunned at everything. I was in complete awe—that was what I was.
On his forearm was The Fool and the Two of Cups, running over with the promises they held.
“You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, you know. I thought that the moment I saw you at the bar that night.”
“It wasn’t just my good choice of tattoos?” He barked a laugh, seeing where my eyes had landed. He reached out for a loose piece of my hair, twisting it in his fingers.
I wanted him to yank it, pull me back to him for another kiss.
“It’s true,” I said plainly. I tried not to blink so I wouldn’t miss whatever it was that was going to happen next because today didn’t feel over yet.
He was droolworthy, and I wasn’t going to be able to come back from this. It wasn’t every day I slept with someone so carefree and intensely under the stars just beginning to peek out, now fully shining.
This was the kind of magical fairy tale of a life Dom must’ve been thinking about when I told him about my sort of everyday magic. It was pure and painful and perfect.
Goddess, I was flying high. The emotions of him being right here in front of me, for me, thrummed through my blood.
“We’re a mess.”
That was one way to put it. Of course, I knew what he meant. I looked down at myself again. Grass stuck to my skin. Looking at Dom, I peeled a few pieces off him as well in tiny dark green strips.
“I feel like I should probably get a shower,” I said.
“All right.”
I pressed my lips together, lifting on my toes as I tipped my chin up. He leaned down, looking devilish for another kiss, but then I quickly took a step back and away.
“Feel free to join me.”
“Another great idea today.” He let go of my hair and gently gave me a squeeze as I made my way to the bathroom. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
My heart raced in my chest all over again. I made my way inside and started the water, giving it enough time to turn hot in the old pipes. They creaked and clanged in the walls. Unbuttoning the front of my shift dress, I let the straps slip over my shoulders, the weight of the skirt taking it down to the floor. I left it where it was before I pulled back the colorful floral shower curtain and stepped into the pelting stream of water.
Dirt and grass and loose, ripped petals fell. The colorful mess of Beltane skittered down toward the drain as I quickly washed myself, waiting for the sound of the door to open. I dipped my head under the spray and managed to wash my hair quickly and watched the bergamot-scented suds replace the dirt.
Narrowing my eyes at the empty space beside me still, I leaned out of the tub, angling my gaze toward the door I had left cracked open. A voice carried through the space but muffled. I turned the shower knobs off until the water stopped running, and reached for my towel. Carefully I wrapped the scratchy fabric around my waist.
His name was on my lips as I twisted the thick water out from my hair. Only my lips froze, partly open, partly closed.
“I know it’s been longer than we talked about. Things came up, but it’s going to be for the best,” Dom said to someone. He paced back and forth through the small space, but otherwise didn’t look any worse for wear. His shirt was completely undone and falling off his shoulder, as if he had planned on coming to me.
But now, he pressed the phone closer to his ear.
I paused, listening through the crack of the door as he continued tohmmandmmhmmto intone that he was listening to whoever was on the other end of the phone.
I should say something. Logically, I knew that. But I didn’t.
Don’t say a word, a little in my head warned, needing to hear.
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll be home soon,” he murmured into the phone. “I miss you too. Love you, sweetheart. I promise.”
