And because I love her, I kiss her back.
30
ISABELLA
It feels strange to be back here.
The large metal gates of Teo’s home open to us in eager invitation. It is a really beautiful house, and the view across the river is unparalleled. But…
“Would it be weird if I said I kind of miss the bunker?”
Beside me, Teo snorts. “You want to live in Long Island?”
“I want to live in Manhattan, but my doorman would kick you out.”
He feigns shock. “Did you blacklist me?”
“You blacklisted yourself by stalking me,” I snap back.
His hand tugs me toward him. Exhaustion lines his features as I imagine it does mine.
He’d been discharged with nearly an entire drugstore's worth of creams and ointments and had several burns that would likely scar. But behind the exhaustion in his endlessly dark eyes is a glimmer of something beautiful.
Love.He’d called it.
The word sets something gloriously alight within me. I cradle it close, letting the warmth of it settle in my bones.
“Does this mean you’ll live with me?” he asks cheekily.
I brush my hand through his hair, pulling it back from his face. “Until you can buy somewhere nice in Manhattan.”
“Ican buy it for you?” He laughs.
I hum noncommittally. “What, you don’t want your girlfriend to be happy?”
His mouth cracks into a devastating smile. Oh, he liked that. He liked that a lot.
“I wasn’t aware that I had a girlfriend. Or that she would be so high maintenance.”
I’m about to be much more than your girlfriend.I don’t say because I’m waiting for a better moment than this.
What I do say is, “Perhaps you should have thought of that before you told me you loved me.”
“You’re right. The fault is entirely mine.” He leans in and kisses me ever so softly.
I melt into it, wrapping my arms around his neck as he presses another to the corner of my mouth. Then, my cheek. Then, my ear.
There, he whispers. “You’re my girlfriend.”
“I better be.”
He chuckles. “Possessive,belle?”
“You have no idea.”
This time, the kiss is filthy. His tongue hungrily explores my mouth, languishing in every groan I let out.
“Come on,” he says as he pulls away, taking me again by the hand. “I want to show my girlfriend where she’ll be living until I can afford to set us up in Manhattan.”
