Page 60 of Play Me

Chapter Eighteen

SEBASTIAN

It's been about thirty minutes since I was inside her, and it seems like thirty minutes is now the definition of an eternity. A forever just waiting to feel her wrapped around me, giving and taking all at once. On the other hand, I don't think I’ll ever forget the feel of her lips against mine, crushing them, imprinting the shape of her mouth on mine, the sounds of her need, her urgency, the metallic taste of blood as her teeth grazed my tongue, biting me.

Returning to the car, our breaths fogging up the windows, I turn to her, and she looks just the same. Beautiful in her flushed, just fucked glory. But still the Cadence I'd been lost in all these weeks.

But what had changed is me.

I don't know what will happen if my life returns to a state when I can't just lean over and kiss her whenever my heart desires.

***

"Is this OK?"

She turns to me, her face slightly worried but excited at once.

We've parked outside a luxurious little bungalow, the last in a series of similar units, the roof shaped like a beige sand sail, and the balcony opening up into the open space of the Northern Territory. It looks spacious and intimate all at once.

I'd given her my credit card at the airport and told her to go all out. I didn't know what to expect, but I don't know why I’d be surprised she'd pick anything less than perfect. Her regarding my taste was spot on.

"Come here," I hold my hand out to her and she skips over to me, and I hold her face in my hands. "This is perfect," I reassure her. "I love it. I really do. But even if it was just a corrugated roof over a cardboard box, if you were there, it would be just as perfect."

She sighs happily and I kiss her sweet upturned mouth.

"But THIS one has champagne!" and she runs into the bungalow, ooohing and ahhhing at all the amenities.

I laugh and carry our bags into the room and lay down on the bed, stretching out, feeling my muscles groan and my bones crack. I haven't slept in days, laying awake the last week trying to figure out what to do about Cadence. This morning when I called the accountant and told him to organize the bank check, I could not have possibly imagined that it would turn out this way. Me in her arms and her ingrained in my heart.

"Sebastian! There's a waterfall shower! I love those!" She twitters happily from the adjoining bathroom.

I smile, my face sore for doing so for the last few hours we’ve been together. But her infectious love of life is unavoidable and she’s warmed me from inside out like the morning sun on a scorching hot summer day.

“Ooooh! Toothpaste!” She squeals and I can’t help but chuckle.

“What?” She asks, her voice muffled probably from rubbing her face against something.

“Nothing, darling, you brush your teeth as much as you like, if we run out I’ll call the front desk for some more.” I tease her, but I think she’s too excited to care.

“Ohh,” she sighs as she comes back into the bedroom and sinks onto the bed at my feet. She reaches for my shoes and pulls them off, peeling the socks off after that. “Thank god you’re rich! Or else we’d have had to go to buy our own toothpaste.”

I laugh, sometimes I forget that I am, which is strange because I certainly wasn’t always well off. But sometimes, I’m glad I am, just for moment like this, to bring a smile to the faces of people I care about.

She kicks off her own shoes and falls down onto the bed, curling up around me and resting her head on my chest. She reaches over my body for my hand and interweaves her fingers with mine.

It is quiet.

Not a whisper of a breath of wind quiet.

No wild animals foraging or calling for their mates quiet.

No white hum from the moonlight quiet.

It’s some time before I realize I’ve been holding my breath too.

“Babe?” I nudge her gently.

“Mmm?” She mumbles sleepily and curls up in a tighter ball around me, her hand growing limp and sliding from mine to tuck under her head.