AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ava
Just when I think I can’t get any happier, I seem to. Even with the searing sun, or the gully wash of a shower, none of that matters. What does is being with Rafael. I wonder if he’s thinking the same things I am as I look down at the small bag sitting on the side of the table. I got something for him in secret. I have to find the right time to give it to him.
“Bella, are you ever going to tell me what’s in the bag?”
“You’re being impatient.”
“You’re right. I most definitely am. Do I need to coax it out of you? I have a feeling I know just how.”
Rafael slides his chair closer to mine. He begins a slow walk of his fingers up and down my arm. His eyes stare deep into mine as he begins his visual game of chicken. I know I won’t be able to win. I never do.
I lean in and cup his cheek with my hand. “You don’t play fair.” I lean even farther to kiss his lips.
“Mmmm. Neither do you, Bella. Now share,” he growls.
I love the twinkle he gets in his eye. I see a hint of what he might have been like as a little boy. Reaching over, I pull the bag into his reach. “I wanted to get you a little gift.”
“You’re my gift, Ava.”
The heat rises in my cheeks as he kisses the back of my hand before he pulls the tissue free. Rafael delicately unwraps down to the sheer white bag. He pulls open the ribbon and lets his gift slide into his hand. “I saw it and immediately thought of you. The blue beads reminded me of the ocean this week…or your eyes,” I say, barely audible. “The black felt grounding and the silver accent felt…”
“Perfect,” he finishes.
My mind is listening to the continuous conversation at the dinner table, but it’s also racing through options. Are we going to be done after tomorrow? How will I handle that? Are we going to be able to sustain what we have going here? Does he want to? What is it I want? The last question in my mind is a stupid one. I’ve known what I wanted since I got here and even possibly before.
I want him.
I’m in love with him.
The sun is nearly gone against the horizon as we walk back from our beachside dinner at a nearby resort. His shoes sway from his fingertips, as do mine, while my right hand is perfectly woven with his left. The waves are starting to lap at our ankles as the tide begins to roll in.
“I’m glad we decided to walk back. I like it being the two of us,” I tell him.
“I hope you enjoyed your dinner.”
“What would make you think I didn’t?” I ask.
“After you gave me your beautiful gift, your thoughts seemed to slip a thousand miles away. I’m here to listen if you need me to.”
I tuck myself under his arm as we continue to walk back to our villa in silence. We reach the point and I don’t want to go inside just yet. I tug on his hand to steer him toward the firepit, just feet from the rolling waves. “I do have something to say, but would you light a fire first? I want to make sure I can see you clearly.”
Rafael gives me a small smile before he kisses my forehead. I offer to take his shoes while he builds a small fire. The logs are in a mixed jumble in the center of this stone circle. It dawns on me that it’s a visual representation of what I feel right now inside. Everything is conflicting and overwhelming, but even with all that, I’m compelled to seize the moment to give him an answer.
He comes back near my orbit once he’s satisfied the flames will hold. Rafael first retrieves his shoes, then takes mine as well, placing them on the sand. The warmth of the fire heats my skin. The orange hues give him an even deeper glow than was organically present.
Rafael reaches back for both of my hands. He dwarfs them instantly as he brings them to his lips. When his skin meets mine, I blurt out the one thought that’s been with me all evening, hell since the moment I got here.
“I love you.” His head tilts slightly to his left as the image of the fire and an unknown emotion dance through his eyes. “You wanted to know what I was thinking, there it is. I didn’t just realize it. I think I’ve known since you walked me back to Casa Bella. I thought I’d been in love before. Maybe I was, but this…this is so…much. Everything is so much. I just… I just love you.”
Those three dangerous words lay out there in the universe before us. Rafael’s silence is louder than all the waves, birds, and wind in the trees combined. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Maybe I just ruined everything.
I open my mouth to try and take it back. Before I can speak a fraction of a syllable, he quiets me with a simple finger to my lips. “If you were about to take it back, Bella, you can’t. It’s floating on the water and in the air around us.”
“I don’t want to take it back. I don’t. How does it make you feel?”
He looks as if he’s going to ponder the thought, so I look away. I can’t look at him anymore with the expectation he feels the same way I do. “Ava.”
“No. It’s okay. I misread things.” I crouch down to collect my shoes, along with my dignity, and finish our last night together the way he intended it, the way I initially intended it.
