He just looks at me as if he is trying to come up with the words. The soft breeze blows my hair in front of my face. My heart is beating so hard in my chest I don’t think I hear him when he says two words that rock me off my axis. “You’re here.”
I shake my head. “What?” The sound of the waves crashing near us seems like it’s in speaker mode. The wind suddenly starts to pick up, and I wonder if it’s just for us. If Mother Nature is throwing us another curveball.
He steps closer to me, his hands landing on my hips, and my whole body suddenly awakens. “You’re here,” he says, and his hand reaches up, and he tries to tuck the hair behind my ear. “I just …”
“You shouldn’t be here,” I say. “It’s not …”
“There is nowhere else I belong,” he says, and he looks down. “There is nowhere else I want to be.” He palms my cheek with his hand. “Becca.” When he says my name, I try to stop myself from feeling anything. I try to stop myself from giving in to him. I try so hard, but my heart has other ideas. “I don’t know if I can say any words that will make you forgive me.” The tears start to come as well as the lump in my throat. “There is nothing that I can do except show you just how much I love you.” My hand moves up to my cheek. “I don’t even know how to do this. I had this whole speech planned. A whole declaration of love that I was going to say. Yet with one look at you, I’ve forgotten everything.”
“Nico,” I say through the lump in my throat.
“When you left me, my heart stopped,” he says, and I can feel his nervousness through his touch. “I felt empty. I felt hollow. I felt nothing.” I swallow instead of saying anything. I don’t think I could say anything, to be honest. “Every single day, I would wait for something to happen. I would wake, hoping that today I would feel something, but nothing came.” His forehead goes down to mine. “My heart started beating again when I saw you just now. It’s as if I was brought back to life.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I answer honestly.
“Let me stay,” he says. “Let me stay and prove to you that I will put you first every single time. Let me stay and show you what you mean to me.” His voice dips low. “Please, Becca.”
“I know how you feel,” I finally say, trying to say the words without my voice shaking, but I fail miserably. “I’ve been here in paradise,” I say. “Waking every day, hoping the pain stops. I wake every single day, hoping you will be here, and this will all be a terrible nightmare.” I lick my lips, the tears flowing like a river downstream. “Every single day.” My voice cracks.
“Becca.” I know he wants to kiss me, but he’s stopping because he’s waiting for me to make the move. Making sure I’m okay with all of this. “I’m not going anywhere, not this time. Not ever.” There is so much to talk about, so much to discuss, but all that slips my mind when I take one step forward, closing the little distance between us.
“Nico,” I say his name again, but all the words are gone except for the next two words. “Kiss me.”
I don’t even finish the last word before his lips crash on mine. His other hand comes up to my face the same time his tongue slips into my mouth. In all of my dreams, there is always him kissing me. In all of my dreams, I feel his hands on me. But nothing and I mean nothing could compare to this kiss.
My arms go around his neck as I push my body into his. We both moan into each other’s mouth. “Nico,” I say breathlessly, letting go of his lips. My inner body groans. His hands fall from my face. “Come with me.” I hold out my hand to him, and he grabs it, his fingers slipping into mine.
“We have so much to talk about,” I say as I lead him back to my bedroom. “There is just so much.”
“How many people are staying here?” he asks, looking up at the massive house, and I laugh.
“It’s just us,” I say as I walk toward my bedroom. Slipping off the path into my bedroom, the cold air hits me right away. “Welcome,” I say.
I don’t say anything because he grabs me, his mouth coming back to mine. “Later,” he says, taking his mouth off mine. “I’m going to enjoy this bikini more,” he says. “But for now, I just want to make love to you.”