Chapter 31
Act III, Scene IV: Padua Heights Montague House
Titan
I was gone.
Kalina’s lips were as soft as I’d remembered. She tasted like cinnamon, and a moan escaped her as my tongue parted her lips.
I raked my fingers through her hair, and found purchase in the soaked strands. I wanted time to slow down so I could exist solely in this moment with her.
All those times I’d thought about pressing my lips against hers and tasting her, of feeling her body, and hearing her shaky breaths, nothing could prepare me for this. All the thoughts I’d had of this moment, the dreams, and my desires were now a reality.
She inhaled shakily and moulded herself to my chest as she circled her arms around my neck.
I moved her backward until her back pressed into the metal of the car. My hands roamed down the soft damp fabric clinging to her curves.
She nipped my bottom lip.
My watch vibrated wildly and I pulled away to look down at the little red icon on the screen. I laughed and leaned my forehead against hers.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked between breaths.
‘My watch thinks you’re trying to kill me.’
‘What?’ Her eyes went wide and she looked up at me with such concern, it made me melt.
I showed her the irregular heart rhythm notification.
‘I’m fine, dimples,’ I said before I leaned down to kiss her again. Her worry vanished as she sighed and pulled me closer.
Besides, it didn’t seem like a terrible way to go.
‘Kalina,’ I mumbled against her lips.
‘Mmm…’ she replied deliriously.
I pulled back, and watched the now steady downpour run down her face and body. ‘Did you call me stupid?’
She laughed, leaned up to give me a peck, then said, ‘Yes. You made me mad.’
I raised an eyebrow.
‘I was doing everything you taught me. The hair flicking, the laughing, the flirting. None of it worked on you.’ She frowned.
‘I told you it wasn’t necessary with me. I didn’t need the tricks.’
The frown between her brows disappeared and her smile returned, along with her dimples. ‘But you wouldn’t even look at me.’
I cupped her face between both of my hands. ‘I knew you and Charlie were starting to get to know each other, and he’s one of my closest friends, but…’ I rested my forward against hers. ‘I love you and I have for a while now.’
The rain stopped, and the dark clouds disappeared.
‘I love you too.’
A symphony played in my head.
I covered her hand with mine, toying with the beads on her ring.
I kissed her one more time. ‘Let’s get you into the car and warm you up.’
‘That would be amazing.’ She shivered.
I bundled her beneath her coat and mine before turning up the heat.
Kalina placed her nose against the fabric then inhaled.
‘Are you sniffing my coat?’ I moved my arm to rest behind her head, and twirled her hair around my fingers.
‘Not at all,’ she lied.
I smiled. Her scent was one of my favourite things about her too.
Her teeth stopped chattering after a few minutes.
‘Curse you and your European blood.’ She wiggled back further into her seat.
‘It’s the one thing I can thank my father for, I guess.’ I laughed softly.
She reached behind her head and took my hand in hers, weaving our fingers together and placed it in her lap. ‘Want to tell me about him? Scarlet told me her story, but she said you’d talk to me when you’re ready.’
I inhaled then looked over at her briefly. She was the only person I’d ever wanted to be honest with. I wanted her to know the good and the bad.
I touched the ring again. ‘I was going to tell you how I felt, the night of your birthday. This was actually a little clue.’
Her eyebrows knitted together. ‘What do you mean?’ She put her other hand over mine and spun the beads.
‘It’s morse code for “I love you”. It was on the card.’
She made the cutest face. Like a cartoon character. ‘You are sneaky. And romantic, but you also took the card.’
I laughed. ‘I have it in my wallet.’
‘This is so special.’ She admired the ring thoughtfully.
‘But,’ I said, sucking in a deep breath before continuing, ‘I do want to tell you more about my life and my dad… My dad messed me up. He got inside my head. He always says I’m exactly like him.’ Kalina rubbed her thumb across my hand but didn’t say anything, nodding along in acknowledgment as I spoke. ‘He also thought throwing money at my mother, and Scarlet’s mother, would fix everything, and he didn’t need to be a present father in our lives because of it.’
‘But you speak to him? Now?’
‘I try not to. But he wants a relationship. He started contacting me after my mom passed.’
‘I’m so sorry.’ She gripped my fingers tightly.
I shook my head. ‘I let him get to me. I believed the things he said about me, and about you.’
Thinking back to that night made my jaw clench.
Kalina smiled. ‘You told him about me?’
I laughed. ‘Yeah. I told him how I felt about you. He said I didn’t deserve you. That you deserved so much more.’
She frowned. ‘And you believed it too.’
I exhaled. ‘I did.’
‘Pull over,’ she said.
I checked the mirrors before pulling onto the shoulder.
‘We are not going to let him be the voice in your head, okay?’
‘Okay.’ I nodded.
‘I’ve never felt this way about anyone. You’re the best person I know. You’re not going to tell me or yourself you’re not good enough. Understand?’
I was sure my face had a goofy grin plastered across it.
My heart expanded at the idea that someone saw this side of me. The side my father had convinced me didn’t exist. Slowly, but surely, the space he’d occupied in my head was replaced with Kalina.
‘You’re so hot when you’re demanding.’
Her face flushed. ‘Are you going to listen to me?’
‘If you talk to me like that, then yes.’
She laughed. ‘You’re the worst.’
‘Yes, but now you said you’re falling in love with me, so no take backs.’
‘Never.’ She shook her head.
‘You’d make an excellent motivational coach,’ I said.
I reached over the console to cup the back of her neck.
She leaned in, and braced her hands on my knees, before I kissed her.
For the first time, I wasn’t worried about being with someone, and what our future held. She was the one for me.