Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
RONIN
It’s only been two days since Mellie told me about the job offer, but it’s felt like an entire year has passed while she sorts through the roller coaster of emotions that come with making this decision.
Tonight, we lay wrapped in each other’s arms in her bed, the only illumination coming from the sliver of moonlight shining through a gap in her curtains.
“You know, it’s kind of funny how small the world feels, sometimes,” Mellie says, her head resting against my chest. Her fingers dance delicately across the bare skin of my stomach.
She turns her head, resting her chin on my chest as she looks up at me.
Her hair is down and hangs around her shoulders in loose waves.
“Jack was one of my closest friends in LA, and yet when I left, I didn’t think I’d ever see her, or any of those people, ever again.
What are the odds that she shows up in my town, of all places? ”
“Fate,” I whisper, my fingers stroking the soft skin of her back.
“Hmm?”
“Fate,” I reply a little louder. “Isn’t that what the underlying theme of our lives has felt like?
” I run my hand up her arm, my light touch causing goosebumps to break out across her pale skin.
“I told you once that I thought it was fate that brought you here all those years ago. You could have moved anywhere, and yet it was this tiny little flower town in the middle of nowhere that the Baker family chose. My town.” I echo her words.
“And then when you left, fate brought you back to me. After all that time away, you came back at exactly the right time. And we found each other, at exactly the right time.” I lean forward and kiss the top of her head, her hair tickling my chin, loose strands catching in the slight five o’clock shadow.
“Fate,” Mellie murmurs, her eyes closing as my fingers resume their perusal of her soft, satiny skin. “Jack mentioned that too, actually. Even my short story was about fate. Maybe you’re on to something, Ronin Kane.”
“Of course I am,” I chide. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. About us.” I swallow thickly. Curse these damn emotions.
Mellie’s eyes open, hearing the change in my voice.
“Hey,” she says softly. She reaches to cup my face, her thumb brushing over the stubble on my cheek.
“If I do take this job, that doesn’t change anything between us, okay?
We’re still us. It’s not the same as last time.
” Her hand slips behind my head, twining into my hair, and she pulls herself up my body.
Soft lips meet mine in a gentle caress. “I love you.”
Her kiss becomes more insistent and I wrap my arms around her, holding her flush against me. “I love you,” I say against her mouth before our bodies take over. I lose myself in her touch, in the way her skin shines like silver in the moonlight as she moves over me.
The worry and guilt and apprehension melts away, and for right now, it’s just the two of us. Holding on to each other against whatever fate has in store for us next.