May 29th #2
We kiss, and I do as requested, letting my hands glide from her shoulder, down her ticklish side, and to her knee. I let my fingers lightly graze across her collarbone, then down through her cleavage and to her waist.
“Too bad this wasn’t a stop on the naked night,” I tease as I move my hands into her hair, my tongue into her mouth, then suck on her luscious lips.
I have kissed my fair share of girls, and I like kissing.
I think it’s fun. I’ve enjoyed it with pretty much everyone.
But kissing her is different. It’s like our kisses don’t just resonate through my body to heat me up—although they do that for sure.
It’s like they reach all the way to my heart. To my head.
To my soul.
And now I sound like some freaking cinnamon roll in a romance novel, so I stop thinking and just keep kissing her.
In fact, if my lips had a mind of their own, they wouldn’t let me stop.
After a really long make-out session with a side of wandering hands, my stomach growls, and she starts laughing.
“I think maybe we should eat. I can tell you’re starving. And I’m hungry too.”
“Hungry for me, apparently.” I slide her bangs off her face. “You wouldn’t stop kissing me.”
“And I think it was you who wouldn’t stop kissing me,” she sasses back. “Now show me the food!”
“Fine, but I want you to close your eyes so I can get it all set up.”
We untangle from each other’s arms and sit crisscross so there’s more room on the blanket.
I watch as she closes her eyes, then take a few moments to set all the food out.
After it’s ready, I say, “Okay, you can open them now.”
And when she does, her eyes go wide and a smile appears on her face as she takes it all in.
On top of the blanket is a table runner, set with real dishes, real silverware, and cut crystal glasses. Beyond that is the food.
“Damon, this setup is gorgeous.”
“Well, it all came with the picnic basket.” I shrug just as two butterflies flutter around us.
“Look at how beautiful they are,” she says. “I think butterflies are so pretty.”
“They’re flying like little fighter pilots. Turn and burn,” I tease as one soars right between us.
“It’s like they want us to kiss.”
“Well, if that’s what they want.” I lean in and give her a sweet kiss, hoping to appease the butterflies.
“Before the butterflies, I was referring to this gorgeous spread of food. So what all do we have here? Where did you get it? It’s in containers from the house, so I’m assuming it’s all homemade?”
“It is. And I might have enlisted a little bit of help from the grandmas. There was a lot that was already in the fridge and a few things we made especially for today.”
“Like what?” she asks as the butterflies continue to float around us.
“Like this.” I pick up a chocolate-covered strawberry and hold it in front of her mouth.
She says, “I can’t resist. I have to take a bite. Also, you’re feeding me? That might be the sweetest thing ever.”
I lick her top lip, then grin at her. “Sorry, rogue chocolate. We also have grilled BLTA sandwiches—bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado—potato salad, and a fruit salad over here. Of course, you’ve met the strawberries, but there is also a mini charcuterie board with apple slices, cheese, crackers, honey, and nuts.
An assortment of desserts round it out, and a Chenin Blanc to complement it all. ”
“I’ve never tasted that kind of wine,” she says.
“Me neither, but Mimi said it was perfect for this menu. And I’m excited that we’re both trying it for the first time—together.”
“Me too. It all looks amazing. I can’t believe you did this.”
“I might have had an ulterior motive.”
“And what motive is that?” she asks in a sultry voice.
“To get you alone so we could share a special afternoon together,” I say as I open the wine.
Once I pour us each a glass, I hold mine up to hers.
“I think I should do the toast this time, Damon. Thank you for being thoughtful and sweet and romantic and doing all of this for me—” She stops speaking, seemingly choked up. “It just really means a lot.”
“Remember in Haley’s wedding toast, how she talked about our first summer here? How we call it That Summer ? The summer we will never forget?”
“Yeah,” she says as a butterfly lands on her shoulder.
It looks like it’s happy there, so I don’t shoo it away. Instead, I gaze into her eyes, wanting her to know.
“Being here with you today is like that. I’ll never forget the way you look, what you say, how you kiss me, and how you make me feel. I know we’ve been flirting and kissing, but today feels like one of those moments. The start of something we’ll never forget.”
Tears fill her eyes as she clinks her glass against mine. “To us.”
We seal the toast with a kiss, and then I hold her gaze and say, “I love you, Ainsley.”
She’s quiet for a moment, like she’s trying to process, but then she says, “Can I ask you a serious question?”
“Of course.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’ve always been serious about you.”
“I mean, I thought the whole future wifey was, like, just a flirty thing.”
I shake my head. “I wouldn’t joke about that.”
She looks at me with an expression I haven’t seen before. “You really are in love with me? Like, it’s not just some crush? ”
“Most definitely not,” I reply, sliding my finger across her cheek. “I am in love with you.”
She gets quiet again, only this time, she’s gazing into my eyes.
“I want you to know how I feel. How I’ve felt since I first saw you. Tell me what you’re thinking.” I move my hands down her sides and pull her onto my lap. “Actually, don’t tell me what you’re thinking. Tell me how you’re feeling.”
“That day, we, um … like, our eyes met …” she stutters out.
“I knew then,” I tell her.
She cradles my face in her hands, which causes me to get choked up.
“I love you too, Damon.”
The butterflies start dancing in the air around us.
“I think the butterflies approve of us together,” I say before giving her a steamy kiss.
A butterfly.
Ainsley
At some point, we stop kissing, eat some of the wonderful picnic he brought, kiss some more, then pack everything up and ride our bikes back to my house.
“Thanks for having lunch with me,” he says simply .
Although it was much more than lunch. I literally cannot believe he did all that. Of course, I don’t know why I’m surprised after he rescued me in Eureka Springs and took me on an architectural tour, set up the tent a few nights ago, and has been taking me on naked-night reboots.
He told me he loves me.
I said the same.
And although I feel like a middle-school girl with a serious crush, I pull the rock I painted out of my pocket.
“I wanted to give this to you,” I tell him.
“It’s got a football with an N on it. I love it,” he says sincerely.
“Flip it over.” When he does, he sees a colorful butterfly. “Odd mix, I know, but the kids were supposed to paint something pretty for the garden. I was told by Blakely that a football did not qualify, so I painted a butterfly on the other side to appease her.”
“You’re the tricky one now,” he teases. “But it’s fitting, you know. Especially after our butterfly encounter today.”
“That was kind of weird, how they just, like, hung out there with us.”
“Not really,” he says. “Did you know that for the ancient Greeks, butterflies represented change, the soul, and rebirth? And they said that having one visit you was like having your guardian angel in your presence.”
“How do you know that?”
“Angel, the dog, basically.”
“Your dog?” I wonder .
“No, Chase’s dog. Well, his family’s dog.”
“I’m not following. I thought that was your dog’s name.”
“It is. She’s technically Angel the second,” he explains. “Let me try to give you the condensed version. Jadyn’s parents were killed in a car accident a couple of months before her high school graduation.”
“That must’ve been horrible for her.”
“I’m sure it was. So, her mom passed at the scene, and her dad died in the hospital a few hours later, Jadyn by his side. His last words to her were My Angel , as that was his nickname for her.”
“That’s heartbreaking.”
“She says she was lucky the Mackenzie and Diamond families treated her like their own.
Phillip and my dad were her best friends and all three of them have matching angel wing tattoos in honor of her parents.
And later, Papa bought Jadyn a Labrador puppy named Angel.
He thought it was kinda like fate that it was her name.
“Angel was amazing. Our best friend, growing up. She played ball with us. Would let my sister dress her up. She lived a long life and passed away when I was a freshman. We were all upset, so my dad and Jennifer went to buy them a new puppy, but ended up bringing home two. One for us, one for them. They named their dog Winger—for angel wings—and we named ours Angel in honor.”
“That’s really sweet,” I tell him.
“And there’s more. Chase’s sports number has always been one, and mine has always been eleven.
And it wasn’t until later, when we were looking for a name for our company, that we realized they are considered angel numbers.
So, our company name is One Eleven Sports, and our logo has our parents’ angel wings tattoos. ”
“Wow, it’s crazy how the angel stuff keeps coming up.”
“It is,” he says, pushing up my chin so I have to look him in the eyes. “And it came together again for us today. The fact that you painted a butterfly and then two flew around us—you know what that means, right?”
“Not exactly,” I say with a laugh.
“ U s, our souls together, have officially been blessed by the butterflies,” he says seriously before giving me a steamy kiss.
“Are you coming to my birthday party?” he asks when we stop kissing.
“Are you inviting me?” I tease.
“I bet there’s an invite on the board at your house.”
“There is,” I say. “June first, right?”
“Well, it was. It got moved to the night before. Chase and Dani leave for their honeymoon on the first and it wouldn’t be my birthday without them.” He looks at me sweetly and says, “And you are most definitely invited.”