22
Cody
Cody’s heart did a somersault as he kissed Willow firmly on the lips. He’d been wanting to be alone with her since their stage kiss, but the afterparty went on forever, and he needed a breather from seeing her every other minute in amongst the crowd.
Now she was in his personal space, and he could hardly breathe.
Willow pushed into him, tipping him backwards to the blue blanket on the floor, following along the way. Something sweet was on her tongue. Juice perhaps? He didn’t care.
Wrapped arms and entwined legs buckled Cody in every way possible. He was completely lost in her, and Willow wasn’t coming up for air, giving him a light head.
He cupped her face, lifting her gently upwards so he could speak, not that he knew what to say. There were no words. The look in her eyes matching his spoke volumes.
Willow’s eyes were wide and curious, soft and hopeful.
Cody swallowed hard as his brain tried to think of something to say. Anything would be helpful, but he had nothing.
‘Should we be doing this?’ she asked, voice low and croaky.
The thought of her having regrets flipped his stomach, but no longer in a good way. It was all too much. ‘You don’t want to?’
Her head bobbed slightly in his clasp. ‘I do.’ She bit her bottom lip and lowered her gaze to his chin. ‘And more,’ she added quietly.
Cody pulled her back to his mouth, closing his eyes, absorbing every touch. It was so strange being intimate with her on such a level, because it felt so natural, as though he’d been in that moment with her a thousand times before. Where were the fireworks, the rush, the lust? All he felt was the familiarity of a long-term partnership. They’d never been in such an embrace before, so why did it feel as though they had?
‘Sully,’ she whispered across his lips. ‘What’s happening to us?’
If only he had the answer. His head was in a swirl, his heart was in heaven, and his soul was sunbathing somewhere tropical.
Willow’s lips trailed his jaw, then neck, and her hands balled his top, lifting it from his stomach. She kissed along his chest, then around his collarbone, taking his tee-shirt along for the ride.
He breathed heavily as his top half became exposed to the night-time chill of the treehouse, not that he could feel anything other than heat surging through him. His heart started pounding as her fingertips lightly stroked along his ribs, heightening his senses. ‘Wills,’ he gasped, bringing her face back to his.
‘Why does this feel so right? It’s strange, don’t you think?’
He nodded, then rolled her over so her back was on the blanket. Gazing down into her beautiful face, he searched over her few nose freckles shaded by a light shadow from the creamy tint of the battery-operated lamp to their side. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Neither do I. All I know is I want you to be my only partner. Each time I kiss you, I want more. I’ve never experienced that before with anyone. I just want all of you.’
‘That’s how I feel, but why now? Why is this happening to us after all these years?’
Willow raised a hand to rest on his cheek. ‘I don’t care.’
Cody lowered his forehead to hers and nudged the tip of her nose with his own. ‘I want all of you too.’
She leaned up on her elbows, smiling softly into his wondering eyes, then tugged off the black sweatshirt she’d changed into after the show.
Unlike some of the others, Cody and Willow opted for relaxed and casual once out of their costumes. Sequins and polyester had been a nightmare for their skin.
Cody scanned Willow’s pale body as she rested back on the blanket, seeing the tiny flower tattoo close to her heart. He lightly traced his finger over the picture, then kissed around its perimeter, making his way across her stomach, then down to her thigh, where he helped her shimmy out of her tracksuit bottoms. He whipped off his own, leaving them both with nothing else but their underwear.
Willow pulled him closer to her mouth. ‘Are you ready for this?’
‘Yes, but I’m thinking about our pact.’
She grinned, shuffling up to sit cross-legged. ‘The pact we made in our early teens?’
Cody nodded, reaching for another blanket to curl around her shoulders. He lifted her onto his lap and nuzzled his nose into her hair, inhaling a woody scent. ‘Our virginity one,’ he mumbled, peppering kisses around her ear.
Willow pulled back. ‘Wait. Are you telling me you stuck to that?’
The way she said it made him feel as though he was missing something. He detached his mouth from her skin and widened his eyes. ‘Didn’t you?’
‘Yes, but I didn’t know you had. Are you still a virgin, Sully?’
‘That kind of was our plan. Remember? No sex before marriage.’
‘We were kids. I didn’t expect you to stick to that as an adult.’
Cody shrugged. ‘I kind of liked the idea of saving myself for the woman I felt I would spend the rest of my life with. It actually came in handy.’
‘It did?’
He nodded. ‘Yeah. When I think back, it got me out of shallow relationships, stopped me sleeping with women who mattered little to me, and made finding true love more special. I’m glad I didn’t sleep with everyone I kissed, not that I kissed a lot of girls, but still. Something just told me to wait.’
‘That’s how I felt. Maybe we jinxed ourselves when we made the pact.’
Cody laughed. ‘Maybe we did the right thing for ourselves. I know so many people who have regrets about who they had sex with.’
‘Me too.’
‘Just to clarify, I really want to make love to you right now, Wills, even though we’re not married.’
Willow smiled softly and kissed his cheek. ‘I wouldn’t have got this far with you if I didn’t think we’d marry one day.’
Cody straightened, unsure how to take that. She seemed sincere, and from what he knew of her, she wasn’t the type to say what she didn’t mean, especially about such a serious matter to her. It was all a bit too soon after Kip, otherwise he would smile at her statement.
‘You thought…’ He couldn’t even bring himself to say the name, so he just gestured at the door. ‘He was your soulmate five minutes ago.’
The glow on Willow’s face disappeared. Her warm gaze dropped to her lap as her shoulders slumped.
I shouldn’t have said that .
‘Sorry, Wills.’
‘You don’t have to apologise. It’s true. And now look at me. Half-naked with you in the treehouse, just like him and Lav—’
‘Hey, we’re nothing like them. This is our place, and this is us.’ He raised her chin. ‘This is us, Wills. You and me. Always has been. Now I can see it always will be. You’re the only one I want to spend the rest of my life with. You’re the one I want to marry, share everything with. You’re the one—’
Willow flew at his mouth, slamming her lips into his sentence. ‘I love you, Sully,’ she mumbled in between kisses. ‘It’s you. I know it’s you.’
If only he could be so sure she did feel that way. That stupid psychic drawing was haunting him. Was it still niggling at her? Was she just clutching at security and familiarity?
‘Make love to me, please,’ she whispered, warming his ear.
The whole of Cody’s insides flipped. ‘Don’t you want to wait? We’ve come this far.’ He felt dumb asking but needed some sort of logic to appear in amongst his internal dispute.
‘I want our first time to be right here, right now. We can get married tomorrow.’
Cody breathed out a laugh close to her cheek. ‘Well, that’s one way to propose.’
Willow cupped his face, staring him straight in the eyes. ‘This feels right, Sully. I want us.’ She tapped her chest. ‘I can’t explain it, but I can feel it. I honestly believe you’ll be my only partner till the day I die, so I don’t care about waiting for our wedding night, because I know that’s coming next.’
‘If we do this, tomorrow we book the next available date to get married. Agreed?’
Willow’s smile lit up the whole treehouse. ‘Are we really going to get married, Sully?’
‘Hell yeah, as long as you…’ He let his sentence hang, no longer caring about her psychic beliefs. He loved her with all his heart, and if she was willing to share her life with him, then the whole soulmate idea was going to be brushed under the rug.
Willow pulled him down to the blanket, snuggling herself beneath him as she removed their underwear so nothing was between them.
Cody’s love hit level overwhelmed as she wrapped herself around him whilst whispering her feelings in his ear. ‘Wills,’ he managed as her hand slipped between his legs.
The noise of a barn owl echoed as a light breeze rustled the leaves on the old sturdy tree. The farm was asleep for the night, with only two residents awake, lost in a dream state, joined together for the first time, wondering if life would always feel so good.
‘You okay?’ asked Cody, resting his forehead on hers.
Willow’s breathing was as heavy as his. ‘Yes. It just feels… different.’
Cody breathed out a small laugh. ‘Tell me about it!’
She cupped his face and smiled. ‘Don’t stop though.’
They shared a long, heated kiss, blocking out the world, the promise of marriage, and any thoughts of other soulmates interrupting their partnership. As far as Cody was concerned, Willow was The One , and he would love her forever.
His breath hitched as he tried so hard to get their first time right, not really knowing what could go wrong. He’d checked on her numerous times, made sure she wasn’t in any pain, lifted his weight so not to squash her, and returned all of her kisses.
As surreal as it was, it was also quite possibly the best moment of his life, although something told him it would only get better the more they made love, and he really was loving her as best he could.
Willow seemed happy enough. She didn’t complain or push him away. Her arms tightened around him, her kisses matched his speed, and she declared her love more than once, all of which was encouraging.
Cody was sure he could stay in her arms all night but crashed before he wanted, resting his cheek upon hers.
Willow’s hushed giggle brought him back to earth. ‘Hey, Sully, can we do it again?’
He caught his breath as he rolled to her side. ‘Erm, sure, just give me a minute.’
Her hand lightly stroked over his chest as she leaned up to face him. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m good. You?’
‘Yes. Not sure how I’m going to cope much with life now.’
Cody grinned. ‘What does that mean?’
She pecked his nose and smiled. ‘How am I supposed to go about my day when all I want now is our bodies to be constantly joined?’
It was a funny thought, but she had a point. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her now.
Willow sat up, straddling him, and Cody pulled himself up to tangle his hands in her long light-brown locks.
‘I don’t have much yet, Wills, but I’ll buy you the best engagement ring I can afford, and I’ll work hard every day to financially support you so you don’t have to worry about a thing.’
‘I don’t need that from you, Sully. Just you being in my life is good enough. You’ve always been here for me. I just wish I’d seen it sooner.’
‘We’re here now. Hey, will you do me a favour?’
She smiled and kissed his cheek. ‘Anything.’
‘Will you try to forget about the man in the picture and just accept me as your soulmate instead?’
Willow’s eyes narrowed as her forehead creased slightly. She closed in on his face and nudged his nose with her own. ‘I don’t care about that drawing anymore. If anything, it taught me to open my eyes to what a soulmate meant. I saw you, Cody Sullivan. You are my soulmate, I don’t care what anyone says. I can feel it.’
He could tell she was studying his face for tell-tale signs of scepticism, because that’s how he was still feeling. Maybe over time the feeling would go away. He hoped.
‘I love you, Sully.’ Her tone was so soft, almost broken, and it hit him straight in the heart. She was being honest with him. He was the only one making it an issue. Water pricked her eyes, and there was no way he was causing that emotion.
Cody lightly kissed her lips, brushing her hair away from her cheeks, then flashed her his warmest smile. ‘Ready for round two?’ he asked cheekily, trying to lighten the mood.
Willow chewed her lip and grinned. ‘Yep, but this time I’m going to be in charge.’
‘You’re always in charge.’
‘Best not to break the habit then.’
Cody closed his eyes for a moment as she rejoined their bodies whilst sitting up.
‘I can’t wait to be your wife,’ she whispered into his parted lips.
‘I want everything with you. Please don’t let anything come between us. Not now this has happened.’ He cringed at his own words.
I sound pathetic .
But Willow held him that little bit tighter. ‘I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you, you soppy sod. You’ll see. Don’t you get it? We’ve never been apart. Not really. We can’t if we tried. See, we’re drawn to each other.’
It was true. He didn’t know life without Willow. He’d also never felt so vulnerable before.
‘Oh, Wills, this is mind-blowing, isn’t it?’
‘No, Sully, it’s love. And we’ve got it covered, okay. So no more doubts. I don’t want that in our way. I love you. I’ve always loved you, and now I know why. So, here’s the plan, because you know I love a plan. We’re going to spend the whole night up here making love, because this is an art we need to perfect, then we’re getting married, having loads of kids, running this place till we die, and never ever leaving each other’s sides, unless we need to pee.’
Cody laughed. ‘Well, when you put it like that, let’s get started. Now, what was first on that list?’
Willow giggled, pushing her body into his. ‘I think maybe we’ll just stay like this forever instead.’
‘Sounds like a good plan to me.’
‘Shut up and kiss me. Make me yours.’
Cody chuckled on her lips as she smooshed his face to hers. He closed his eyes as she gently lowered him backwards to the blanket and kissed away all his worries.
Mystic Maureen could bugger right off. He was making his own destiny with Willow, and nothing was getting in his way, just as soon as he found a way to rid his mind of that bloody psychic drawing.