35. Indie #3
Because I know this place.
The carpet is plush and brand new under my feet; there are no chips in the walls, no holes where time and rodents had eaten away at this beautiful structure. No water damage. The doors are the same beautiful wood, but with vintage-looking brass door knobs.
“Teddy…” I whisper, awed.
Teddy doesn’t say anything, just guides me to the stairs where he scoops me off my feet and carries me down. I don’t even protest, because my eyes keep catching on the stained-glass windows, cleaned and shimmering with color as the sun catches them.
When he sets me back onto my feet, he brings me to the living room, with its shiny, freshly stained floors. The beautiful blue kitchen, with its brand-new appliances and vintage tiles. The sunroom I had secretly wanted to make a studio for him.
It’s the house.
It’s my house.
“Teddy…” is all I can say.
Teddy just shrugs, his arm tightening around my waist. “I bought it.”
“I bought it,” I chuckle, tears stinging my eyes again. “I was going to surprise you.”
“I know,” his face pinches at that, looking like he’s in pain. “And you gave it up. So I bought it back for you.”
“Teddy…”
“You don’t have to say anything now. You don’t even have to accept it, Indie. But… you loved this house. You wanted this house. It wasn’t fair that you had to give it up. So, it’s yours… if you want it.”
“This is where you’ve been,” I murmur, glancing around this beautiful home. “Fixing up this house.”
“For you.”
“…for us,” I counter softly. Teddy’s eyes brighten up at that, looking at me intently. I turn my head toward him and smile. “For us.”
“Indie?”
“I want us again,” I admit, before fear claws up my throat slowly. “If you… I mean, if you want—”
My face is in Teddy’s hands now, our foreheads pressed together. My hands trail up his arms and rest over his wrists, holding him there, holding him to me. “I want, Indie. I want you, I want us…”
Relief is euphoric, and I feel the last bit of tension I’ve been carrying bleed from my body.
Teddy’s eyes meet mine, and he moves his head closer. I fall into it, the familiarity, the love rushing through my veins for him, until I realize that I’m still sick and contagious, even if my fever has broken.
Even though he’s been more than exposed to whatever virus I've been carrying these last few days.
I cross my index fingers and place them over his pursed lips, making him snap his eyes open.
“I don’t want to get you sick,” I mutter.
Teddy’s mouth curves beneath my fingers. He gently takes my hands from his face and holds them against his chest.
“Honey, I’ve been exposed for three days.”
“But—”
“I’m willing to risk it.”
“Teddy—”
He kisses me.
Both of us jolt at the contact, a collision of emotions that threatens to overwhelm me in the greatest way possible.
Teddy exhales shakily against my lips, and I can practically feel the tension in his body fade.
“Worth it,” he murmurs.
I smile against his lips and kiss him again.
We sip at each other’s lips, relearning each other, relishing and savoring each other’s lips.
He tastes just like my Teddy, and I wrap my arms around his neck, anchoring him to me. His chest rumbles against mine, his hands trail slowly up my back, up and down, a teasing caress that makes me purr in my throat.
When the need for air becomes a little too much, we slow down until we’re pecking each other’s lips, not wanting to stop just yet after months of drought.
Teddy huffs a laugh against my mouth.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
“Teddy.”
His cheeks go a little red.
“Nothing I just… I’m glad my lips are the last you kissed.”
I frown in confusion.
“That… uh… blonde pretty boy in London.”
“Sebastian,” I answer automatically.
Teddy’s jaw clenches and he nods.
Then I realize, “You saw that?”
Teddy hesitates for a moment before nodding once more. “I wasn’t stalking—okay, maybe I was a little bit, but I was just… making sure you were safe.”
I blink. I knew I saw Teddy at the hotel, but I didn’t know he saw… everything.
My heart clenches a bit, knowing if the roles were reversed, and I saw Teddy kissing another woman, I would have been crushed.
Granted, it didn’t turn into anything, besides a nice friendship as Sebastian still texts here and there, less frequently since he said he found a lovely girl he’s been dating, but still…
Teddy didn’t interrupt.
Didn’t barrel over and pull him away from me.
He didn’t make a scene or drag me away or demand an explanation like my choices belonged to him. He let me make them, even when it hurt him. He let me heal however I needed to heal.
My chest squeezes.
Oh, Teddy…
Affection explodes in my chest and I leap forward in his arms again, him matching my energy immediately. I kiss him again and again, his lips being the only ones I want to kiss forever.
“Hey, Teddy,” I ask when I pull back to breathe.
He opens his eyes, his face dreamy.
“Hmm?”
“Remember when I said glacial?”
Teddy grins.
“Will you call me a liar if I disregard that?”
“No, Indie,” Teddy rumbles, kissing me again, “I’ll just call you mine. And I’m yours.”