Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
Isabella
“Careful,” Sebastian whispered as he led me by the hand.
I felt the heat smacking me in the face and smiled even though he had me blindfolded. “Is that the sun?” I asked him. There was a breeze, but it was just as hot as the heat. There was also a smell I couldn’t place. I liked breathing it in though.
“Is it?” he asked me. “I’m sorry there’s no sun in the Underworld. I know how much you love it.”
“What are you talking about?” I shook my head and grinned. “I get to see the sun every day when we’re in the human world with your Reaper duties.”
“I know, but this time you’ll actually get to enjoy it.” He stopped, which made me more impatient.
“Can I take the blindfold off now?”
He laughed. “Go ahead.”
I pulled our hands apart so I could reach up and yank it off, then I gasped.
Sebastian took me to a beach. I was at the ocean.
I inhaled the sea breeze, which was salty, clean, and warm with a hint of a fishy smell creeping in here and there.
So, this was what the sun and water smelled like when they met the sand here every day.
“So beautiful,” I murmured as I gawked at the water.
I tore out of my shoes, then yanked my socks off and lowered my feet in the sand for all of two seconds before it started burning. “Hot, hot!” I hissed, and he chuckled.
“Come here.” He patted a place on the blanket he laid out for us. I jumped onto it, kicking sand on it in the process. “Didn’t you know better?” he asked, and I shook my head. “Well, is it everything you hoped for?”
Feeling sweet, I declared, “You’re everything I hoped for, but this,” I took in the waves dying out before they reached the sand and sighed happily, “is good too.”
“Good.” He opened his legs, and I twisted around so that my back rested against his chest as we gazed at the beautiful waves crashing against the sand and the birds squawking as they flew in the distance.
“I’m already feeling jealous of the air you’re breathing and the way you keep taking it all in like you love it. ”
I snorted, and he wrapped his arms around me where I felt safe, protected, and loved.
He kissed my neck. “A hundred years from now, when I’ve shown you every part of the ocean, we will come back here and start the process all over again.”
His words stole the air from my lungs. Not only were they beautiful, they were a promise to never give up hope. In his embrace, I could never doubt him.
Gripping his arms, I tilted my head back to look at him. “You plan to keep me that long?”
“I plan on keeping you forever.”
“I like the sound of that.”
Then my sleeping sloth kissed me and did I tell you how great he was at it?