Chapter 6 Sev #2
The lady led them to a nearby cooler, allowing Kelsey to select the three she liked best out of an overflowing container of blooms. He wanted to leave the color up to her.
Thanks to Emma telling him all about how different colored roses have different meanings, he knew that yellow leaned in the direction of friendship, while red generally stood for love.
When Kelsey selected the deepest burgundy colored roses, passing them to the clerk to wrap in some soft, pink tissue paper, he took it as a very good sign that she might be feeling the same way he felt about her.
“Thank you,” she whispered, inhaling the light fragrance of the flowers as he paid for them. “You seem to have a thing with giving me three roses.”
“You noticed?” he said, smirking at her.
By the time they stepped outside the florist shop, it was noticeably darker. The streets were starting to empty out, and where there weren’t additional bodies to buffer the cold, the wind whipped through from the nearby coastline.
Sev followed Kelsey down Main Street and around the corner, taking a short stroll over a bridge that gave them a beautiful view of the harbor. Even though it was pitch black outside, they could still see small homes and sailboats lit up, some of which had Christmas trees attached to their masts.
Only in Harbor’s Head.
They continued on down the quiet street to the place where she had parked her car.
Having a seat inside, Kelsey deftly brought it to life and zipped them through the back streets of Harbor’s Head, following his instructions to the letter to get them back to his childhood home.
It was a relatively modern house, only a couple of decades old, set in a quiet, suburban area. It was perfect to grow up in.
As she wound her car along the streets, dotted sparsely with streetlights, it wasn’t long before she was pulling into their driveway. He couldn’t believe that the date he’d been waiting for was nearly complete.
“Shall I walk you to your door?” she proposed, the mischievous grin on her face rounded out by the nervous quirk of her mouth. She was trying to keep up a brave face, but Sev knew, just like him, she didn’t want their time together to end.
“I’d love it if you would,” he assured her, getting out of her small sedan, and unfolding his larger frame, trying not to grunt as his lame muscles screeched at him.
Taking a look at the front of the house, he remembered helping his father string the permanent lights along the roofline.
His mother had hung a festive peppermint-themed wreath on the front door, with a three-foot inflatable elf standing sentry on their wraparound porch.
From the large window in the living room, he could see the Christmas tree lit up with white lights, which brought back the nostalgia of many Christmas Eves when he was small, hurrying to bed so that Santa could arrive.
“It’s so pretty,” she said, taking it all in.
“Yeah, it is,” he agreed, stepping up next to her and scooping an arm around her waist. “Did you guys decorate for the holidays?”
“Sometimes?” she said, lifting a shoulder. “My dad’s not much for decorating. One time when I was a kid, I got into this package of tinsel, and we were picking it out of every corner of our house for weeks after the holiday.”
Sev laughed, the idea giving him just as much anxiety as it probably gave her father.
“But nothing quite like this,” she said, her gaze taking it all in. And he knew it wouldn’t do for her to just see it from the outside.
“Would you like to come in?” he asked.
She sighed, turning to face him. “I would, but I promised my dad I’d be home before Christmas.” She laughed. “I didn’t realize that was only a half hour away.”
“Wait, what?” he asked, pulling back his jacket sleeve and having a look at the time. She was wrong.
It was actually twenty minutes to midnight.
And poof, just like that, he felt like a pumpkin.
Or… however that went.
“I know,” she said, shaking her head with a chuckle. “How did five hours—”
“Pass just like that,” he said, finishing her sentence. He stepped up close to her, resting his hands on her hips. He loved her hips, all round and perfectly shaped for his palms.
Everything about her was perfectly shaped for him.
Which was why, once again, he looked up to the starry-filled sky, wondering why on earth she kept being dropped into his life at all the worst times? And yet…
“I’m so glad we were able to get together again,” he said, sighing a little bit in defeat, but also trying so hard to seal in this moment so that he could tuck it into his heart and take it with him.
“I’m glad too,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’ve given me so much tonight.”
“Just a book and some flowers,” he said, making light of it.
He knew that wasn’t what she was talking about.
Well, he figured that much anyway. He knew it because he felt it too.
That lightness in his chest whenever she came near.
The fluttering in his stomach. The desire to pull her close and never let go of her.
Like now.
“Don’t forget dinner, too,” she said, mocking him, but then pausing to herself. “Gosh, when you say it out loud like that, I feel really bad. I didn’t give you a single thing tonight.”
Sev tried to keep his smile tamped down as he thought back to his promise from earlier.
“You could always give me a kiss,” he suggested, holding still and making absolutely no move closer than he already was. In his mind, it was a suave come-on line. Out in the wild, however, he worried it sounded creepy. Like some stranger asking a pretty woman for a kiss out in public—
His thoughts vanished completely when she grabbed his jacket in two fists, and her soft lips press eagerly against his.
Nearly groaning out loud, and maybe just a touch on the inside, he let his eyelids droop closed as he wrapped her in his arms and descended into the fantastical madness that was Kelsey Kramer.
Feeling her lips eagerly move over his, he met her with the same fervor, terrified that if he showed how enthusiastic he was about having her in his arms, kissing him, he’d scare her to death.
Even more? If he stopped, he might just die right there on the spot.
How was he going to live without this? Without her?
When he felt Kelsey slow down, he matched her pace. Her energy. Her hands slid along his jawline, cupping his cheeks as she finally stopped, separating from him but still close enough to feel her panting breaths against his lips.
He realized that he was panting too.
“I wish this wasn’t goodbye,” she whispered, dropping a sweet kiss on his lips that he hardly had any time to return.
“I wish this didn’t have to end, either.” But just like his kiss proposal, the words sounded so much better in his head. Hopeful. Like he cared for her the way he could feel her caring back for him.
Instead, it sounded like he was putting an end to them.
And… maybe he was.
“You’re going to be in New York all next year,” he began, settling his hands against her lower back. “Working hard on something you so very much deserve.”
“And you’ll be with your unit,” she said, trying to follow along with his logic, sadness threading her voice. “Are you deploying again?”
“Probably,” he said. “We won’t be gone like we were this year, but we’ve still got some… stuff… to do.”
She gave him a sad smile, nodding her head as he felt her fingertips intertwine with his hairline. “Will you be out of contact?”
“I shouldn’t be, I can still text. Call if you like,” he said, feeling a small glimmer of hope that he could still hold onto a little piece of her. “I’ve been known to write a mean letter when I want to.”
It worked. She chuckled at his antics, making him smile in return.
“I hate this,” she whispered, daring to finally look in his eyes.
He was taken aback at the tears pooled there, and something about those sad eyes made him want to pull out his sword and slay a dragon or two for her.
Anything to make her happy again. “But I know you’re right.
It’s not like we can just casually date and get to know each other better.
Like grab a movie one night, or go mini-golfing next weekend. ”
“You’re right,” he said, hating it just as much as she did. “But maybe we can take the next year to get to know one another better? We’re texting now, but maybe we can email too. Do some video calls?”
“Really?” she asked, her nose crinkling as she gave him an adorable smile. “You’d want to video call me?”
“And see your beautiful face? Yes, you can say I’d jump at the chance,” he said, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them.
But this time around, even though it sounded cringeworthy in his mind, it sounded perfect out in the world.
“Depends,” she said, nibbling her bottom lip and giving him that mischievous grin once more. “Will you meet me back in front of the Second Call next Christmas Eve?”
“So we can compare notes? Reevaluate?” he asked, trying to mimic the conversation they had last year. The twinkle in her eyes said she was picking up exactly what he was putting down. “You can count on it.”
“I’d really, really like that, Sev,” she said, her voice lowering once more before she pressed to her toes and lifted her face to his.
He met her halfway, holding her tight as he sought to commit every last detail of this moment to memory.
The feel of her warm body pressed against his.
Her arms around his neck, and the gentle force of them pulling him downward.
Her fingers threading through his hair. The soft whimper she made when his tongue slipped past her lips and stroked against hers.
Stopping faster than he would have liked, he opened his eyes to the most beautiful woman he’d ever known.
“Merry Christmas, Sev,” she said, her voice sounding shaky, like she was barely holding it together. “Let’s make this next year the best ever.”
“Merry Christmas, Kels,” he whispered back. And being entirely unable to control himself, he kissed her once more, briefly, before wrapping her up in a bear hug that said all the things he wanted to but knew would only complicate their situation.
That he never, ever, wanted to let her go.
Except… he knew that he had to.