Page 113 of Darkened Promises
“Dance with me?”
The prettiest grey eyes stare up at me, feathered lashes fluttering as she tries to gauge what I’m asking her for.
“Okay?” she agrees uncertainly.
I brush my nose against hers in return. Her body remains stiff through the first song. As it rolls into the next, she relaxes into me, our joined hips tilting and rocking together as we move.
With a soft smile lingering across her lips, Rosy’s eyes fall closed. I lower my mouth to the exposed slope of her neck and press my lips against her skin, noticing when her breath hitches. Taking her hand from my chest, I step back and spin her, then tug her into me. The sweet peal of her giggling squeezes something behind my ribs. With her face peering up at mine, it’s easy to see the warmth and softness in her gaze.
Happiness looks good on her.
I hope, between the four of us, we can always keep her looking like this.
Hooking her wrists around my neck, I wrap my arms tightly around her, needing to feel her close. Our eyes lock, and as we turn circles in our slow dance, it’s as though it’s just the two of us, and she sees right through me.
It’s exposing, being like this with her. At the same time, it’s a weight lifted to be seen but also accepted. To know my insecurities, my flaws, and to still accept and wanted for who I am. It rouses something within me too, because whilst I know she’d take me as I am, I don’t want her to accept that. It pushes me to want to grow and learn to be better for her.
And for me too.
Rosy shows me what it’s like to feel wanted, to be important to someone.
Unable to stop myself, I lean down and lick a trail from her chin up to her lips. She rears back in my arms, and her head tilts as she wipes the wet mess with the back of her hand.
“Max! Eww, no.”
Her body vibrates, unable to contain her laughter, and it feels good. My ego resurfaces and inflates with pride knowing I did that. Eyes falling to the curve of her stretched neck, I dart in, wanting to taste more of her. Her palm spreads across my face, halting my movement.
Sneaky honeybee. She’s fucking facepalmed me.
My tongue snakes out, and I lick across her skin.
“You licked me! Again.” Indignation crosses her face, but it fails badly as she struggles to hold back her smile.
“Sadly, not in the place I’d like to lick you, though. Care to bend over real quick and let me have a taste from my favourite place?”
Her eyes roll, and she playfully slaps my chest, then her hand pauses to linger there. “You already did that this morning when you almost got us in trouble.”
“I was in trouble, never you. So that’s twice I’ve been facepalmed today. You should kiss my poor face better,” I quip, then pucker up and lean towards her.
She snorts, and her eyes dance. Fuck, I’ve fallen so hard for this woman, and there was a time I thought she wouldn’t smile for me again. Or for any of us. With a wide grin across her face and her touch on my chest, it’s difficult to breathe. I hate to think that I almost missed having this with her.
She still hurts, she’s still healing, and she’s floored me with her strength to not only forgive me but to also learn to live again.
And I want to dance with her like this every day.
Her lips meet mine, and her hands cup my face, taking what I thought would be a quick peck into something promising and full of depth.
“You’re beautiful,” she confesses, her eyes roving over my face with sincerity.
It takes a moment for me to stare at her, unsure and surprised by the words. Shrugging a shoulder, I rub the back of my neck somewhat awkwardly.
“Now you’re stealing my line, beautiful honeybee.” I wink and throw on a cocky smirk to hide the vulnerability.
“It’s true, Maxi. I think all of you is beautiful,” she whispers, and the words penetrate through the self-doubt I still hold around myself. Her hands slide up my chest, each muscle contracting under her touch as she glides over them.
Chest bursting, and my thoughts too exposed at her declaration, I wrap my arms around her torso and spin her around.
“Max!” she yelps. “I was trying to have a moment with you.”
