River’s POV. December 2011 - 3 weeks later

December 2011 - 3 weeks later…

 

Waking up to the sound of water pelting against the windows again doesn’t really bother me because I know we won’t be getting out of this warm, comfortable bed to go running, at least until the rain lets up anyway. She’s lying next to me, and I love how content she makes me feel. I love her, everything about her. She’s beautiful, tall, thin, and has these amazingly sweet doe-eyes that just give her such a look of innocence and make me want to always keep her safe. But it isn’t only her beauty that draws me to her; it’s many things. She’s fun, playful, curious, and strong. She’s always up for an adventure. She loves the outdoors and takes every opportunity to photograph the beauty she sees in it. She might never keep her phone charged and her emails might pile up, but she always keeps in touch with the people she cares about. She’s not pretentious. She’s kind and compassionate; she offers money to almost everyone we pass that asks for it. Her purse is so heavy because she always has about seven dollars in change at the bottom of it. She’s simply amazing.

Rolling to my side, I rest my head on my elbow and start to slide my hand up the inside of her thigh so I can feel her smooth soft skin. She shifts to face me. I lean in to kiss her and look at her beautiful face. “Good morning sleepy girl,” I mutter, feeling a little sleep deprived myself. I know she must be tired because she never wakes up after me. At least she doesn’t wake up at sunrise every morning thanks to the blackout shades that we installed in the bedroom.

“Good morning,” she says, stretching her arms and smiling at me. She settles back down, snuggling into me, and gives me a good morning kiss. I love it when, in the middle of our kiss, I can feel her smiling.

She pulls away, still grinning, and says, “Ready?”

Looking down the sheet at myself, I smirk, “Yeah, I’m ready.” Okay, so I guess she wants to skip the foreplay this morning.

“Great! Let’s go then,” she says, pushing me out of bed as she hops off and heads to the bathroom.

“Dahlia! No, really? In the rain? Now?” is about all I can say because I was so ready but not for running.

 

 

After our five-mile run, we stop to walk the last stretch on the street that leads back to the house. We stayed in the neighborhood and didn’t veer down the trails. We’re walking side by side, and she’s telling me about Aerie’s new boyfriend and is not bothered at all by the rain. Suddenly she stops, bends down, and starts taking off her sneakers and socks.

Breathing heavily from the run, I stop too, extremely curious as to what the hell she’s doing. “Dahlia what are you doing?”

“Taking my shoes off.”

“I can see that. Why?”

“Because silly, I want to jump in the puddles.”

She says that like I’m a dumbass and should’ve known. God, I fucking love her. The raindrops fall, but all I can see is the beautiful girl in front of me. She doesn’t have to worry that her broken pearl necklaces won’t bring her magic anymore because she’s the magic.

As I continue to watch her with amazement and wonder, I no longer simply see rain falling from the sky. In my mind, the drops have become the tiny small wishing wells she once described to me and they are gathering all around her. I have this overwhelming urge to grant this girl her every wish, but at the same time, that fucking terrifies me. What if she doesn’t want me to be her happily ever after? What if the connection she had with him can’t be broken? What if he was her happily ever after?

These are the thoughts that scare the shit out of me and keep me from pushing our relationship too far, too fast. What if she loves him more than me? Will she always love him more? As if having to compete for Dahlia’s love against a ghost isn’t hard enough, knowing the things I know about him just makes me hate him more. But what I know about him, I’d never tell her. I’d never hurt her that way.

After she jumps from puddle to puddle, she closes her eyes and raises her arms out to the side. She tips her head back and spins in circles like this is something people do every day. Her spirit mesmerizes me, and although I never met her Grammy, I know that

woman’s spirit is alive inside this girl.

Smiling, I walk over to her and her eyes open. She’s blinking away the raindrops when I grab her face, pulling her to me. I kiss her hard; hoping some of her magic will rub off on me. Slowing down, I never break our connection as I concentrate on making sure this kiss lets her know how much I truly love her. When she starts to quiver, I know I’ve accomplished my goal.

 

 

“Surprise!” she yells, opening her trunk. Once we got back from our run, we took a shower, and she decided to run some errands while I talked to Xander about the contract negotiations.

Cocking my head to the side and raising an eyebrow, I peek inside the trunk. “What are we doing with these, running a daycare center?”

Shaking her head, she pouts her lips as she points to the boxes. “Do three year olds play Backgammon?” Every time she pouts her lips, all I want to do is kiss her.

“I don’t know what three year olds play, but I do know what twenty-six, soon to be twenty-seven year olds play, and it’s a lot more fun,” I answer, pulling her to me and kissing her soft lips.

She steps around the car, opens her door, and grabs what looks to be a grocery bag full of food. Walking back to the trunk, she drops it to the ground near my feet, waving her finger at me. She giggles as she takes that one step keeping us apart. “You’re lucky I love you because sometimes your humor is just wrong.”

She’s only really said the words ‘I love you’ to me twice before, but I’ll count this one. She’s texted them to me and written them in a note, but verbalizing the words seems hard for her. I’m sure it’s because of him. But I don’t want to think about that now, so I shake that thought out of my head and give my amazing girl my full attention.

Licking my lips, I feign ignorance as I ask, “What? What did I say? And what’s in the bag?”

Grinning at me, she slides her hands up my chest, wrapping them around my neck. “Don’t play dumb with me, you know exactly what you said,” she mockingly chides into my ear. “And as for the bag, you'll just have to wait and see.”

In a low whisper, as close to her ear as I can get, I ask, “About the games or having fun?”

She giggles again. God, I love that sound.

She unwraps her arms and slides her hands to my face. I hold her as she kisses me on the lips. Her mouth lingers for a few seconds as my palms rub her back. I’m getting caught up in the moment when suddenly she pulls away and swats me on the ass. “You can’t put three year olds and sexual innuendos in the same conversation! That's just all kinds of wrong.”

Crossing my arms, I narrow my eyes and point my finger at her. “I’m not the one with

S.E.X. on the brain! That word never even came out of my mouth.” I spell the word pretending to scold her as she shakes her head at me.

“Come on. Help me unload these, and I might not have to punish you,” she says, grabbing and twisting my arm toward the trunk as she picks up the bag she set on the ground.

Lifting the boxes out of the car, I turn to her and grin, “If you’d have told me at the beginning of this conversation that punishment was an option, we wouldn’t be standing here right now emptying your trunk.”

She pushes me forward and grabs some boxes herself as I follow her up the stairs, staring at her beautiful ass in her jeans.

I set the games onto the counter and I turn around, holding one of the boxes. “I’ll only play Monopoly if you play by my rules.”

Putting her hands on her hips, she raises an eyebrow. “And River, what rules would those be? Has Milton Bradley called you with a new set? Because as far as I know, the rules haven’t changed since the game was invented.”

Shooting her my most wicked grin, I set the game down and pull out my phone. Holding it out to her I answer, “Dahlia, as a matter of fact, I got a text this morning from Milton himself informing me of one new rule.”□

Smirking as she walks closer to me, she places her hands on my shoulders and looks right into my eyes. “First of all, I’m pretty sure Milton himself died over a hundred years ago.” She runs her fingers down my arms and holds my hands. “And second of all, only because I’m insanely curious and like to keep up with game changes, what might this new rule be?” she asks in her most seductive tone.

“You don’t know beautiful girl?”□

“Kind sir, if I knew, I wouldn’t have to ask. Would I?” □she asks while fluttering her eyes using that cute southern accent she uses when she tries to cover up trying to be a smart-ass.

I clutch her hands tightly, pull her right up to me, and whisper into her ear, “Every time you pass go, instead of collecting two hundred dollars, you have to take something off.”

“Oh,” she says, biting her lip as she takes the game from the counter and heads to the kitchen table pulling the cellophane off the box. Sitting down, she flashes her irresistibly sexy smile and winks at me as she sets up to play our first game of Strip Monopoly.

 

 

Dahlia decided not to move back into her house. She packed up the rest of her things and has contractors making repairs so she can put it back on the market. We haven’t talked about her long-term living arrangements since the day of the break-in, but she knows I want her to stay here with me. She’s here most of the time anyway but hasn’t said anything about wanting to move in with me on a more permanent basis.

She’s so determined to stay with Grace; she makes it a point to go back there at least every other night. Even last night, after we’d finished our little game of Strip Monopoly, she insisted on going back home to Laguna Beach. I’m not sure why she feels the need to do this, but I go with it because it works for her and it’s not like I’m unhappy. I’d just be happier if she moved in with me.

We’ve spent almost every day over the past three weeks together having a blast. Since Dahlia isn’t working right now, and I’m waiting for Xander to iron out the band's signing contract, we've just been roaming around town and having fun with each other. At first, we picked up a few essentials for the house including a kitchen table and pots and pans, but lately we spend our days running, hiking, going to The Grove to watch movies, to the arcade to play around, or to different restaurants for lunch. Sometimes we walk along Hollywood Boulevard and other times we just hang out here at home. Most nights, she comes with me to rehearsals and then we go out with Aerie or meet up with the guys.

Regardless of what we do, Dahlia and I usually end up leaving early because I just can’t keep my hands off her sexy little body. I can tell she feels the same, and it’s become a game to see who can hold out the longest before we have to leave. Regardless of who wins, making it all the way home has become a challenge and we’ve found some fun and interesting things to do on the way.

Tomorrow is Dahlia's birthday. I’m so stoked to celebrate the day with her, so when Bell asked if she could pull together a small party tonight, I told her yes.

Dahlia is on her way here from Laguna Beach with Aerie, and I just walked in the door. I ran out to pick up her present and was hoping Bell would wrap it for me, but as I look around at the chaos that is my house, I think it might have to stay in the brown paper wrapping.

Bell’s entourage is following her into the house with loads of party items as she’s barking orders. Shaking my head, all I can do is grin. I should have known better. She points to the table as Garrett trails behind her. “Watch out!” she yells as he sets a bag full of cups and plates on the table. “If you so much as smear a speck of icing on that cake, your ass will be banned from this party!”

“Dude, your sister is so bossy,” he says, looking at me.

She’s unloading box after box as platters of food fill the kitchen counters, alcohol bottles line the bar where the stools are, and a giant purple cake in the shape of a flower sits on the kitchen table.

Leaning over the bar, I’m watching the craziness unfold. Bell walks through the kitchen gripping dozens of purple balloons by their white strings.

“Bell, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

She’s smiling, looking very pleased with herself as she ties the balloons to the kitchen cabinet handles. “What? She loves purple!”

“No not the color, Bell. This,” I wave my hand around the room. “A huge blowout party isn’t what I agreed to. It wasn’t part of the deal.”

She swings her head around to look at me. “Deal? What deal? You said I could throw a party, and that’s what I’m doing. Now don’t be such a party-pooper!”

She’s got an annoying smirk on her face, and I’m losing patience fast. “Do you ever even listen to what you say? You said a small, get-to-know-each-other’s-friends kind of a party, and this isn’t that!”

I should’ve known better than to think she could ever plan anything on a small scale.

Everything she does is over the top.

“River! Don’t yell at me! Got it? I’m doing this for you. For your new girlfriend, my new friend, and you should be appreciative about it. Not an asshole!”

Then pointing her finger at me she continues, “And yell at me again, I’m so telling Mom.”

Shaking my head, I just apologize so we can move on. “I’m sorry Bell, darling,” I say in a drawn out mock tone. “Really, we’re a little old to threaten to tell Mom, aren’t we?” Then I remember I wanted to ask her something.

“And by the way, how do you even know Dahlia likes purple?” I, myself, have no idea if she likes it or not.

She gloats for a few seconds before answering. “River really,” she says in a rather tsk- tsk tone. “She’s named after a flower, and everyone knows Dahlias are purple.”

“Bell, are you drunk?" I have to ask this because that has to be one of the dumbest things she has ever said, and now my annoyance is back.

She frowns, “Nooo River, I’m not. Are you?”

I can’t even answer her, so I just shake my head and inhale deeply.

She starts uncovering plates of food and is setting them on the bar when she notices me glaring at her.

Pointing my finger at her, I say, “I’m blaming you if she’s mad.”

“Why will she be mad? Everyone loves a birthday party!” She gives me her biggest, brightest smile before yelling, “Garrett, where are the other trays of food?”

“I’m getting them. Just wait a second Bell!”

“Well hurry up, stop taking your sweet ass time!”

I’m not finding any of this party prep crap amusing, especially since I’m not sure how Dahlia’s going to take it. Just thinking about it again pisses me off.

“Mother fucker!” I hear coming from behind me as static and a loud piercing sound amplify through the speakers. Turning around, I see Nix has unplugged the sound system and is attempting to connect a mixer board to it.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

Smirking at me, he points his chin at Bell. “She wanted a DJ setup.”

“A DJ? For what? Why? This isn’t a fucking dance club!”

Shrugging his shoulders, Nix rolls his eyes and points to Bell as he continues to mess with the sound system like he knows what he’s doing.

“Bell!” I yell, my patience with her running very low.

She comes around the bar and pulls me by the arm away from Nix.

Something clings to my head as she opens the sliding glass doors. The balloons are in my face and so is Bell.

“You,” she says, handing me the white strings. “Cut the shit and start helping.”

I can tell by her tone she’s had enough, so I decide to cut her some slack and see

what sort of great job she has in store for me. It’s cool that she did all of this, but all I really wanted was a small get-together for the evening. I figured we'd sing Happy Birthday, eat some cake, the guests would leave, and then I'd get some alone time with my birthday girl.

Clearly that's not the plan now, so inhaling a deep breath, I look at my sister and raise my hands in surrender. “What do you need me to do?”

Glancing around, I see Xander busy sucking face with some chick he brought with him.

“See all these balloons tied together? They need to be untied and strung around the chairs.”

“Chairs?” I question because I only own the chairs around the outdoor table, and there are way more balloons than chairs.

Pinching my chin, she turns my head down toward the pool. “Those chairs, the ones you’re going to unfold and put around thooooose tables.” She points to a stacked pile of round tables over at the other side of the pool.

“Just how many people did you invite?” I have to ask because there are a lot of fucking tables and chairs down there.

 

 

Pacing back and forth between the party that is now in full swing and the empty dining room, I continue to look out the window. She should’ve been here over an hour ago.

Earlier, we exchanged a few texts:

 

Aerie has issues with my clothing choices and insists we make a stop on the way. Be there shortly:)

 

Maybe it should’ve been a clothing optional party;)

 

Hopefully later it will be.;) <3

 

I haven’t even seen her yet, and I already want to skip the party and go directly to the later.

The music is thumping out all different tunes, so I decide to put in my song requests. There are so many people here; I can’t even see the Hollywood sign that Dahlia loves so much through the glass doors.

Stopping to talk to a few friends I haven’t seen in a while, I finally make my way over to Daniel, at least I think that’s his name. He’s my sister’s new boyfriend and he’s DJ’ing the party. Bell is busy filling the dozens of different types of glasses that she bought with wine, mixed drinks, and who knows what else. Garrett and Phoenix are busy staying far away from her so as not to get roped into being waiters at the party.

I head to the kitchen, grab a bottle of beer from the fully stocked refrigerator, and go sit on the couch next to Xander and some blonde. I can’t remember her name, but I know he’s been out with her before.

“Oh my God, River!” she says, and I instantly regret sitting here. Her tone is like a whiny teenage girl and her giggle sounds like a five year old.

Taking a swig of my beer, I lower my bottle then raise it in her direction. “Hey, great to see you again.”

Xander is grinning at me as he says, “Chloe.”

He really can be an asshole sometimes. Calling me out that I didn’t remember her name wasn’t necessary. I mean really, he has a rotating set of girlfriends with him almost every time I see him, and this one isn’t one of my favorites.

Her voice is so high pitched it actually makes my skin crawl. “So River, I love your new house. When did you move in? Do you have a decorator because my BFF is one and I could so introduce you!”

Her lips are moving, but I’m not even listening. She lost me when she actually used the letters BFF in a sentence, but I smile nicely at her. “Sure, that sounds great.”

These are the kind of girls I could never stand. The ones who try to be seductive but sound more like a whining toddler. They think they are sexy but they couldn’t be more wrong. I feel like I dated a never-ending slew of them before I reconnected with Dahlia. She is nothing like those girls, and I couldn’t be happier.

My phone starts buzzing in my front pocket, setting my beer on the new coffee table, I stand up and pull it out. It’s a text from Dahlia.

 

I’m sorry we’re so late. Pulling in the driveway now.:)

 

Glancing at Xander and his over-bubbly brunette, I indicate with my chin that I’m heading toward the door. “Excuse me a minute, Dahlia’s here and I want to say hi before she hits the door.”

“Dahlia? Who’s Dahlia?” Chloe asks Xander.

Xander looks at me and answers, “The girl that has my brother pussy-whipped.”

I just shake my head and shoot him a dirty look. I’m not going to argue the semantics of pussy-whipped versus love with him, especially in front of the Valley girl.

“Aren’t I right, Loverboy?” he shouts at me as I walk away.

Opening the door, I brace my hands on the frame and watch her get out of Aerie’s car. The driveway reflectors shine upward and highlight her amazing shape. The shameless blaze in my eyes must be apparent, but I don’t care who sees it. She looks hot as hell in that little black number that Aerie must have talked her into buying.

Her dress is short, the neck is open, and her legs look a mile long with those shoes. When she turns to close the door, I have to shift a little to control myself. Her dress has no back and her blonde hair is up in one of those ponytail things so every inch of her bare skin is visible. Images of her and me alone together instantly flood my mind, and I really regret letting Bell throw this party.

Walking down the steps to meet her, I’m overwhelmed by her overall beauty. Saying

hi to Aerie, I position myself right in front of Dahlia. She’s almost as tall as me in those shoes and when our eyes meet, she just looks at me, no smile, nothing, I can tell, even before her lips turn up, that she’s feeling seductive.

Her eyes seem to change color depending on her mood, and tonight her hazel eyes are almost brown. They look like a spinning whirlwind of dust clouds, and I love when they’re that color. I also love when her eyes turn goldish-green. There is an almost psychedelic twist to them. It’s as if I can see myself staring at the same raw images she sees. Her mind is like a camera, and just looking into her eyes makes any great view even better. I told once that I notice her eyes change color depending on her mood, she laughed and said, “So if you think my eyes are like a mood ring, what color are they when I’m being bitchy?” I just shook my head.

Leaning in, I inhale the sweet scent of her hair as I kiss the bare skin of her neck all the way up to her ear and softly lower my voice to an intimate level. “Hey birthday girl. You look beautiful, perfect really,” I say, pulling her hips to mine.

“Hey there yourself,” she says, placing her hands on my arms. “Sorry we’re late.”

Bending her neck, she allows me full access, and I can’t help but grin when I notice her goosebumps. Not being one to shy away from an invitation, I slowly work my way down her neck to her exposed collarbone. God, everything about her is just so sensual, and I’m so turned-on right now.

“That’s okay. If you’re late because of this dress,” I say, running my hands down the side of her body, “I definitely forgive you. You look so hot.”

“Umm...” she moans before saying, “Thank you,” in an extremely low and whispy tone.

Her seductive grin turns to a smile and she points to the driveway. “I thought you said a few people. This looks like way more than a few people. In fact, I’d say it looks like a party.”

Before I can explain, I hear Aerie yell from the top of the stairs, “Caleb you found the place!”

Caleb approaches us and I let go of Dahlia as she starts toward him down the driveway. She kisses him on the cheek and they hug each other. It shouldn’t bother me that his hands are on the bare skin of her back, but it does. There’s something about him I don’t like. Maybe it’s just because he was best friends with him, and most likely, he knows what I know.

She loops her arm through his, leading him back toward me. I can see the glint of that bracelet she still wears from him. I understand why she always wears if, but it bothers me. We talked about it last week, and she explained that she considers it to be her no regrets bracelet. What am I suppose to say to that? Since it makes her happy to wear it, I’m doing my best to be cool with it.

She walks back down to Aerie’s car with Caleb, and I extend my hand. “Hey man, glad you could make it,” I manage, trying to keep it real. I snake my arm around my girl and pull her close. I notice his uneasiness right away. Tonight will be the first time we’ll be together in a social scene and I’m interested to see how it plays out.

“How’ve you been? Sorry I couldn’t meet you two last week for dinner. I got hung up

in a meeting with a new client that needed an entire security system installed in a matter of days.”

“It’s cool. We’ll plan it again another time,” I reply, trying not to grit my teeth.

“Come on, let’s go in,” I say and guide Dahlia to the front of me, purposely putting my hand on the small of her back and tucking my fingers inside the cutout of her dress. I swear I see her quiver.

 

 

We all stand around the kitchen table singing Happy Birthday, and Dahlia blows out the candles. I slip my arms around her waist, hugging her close to me as I stand directly behind her. Once all the candles are out, I kiss her neck and whisper, “Did you make a wish?”

She turns her head to look at me. “Of course I did, but you know I can’t tell you.”

I just smirk at her because we have gone through this wish thing so many times, but I plan to grant her more than one wish later, so I drop it.

Bell cuts the cake, and I grab Dahlia and pull her into the empty dining room.

“Happy Birthday,” I tell her since it’s after twelve and officially her birthday.

Glancing at my watch, she smiles at me. “I guess it’s my actual birthday. So, thank you.”

I kiss her and my tongue slips slowly into her mouth. Her fingers comb through my hair and I pull away. “Stay here.”

She gives me a questioning look but says, “Okay.”

As I walk, continuing to face her, my eyes drift the length of her body. Before I turn around, I mouth, “stay there,” and go back to the kitchen to grab a few things.

Xander is standing near the entrance and corners me. “Did you tell her yet?”

I just look at him and walk away. I told him I don’t want to talk about it and that I’m not telling her, so why doesn’t he just shut the fuck up?

Caleb is talking to Bell, and I wonder if she knows him. He sees me and turns around.

I’ve been able to avoid him all night until now, so I make it short and sweet. “Just grabbing a few things before Dahlia and I go to bed,” I say directly to Bell but I see Caleb flinch. “Don’t worry about cleaning up, I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” I tell her as I grab a cup of ice, a bottle of beer, and a piece a cake.

I kiss Bell on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“See, I knew she’d like it.”

My hands are full, so I say goodbye without shaking his hand. “Hey man thanks for coming. Don’t be a stranger,” I say to him as I walk away.

“River,” he says, and I turn around. “Take care of her.”

Not really sure of how to respond, I press my lips together before answering. Bell shoots me a disapproving look; so I know my expression mimics my thoughts, ‘Fuck off’.

Swallowing the dislike down my throat, I respond the only way I can. “Of course I will.” Soft fingers grip my side and turn me around, taking the cake from my hand she says,

“Thank you, is this for me?”

We’re standing so close. Her eyes are now dark brown, and her expression tells me what I already know.

“Yeah, it’s for you.”

Leaning in, I whisper. “Come with me. I have something I want to give you.”

As we enter the bedroom, I take her cake and set it with the beer and cup of ice on the night table.

She eyes it and says, “Party for one?”

Giving her my most devilish grin, I walk over and run my hands down her body like I’ve wanted to do all night. “No birthday girl, that’s what I call a party for two.”

Raising an eyebrow, she grins, “Okay, I’ll bite. Spill it. What do you have planned in that dirty mind of yours?”

“Well first, I want to give you your present, and then I’ll be happy to share my plan for your birthday wishes.”

I grab the gift from the closet and lead her to the bed, where she sits down. As she unwraps the paper, I know this is the perfect gift for her. I was able to score the original hand-written lyrics to U2’s song, Beautiful Day. I had them framed in an old-looking black frame that resembles some of the broken frames I saw at her house.

When she recognizes what it is, she lifts her hand to her mouth and covers it. Tears start streaming down her face. That was not the reaction I was expecting.

“You don’t like it?”

She shakes her head no but says yes, and I have to ask, “Yes, you don’t like it, or yes, you do like it?”

A small sad smile turns up on her lips as she lowers her hand. “Yes. I love it.”

She stares at it for a few minutes, running her fingers across a few lines of lyrics before leaning it carefully against the table. She kicks her shoes off and stands up. I stand next to her and just watch. She unzips the side of her dress and pulls it down. She’s wearing a black lace bra and panties. Stepping out of the dress she steps closer to me. Her eyes are a brownish-green color. A color I haven’t seen before.

“God, I love you so much,” she whispers in my ear as she wraps her arms around my neck and holds on like she might sink if she lets go.

When she says those words to me this time, I feel like she’s trying to tell me something else. She moves her lips against mine and I open my mouth inviting her in.

I pause for a moment, pulling back to look at her, to tell her how I feel. “Dahlia, I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything.”

She presses my hand over her heart and hers over mine. “Not only does my heart belong to you and yours to me, but I’ve known since the first time you kissed me that we were soul mates. I knew it that first night in Vegas.”

I try to tell her I feel the same way, but she moves her fingers to my lips. “Shh... Let me finish.” She grabs my hands, holds them tightly, and looks right into my eyes. “River, I don’t ever want to talk about this again, but this is something I want you to know. I loved

Ben, I really did, but when we were together, I never believed in soul mates. I never even thought about it.”

She doesn’t have to elaborate or go on because I understand exactly what she’s telling me.

I blow out a deep breath and relief flushes through me that she feels the same way about me as I feel about her. I keep my mouth shut, nod my head, and let my silence tell her I understand.

She runs her fingers down my shirt, pausing at each button as she undoes it, bending and kissing each bare spot along the way. Her fingers skim my bare chest as her lips make their way back up to mine. She attacks my mouth as if taking prisoners and kisses me until they’ve been captured. She’s breathless and I’m panting, but I want to proceed with caution. I no longer want to throw her on the bed and fuck her. I’m not sure what prompted the tears and loving confession, and I want to know, but she doesn’t seem to want to tell me right now.

Her hands go to my waist and her mouth goes back to my chest, where she starts placing hot, open-mouthed kisses on her way down my stomach.

I pull her back up to my face, feeling like I really want to know. I look in her now brown eyes, but they are focused on my lips.

Teetering between wanting to know and not wanting to know, I just ask, “Dahlia, when you opened the lyrics you seemed sad. Why? Does it have something to do with him?”

Sighing, she inhales a deep breath and tells me, “No. That concert is the last concert I ever went to with my dad. It was the last time I ever went to The Greek.” She cups my cheeks as she continues, “I wasn’t sad when I opened it, I was happy. Those were tears of joy because you’ve given me back a memory just as so many were taken away.”

Now I’m the one swallowing back my emotions, trying to keep it together. I feel my body start to tremble, overflowing with the amount of love I feel for this girl. She’s had so much sadness in her life. As I gently pick her up and carry her to the bed, I feel so lucky that I’m the one who gets to give her her happily ever after.

I lay her down and start kissing her stomach. She sits up on her elbows and points to the nightstand. “You promised to explain,” she says and I laugh.

“Explain what?” I ask, my mind still reeling from her confessions.

“Your birthday wishes, silly.”

“Ahh, my birthday wishes for you,” I say smiling at her beauty and wanting to make her happy. I look at her, kiss her, then move to take a piece of ice out of the cup and let it melt on my tongue.

“What are you doing?”

“Dahlia, I’m granting you three birthday wishes.

“You can’t grant me wishes if I haven’t told you what I wish for, silly, and there is only one wish allowed per birthday you know.”

“Beautiful girl, you should know by now, I have my own set of rules for almost everything and birthday wishes are no exception.”

Running her fingers through my hair, she says, “So tell me genie, what would those

rules be?”

“Well since you asked, I’m more than happy to tell. In my world, when I get to be the genie, as you called me, I get to come up with and deliver the wishes.”

She giggles that sound I love so much. She starts to squeal as I take another piece of ice in my mouth and slide my cold tongue down her body letting the ice cube dance in and out of my mouth along the way. I pause and look up at her as she watches me. “And this is wish number one.”

A low purring sound escapes her mouth. “Oh God River, I love your rules.”

 

 

I WAS BORN TO LOVE HER

 

 

I was born to love her Everything about her She is the one I need

The one I have waited for She is everything.