Connected (50 page)

As I head back to Grace’s house and approach the dunes, I laugh out loud as I hear Justin Timberlake’s voice sing through the night. “Hey sexy.”

I hear a chuckle on the other end of the phone. “That’s my line, sexy girl. Miss me yet?”

“
I’ve only been gone a few hours,” I say, walking back to my car. “But yeah, I do.”

MILES APART

We are miles apart, but you’re in my heart

I think about you all the time

We could make believe we’re not living apart

Or you could consider turning it into reality

Just remember you’re always in my heart.

River’s POV

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.