Page 122 of Tears of Ink

My stomach is almost joining in our conversation as it gurgles and grumbles with hunger. I don’t want to move though. My arms are wrapped around his chest tight. My cheek wedged against the firm and hot skin. I trail my fingers through the smattering of hair across his pecs, and breathe in the heady scent of him mixed with sex.

“I’m not hungry,” I reply and tighten my clutch on him.

With a rumble of a chuckle which makes my stomach pinch with excitement, he manages to extricate himself from my hold. He grins as he slides me up to meet his gaze. His hands slide through my hair and hold it back from my face as though his gaze is seeking an answer to an endless riddle.

“What?” I ask and lean onto my elbows. His fingers continue to comb through my blonde strands. At the end of the lengths, his hands rub along the ink of my skin.

“You are incredibly beautiful.” His lips curve into a sensuous and wide smile.

“Really?” I wiggle my eyebrows. “Many people would disagree.”

“They’d have to be blind.”

I shrug. “People don’t like girls with tattoos, especially when they have as many as me.”

The tip of his right index finger trails across my roses. “These blew me away when I first saw them.”

My eyes skim the pink walls of my Bowsley bedroom, which after tomorrow will no longer be mine. “They’ll remind me of you and this room.” My throat tightens as I speak. “It’s ironic really that I had them done because I wanted something pretty, and you who loves them so much are the only person who sees me as beautiful.”

He watches me, his lips crimped together, for a long pause. I stare at him back and will him to understand the words I can’t yet say.

“Come.” He shakes his head. “Enough of this sadness, let’s go.”

Eli rolls from the bed and holds his hand out for mine. “Dinner.”

My stomach growls again. It probably is time to eat something.

I follow him to the kitchen where we find a basket on the table with a note tied with brown string to the handle. Enjoy!

“She’s a trouper, old Elaine.”

“Are we going to the conservatory?” A tingle of excitement flares. I haven’t spent enough time in that phenomenal place and now it’s too late.

“Maybe.” He smirks and holds out his arm for me to take. I link us together and anchor our elbows tight.

We don’t go to the conservatory which is a disappointment, for a whole three minutes, until I see he’s leading me down the kitchen gardens. “Where are we going?”

“Patience, Faith.”

I chuckle a little. “I don’t have any.”

When he turns to me in the dark he steals my breath away. He’s even more beautiful lit by shadows of cloud and moon.

He glances at the sky and I watch as the smile spreads across his face. “Why are you smiling at cloud cover?” I ask.

“Wait and see.”

Finally, when we’ve been walking down the neat pathways and borders for a fair while he turns into a walled garden. The most delicious pungent scent fills the air, cloying and sweet, and I breathe in deeply.

“What is that? It’s delicious.”

He tugs on my hand and pulls me around for a kiss, the basket forgotten on the floor as his hands weave their way into my hair and his thumbs skim my jaw.

“You kiss like nothing else I’ve known.” The words slip into the night air, but I can’t really care or want to call them back. It’s a statement of truth and I’ll stand by it until my dying day. His kiss and the pungent air make my head swirl.

“This is the orchard.” He pecks a kiss on the tip of my nose. “It’s better at night.”

I’ll say.