by L B Pavlov
“I hope so,” she said.
“I know so!” I said, and I pressed my lips to hers.
“Um, excuse me! Don’t mean to be rude, but I haven’t seen my sister in a while either,” James said, laughing.
Charlotte jumped up and hugged him tightly, and then she hopped right back on my lap. Now that I had her back, I was never going to let her go again.
We went over to Daniel’s house so that I could see Grace, Tom, Devon, and Preston before they left for Tahiti. I couldn’t believe that Daniel was going to miss Christmas in Tahiti to be with me. I would have been crushed if he had left when I just got him back. I could barely keep my hands off of him, and I think that he felt the same way. We were either holding hands, hugging, or kissing every second that we were together. The time apart had been torturous, and it only made everything all the sweeter now.
He opened the front door and Grace came running toward me. “Charlotte Rose Ford, you are never allowed to stay away that long again!” she said, hugging me tightly.
Tom came walking up. “There’s our best girl,” he said, giving me a big bear hug. “Look, Grace, our son is actually smiling,” Tom said with a grin.
“Thanks for letting Daniel stay behind with me for Christmas,” I said happily.
“Are you kidding, after what you two have been through, we couldn’t keep him away. And it’s good to see you both happy,” Grace said, beaming.
Preston and Devon gave me a big hug and thanked me for bringing their brother back to normal. Everyone seemed happy to be back together. They loaded up their car, we all hugged good-bye, and they left for the airport.
We were standing in the doorway, and Daniel was standing behind me with his arms wrapped around me. He rested his chin on my shoulder, and I could feel his warm breath in my ear. It made my entire body tingle with excitement.
I turned around to face him. “So, we are finally alone,” he said with his head cocked to one side, smiling. “What would you like to do?”
“Well, honestly, I have my uniform on under these sweats, and it is not really comfortable. I’d love to get out of these clothes,” I said, twisting my ponytail into a bun to get my hair off my neck.
“Hmmmmmmm…I’ve never seen you in your uniform. The track suit is pretty cute, let’s see the uniform,” he said in his raspy, sexy voice as he sat down on the couch, smiling at me.
“Are you serious?” I said, blushing.
“Completely,” he said with his smoldering eyes staring into mine.
“OK, I will show you the uniform, and then you have to give me something comfy to change into,” I said, lifting my eyebrow to let him know I was serious.
“Deal!” he said excitedly.
I pulled off the sweats. I had my Stanford track shorts and tank top on underneath. It was very tight, and the shorts were like spandex underpants, so I was ready to get them off.
“Wow! That’s one sexy running outfit,” he said staring at me, his eyes blazing.
“Are you kidding me?” I said, laughing.
He scooped me up and carried me up to his room. “I am not kidding. You are the sexiest girl I’ve ever seen,” he said, placing me gently on his bed.
“Let’s see, what would you like to wear?” he asked, opening his drawer. I looked over at his laundry folded on the dresser, and I saw his Notre Dame jersey.
“Oooohhhhh, I want to wear that!” I said, pointing and smiling.
“I would love to see you in that jersey,” he said, smiling back at me.
I changed right in front of him. I had nothing to hide from Daniel anymore.
“Wow! That jersey has never looked better,” he said, and his eyes were smoldering. I felt a wave of desire run through my body just looking at him.
“Hey! I know what I’m dying to ask you!” I said eagerly.
“What’s that?” he asked, still gazing right into my eyes.
“My dad said Crystal’s accusations were blown up because of this tattoo mystery. I insisted to him that you only have one tattoo. He said you got another one. Is that true?” I asked, curious about the addition.
“Yes, it’s true,” he said sweetly.
“Really? What is it?” I asked, interested to know his choice.
“It is a reminder of what is most important to me in my life,” he said firmly.
“Will you show me?” I asked, curiosity burning through me. I wondered if it was something relating to football? Or something about his family?
“Of course I will,” he said, planting a kiss on my cheek.
He lifted his shirt, and just that movement alone made me weak in the knees. Daniel was so muscular, and his chest was ripped. He had definitely been working out a lot, and his stomach was so chiseled now. I had to fight the urge to touch him as he pulled his shirt completely off.
When he turned toward me, my jaw hit the ground. Across his chest, right over his heart, was a black spiderweb about the size of my hand, and in a beautiful, light-pink script it said Charlotte. I was completely unprepared for that. Daniel had inked me onto his body forever. It was the most romantic gesture ever.
“I love it,” I said, feeling a blush creep across my cheeks.
“Now I will always have you with me,” he said confidently.
I took my hand and gently touched it. “I can feel your heart beat right where my name is,” I said quietly.
“That’s the way that I wanted it,” he whispered into my ear.
Daniel and I talked all night. We were laying in his bed, facing one another, and filling each other in on our lives. We made a pact to never go a day without speaking. We would finish our second semester of college where we currently were, and then see what we wanted to do for next year. We realized that we could get through anything as long as we were together. We would make decisions together from now on and not allow anyone else to have a say in what we did. We also promised to never, ever go a day without telling each other how much we loved one another.
Our hands were intertwined as we talked until six a.m. the next morning.
“You know, we both live on our own now,” I said shyly, feeling my face flush.
“Yes, we do. What should we do about that?” he said, and he smiled his beautiful smile. He wrapped his strong arms around me, and he pressed his lips to mine.
