Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Eighty-Eight

    "I'm not going to let you blame yourself for that," Drake said, frowning. "You gave me a chance to explain, I just...maybe I could have chosen better words. Gone into more detail. I don't know. A woman came to my house claiming to be my fiance. On top of that, when you asked who I'd choose, I hesitated. It's not hard to see why you walked out."

    "I understand why you hesitated now, though," Mia said. "You'd been with her for such a long time."

    He nodded. "There is an appeal in a woman who knew me before all of this," he said, waving a hand to indicate the grotto and the property. "A woman like that is usually into you for you and not what she can get from you. That's one of the reasons why I tried so hard to make it work with her. Once you make it big, sometimes it's hard to tell who's into you for you and who's into you for what you can do."

    "Possible rap lyric?" she asked him.

    He laughed. "Maybe. Maybe."

    Silence fell upon them.

    He looked over towards the waterfall. The sky beyond the falling water was darkening. "You know... I hesitated because of the history I had with her. It didn't feel right, dismissing her. But then I remembered the last conversation she and I had, and those months and months of trying to reach her. And I thought about how much I..." He stopped himself abruptly. "I thought about how I feel about you."

    Her heart had nearly stopped, but resumed beating when he finished his train of thought. She knew what he'd almost said, but she didn't bully him into finishing his original thought. Words as important as those three needed to be spoken when the person was ready. No good came from forcing someone to say them.

    He looked at her and squeezed her hand. "After you left, I wished that I could turn back time. So I could rewind back to when you and I were talking, and you were asking me who I'd choose. I wanted to go back in time so I could tell you that I would choose you. No matter how many times someone asked, my answer would always be you."

    If her heart could swell any bigger with love for him, it would burst through her ribcage. She sat up and looked down at him.

    He returned the frank perusal.

    She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

    When she started to pull away from him, he said, "Nuh uh. Come back here."

    She leaned down again and this time, kissed him on the lips. She only kissed him briefly, then sat up straight again.

    His eyes traveled down the length of her torso, admiring her nudity.

    She tugged on the waistband of his swimming trunks. "I don't know why you put these back on."

    His eyebrows went up. "Oh?" he asked, laughing.

    She laughed along with him. "I mean..." She shrugged and lowered her eyes coquettishly.

    "I was freezing when I got out," he said. "You wouldn't be impressed with me when I'm freezing cold."

    "I saw," she told him. "And I was still impressed."

    His smile stretched into a bonafide grin.

    She straddled him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

    He circled his arms around her waist. "So...have you thought about my offer at all? About moving in with me?"

   "Not with everything going on, no," she said, shaking her head.

    He nodded and dropped his eyes down.