Debutante's Daydream

Chapter Eighteen

        Winter was in full swing, the cold air froze Carolyn to the core and she made her way through the garden and wound her way through the hedges. Anticipation warmed her blood and she tossed her mask off and in the middle of the garden, illuminated by the moon high in the sky, was John. 

        Her heart pounded in her chest and she fisted her dress in her hands. He turned to her with a smile and she walked to him slowly and let the ice cold gravel push into the soles of her feet uncomfortably. Her bare feet not accustomed to walking on gravel. 

      Her whole body was aware of him. He'd been warm in the dance hall and thinking about being absorbed on his warmth once again made her toes curl. She was excited to be here with him. It reminded her of the first day they met, when he spirited her away into the garden and they had talked. 

        In her soul talking to him had felt like coming home. She had spoken to him as if she'd known him her whole life. Carolyn had believed it was destiny that brought him to her. To show her real love. 

        That was the word to describe all her feelings she realized. Love. She could've never hoped to experience something like this her very first season, but she had. She had come to terms with the fact that she would never marry for love. That she was too stuck in fantasy, too stuck on her ideal of her perfect man.  

         John was far from perfect. But he was perfect for her. And that's all that mattered. 

        She approached him and made herself slide shaking hands over his arms. Pushing against the nerves that screamed at her to retreat. She didn't want to retreat. So she didn't.

        Carolyn leaned into the warmth that emanated from John and slid her hands over his biceps and shoulders. She shivered as his hands slid along her hips, pulling her so their bodies were flush together. It wasn't the first time they found themselves in an intimate embrace, however this time felt different. 

        Her pulse pounded in her ears and sparks flew around belly, igniting the cages and set loose a swarm of butterflies in her belly. 

        "Hello, John," she whispered, unable to keep from saying his name. For it was like a chant on her body. 

        He lifted one hand and cradled her cheek in his palm, his thumb teased the soft skin beneath her eyes. "Good evening, Care," he murmured, voice husky and deep with emotion. His soft accent caressing her skin, the sound like his callouses on her bare skin, causing her arms to prickle with goosebumps and her breasts to swell with want... with need. 

        "You're so beautiful, Carolyn," he whispered in rapture, his eyes searched her face and his fingers threaded through the strands of her hair, tucking it behind her ear and pressed a small kiss to her jaw. His soft lips brushed over her skin causing her ears to hollow out in sensitivity. 

        She loved when he said her name. When he looked at her with emotion in his eyes and passion brimming in his body. She gravitated towards him and he met her halfway, the act of leaning in felt as natural as breathing. And as their lips met, her breath left her lungs. The sensation felt cataclysmic, as though a pulse of warmth and sunshine was spread through the world just from the smallest brush of their lips. 

        It was light as a feather at first.

        The barest brush of lips against hers. Both too afraid to press too hard lest they scare the other off. The quietest of sounds escaped her lips at the gentlest pressure John had applied to her lips. Shimmers gathered in her belly and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her body up against his. In that moment the kiss changed exponentially.