Never in a Million Years |N.R|

|47| Shadows.

The morning suns rays cast across my face, dampened every now and then by the sheer curtains blowing across their path. My cheek was resting atop Nat's bare chest, with the rest of my body intertwined with hers in some way as she slept soundly below me. Despite her deep slumber she still held onto me, an arm around my back and the other down by her waist where our hands were intertwined.

I closed my eyes for a moment just to revel in the feel of her. Her chest rising and falling with each breath, her heart beating calmly by my ear and her warm skin pressed against mine. Each of those alone were my favourite, but all together they meant home. Safety. That I could breathe.

She didn't stir at all when I began running a thumb back and forth across her knuckles, or even as I turned my head to plant featherlight kisses to her chest and collarbone. She was all the way out, which was just what I needed.

After waiting a few more moments with my breath held to make sure she was still asleep, I carefully removed my body from her hold and slid out from under the covers. As I took a couple of steps away from the bed I turned back around once more to make sure she hadn't awoken, and got caught admiring her.

I couldn't help it, even more than usual. When I looked at her now, I realised that I'd never loved her so much as I did then. The fight we'd both put in to rescue what we'd built together made our bond stronger, and our love deepen. Nothing could ever come between us again. I was sure of it.

The white sheets were pushed all the way down to her waist, leaving her bare torso uncovered. Her lightly tanned skin stood out against the light background, drawing my eyes in even more. Since my leaving her side she'd stretched her arms up above her head and lazily crossed them at the wrist, her nose scrunched slightly as she tried to get comfortable. I loved it when she did that.

She eventually stilled all the way once she'd turned her head to the side and nestled into her arm, meaning that the coast was clear for me to move once again. Except I didn't right away. My eyes ran across every piece of exposed skin, etching it into my memory for about the thousandth time, and yet it still made my heart sing. I couldn't believe she was real.

My mind was still wrapped up in that thought as I pulled a T-shirt and shorts on, before quietly leaving the room to head downstairs. By the looks of things I had a while before Nat was even close to waking up, so I had plenty of time to pull things together.

My first stop was the orange grove out the front of the villa. Nat had made mention a couple of times how she'd like to try some freshly squeezed OJ, so it was at the top of my list of things to do that morning.

I grabbed a large mixing bowl from one of the kitchen cupboards, slipped on some flip flops, and quietly left the house out the front door. I was acutely aware of the fact that the drive crunched beneath my feet as I walked, but it was only a short distance to the grass and our bedroom was on the other side of the villa.

My mind was trained to pick up on such things, and part of me was comforted and assured by the fact that I hadn't lost my touch.

The first tree I came to was a little bear, and any usable oranges were up on the highest branches so I didn't waste too much time looking at it before moving onto the next. The morning sun was beginning to grow hotter and hotter as it rose up into the sky, but I was determined not to let it ruin my decision making.

Only the best for my Nat, in everything.

Half an hour later I was near waddling back towards the house from the last line of trees, bowl propped against my hip as I used my free hand to try and stabilise the tower of oranges. I'd picked enough to make a gallon of juice I was sure.

When I eventually reached the door after crunching along the drive once more, the wood got caught by the wind and slammed open into the wall. My heart hammered in my chest as I was sure that would wake a sleeping Nat, no matter how tired she was from a very late night.