Regeneration

Chapter 57 - The Truth Will Set You Free

I awoke the next day with my face against Romero's bare chest. His skin was warm against my cheek as the glow of the morning seeped through the curtains, filling the room with a soft light. My fingers traced delicate patterns along Romero's skin as I stared up at him. My eyes studied his full lips, remembering how good they felt exploring the plains of my body, taking in every bit of me with slow reverence.

If this was settling, if this was living; then I could get used to it. Danger and the threat of the hunters would always be looming, but knowing he would be here with me to face it all, gave me a sense of relief and hope that we just might be able to obtain some semblance of a normal life. Of course, it would never truly be normal, but we would make it work.

We would make this place our home.

I watched Romero's closed eyes, the slow rise and fall of his chest. He was the image of peace. At some point, Romero and the word home had become synonymous. They both shared the same feelings of safety, comfort, and that stronger emotion I wasn't sure I was quite ready to say out loud yet. Saying it would make it too real-Make it worse if I ever lost him. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, not wanting to consider the notion.

Romero shifted onto his side facing me, his eyes still closed. He placed a hand under his head and then wrapped his other arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. With my body pressed to his, I rested my head on the same arm he folded under his head, my face coming to rest intimately close to his, our noses slightly grazing each other.

"What are you staring at?" He smiled without opening his eyes.

"I always knew you liked me." I teased him playfully.

"Yeah?" He opened one eye, peeking at me before closing it again, "I thought I made that obvious."

I laughed, and he pulled me over him, rolling us to the other side of the bed he propped himself on an elbow so that he was looking down at me. His eyes studied my face-studied the way my hair fell wildly around it from being tossed, as though he was trying to capture every minute detail of the moment. I stared into the earthy tone of his eyes. I never knew how much one's eyes could say until I met Romero. He was right. Though he never said it, his feelings for me were always there, in the way he would look at me, like he was looking at something rare and precious. He was staring at me like that now.

"What I would give to know what you're thinking right now," I smiled up at him, and he flashed me a heart-melting grin that made my stomach flutter.

"What would you give?" his grin turned mischievous, and I rolled my eyes at him. He placed a soft kiss just below my earlobe before coming to look at me again, his expression turning serious.

"I'm thinking of how right this feels," his fingers lightly traced from my collar bone down to my forearm, "A feeling that I was meant to find you, even if none of this happened." He watched his thumb as it stroked my forearm, "You are the only thing that makes sense to me in all of this, Hailey." It was strange yet comforting to see Romero be this vulnerable with me. I knew I had become home to him, too. He had lowered all his defenses for me. Romero, who was stoic and pensive for the majority of the time, had let me in, had let me see his very soul, feel the essence of it. And what I saw and felt was so intense, so pure-It had to be love. Every kiss, every caress, every tickling whisper against my skin- had love written all over it. Not lust or desire, but undeniable and immovable love.

I stayed silent for a moment, waiting for him to say the words, maybe then I would have to the courage to say them myself. I guess he felt the same as I did since he remained quiet. Saying those words would be a jinx, since this new world sort to take away and destroy everything that we loved.