Sokeefe - Until She Was Ready For More (unedited)

15

"Sophie?"

"Ow," I squeezed eyes my closed against the glaring sun. 

"Sophie, are you okay?" Keefe's voice was closer this time; it sounded like he was right above me. 

I groaned and tried to open my eyes again. I was relieved to find that the light was now being blocked by Keefe's standing form. 

I scowled as he chuckled from above. Rude.

"Come on, lazy, get up." 

"Noooo," I moaned in protest as he grabbed my arms and pulled me up. 

Once I was in a standing position, Keefe wrapped his arms around me and placed a light kiss on my forehead. Okay, maybe I wasn't in so much pain, and standing up wasn't the worst thing in the world. 

"Do you remember what happened?" Keefe asked softly as his fingers combed through my hair. 

"Of course. We were..." I trailed off. Actually, I didn't know what happened. Not really, anyways. 

"I remember going to the future, but I can't remember anything about it," Keefe admitted. 

Huh. What he said was striking a bell: I knew everything that happened between Keefe and I, but I could only vaguely remember the two boys and little girl... and Biana? Keefe and I were married, too; that would be hard to forget. 

"It's all fuzzy for me." 

"All of it?" Keefe asked, pulling away to look at my face. 

"Not all of it...."

"You remember confessing your undying love for me, then."

My cheeks burst into flames. My only consolation was the blush on Keefe's cheeks as well.

"So did you," I said in defense. At that, his smirk lessened, and his eyes grew more serious. 

"Do you feel differently now that we're back in our time?" 

"Do you?" 

"No, of course not. My feelings aren't going to change." 

"Mine aren't either," I answered softly, leaning my forehead against his. 

After a moment, his gaze fell to my lips. "Can I kiss you?" he murmured. 

I nodded in response and Keefe leaned in. Just as his lips skimmed mine, an angry sound came from somewhere. 

I jerked my head towards the noise, a gasp accompanying it. 

"KEEFE SENCEN, GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY DAUGHTER."

So maybe it would've been smart to look at our surroundings at some point. 

Keefe took a large step back and raised his hands in surrender. Turning to look at him, I saw panic in his eyes. 

"So help me Keefe, if you get so much as a centimeter closer to her, I'll send you straight to Exile myself," Grady warned, fire in his eyes, as he marched closer to Calla's tree and us.

Keefe looked regretful as he stepped further away, putting more than just a few centimeters between us. 

I laughed nervously as Grady got closer. "Hey, Dad...."

"Look, boy, you and I are going to have a very serious conversation in the near future," he turned his attention to focus on me. "The same goes for you, young lady. For right now, though, you can sit in the house, where I can supervise you."

I sighed in relief. Grady might not like Keefe at all, but he did care about what I wanted. He raised his eyebrows at us as he waited for us to start moving towards Havenfield. 

I looked over to Keefe and watched him mouth something at me. I love you.

I love you, too, I mouthed back.

We may have to handle Grady, but now we'll be handling things together.