The One Who Got Away is Back

Present 9 ♡ Running From Sunshine

I was running, running. Pumping my legs with all my might as though something terrible was chasing me. Except there was nothing behind me but darkness and I was the one chasing. Up ahead my parents remained static, but no matter how much energy I put into it, how much harder I tried to reach them, the further they seemed to be.

I woke up with a start, understanding at once that it had just been a dream. A nightmare. Yet my heart was beating as if it had all been real. A gentle hand removed my pink hair from my face and then there was Miguel's face, wrinkled with worry and dusted with the beginnings of a stubble.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

When I couldn't answer right away he cradled me against him, letting me use his shoulder as a pillow. It was the hardest pillow I'd ever rested on, but with his warmth, the softness of his skin, the way I felt so safe with his arms around me, I found it the very best pillow I'd ever had. After a few minutes my body was able to shed the aftereffects of crisis and I softened against him. His free hand was running circles over my back and it was doing certain things to me, considering we were in his bed in our birthday suits. I sighed against the crook of his neck and I felt his body tighten.

I lifted myself up on my elbows to look down at him. Miguel opened his green eyes and let them wander down to my goodies. I flattened myself against his chest, smiling as I felt the very clear repercussions down below.

I cleared my throat and said, "Sorry for scaring you. It was just a nightmare."

"Hmm, I'm glad you're okay."

I yelped as he grabbed a hold of my hips and placed me squarely on top of his lap.

"Aren't you tired?" I asked, breathless even though I wasn't actually doing any cardio. Yet.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Of you? Never."

The contrast between the nightmare and this wake up call almost made me dizzy. I crumbled on top of him, aroused as hell but also confused about why I'd even dream about my parents. I hadn't heard from them in so long, I wasn't even sure I'd recognize their voices upon hearing them again for the first time. But I remembered their faces, stern and closed off and always looking at me like I was their worse mistake.

I brought my arms around Miguel's neck and nuzzled him, wishing he would never look at me in the same way my parents did the last time I saw them. But what could guarantee it? What could possibly make him want to keep me around if my own parents hadn't?

Miguel must have sensed the turmoil in my head because he brought up his hands to rub the soothing circles on my skin again.

"Tell me what's wrong," he murmured into my ear. "Or let me kiss it all away. Your choice."

That made me smile. I turned my face and kissed his jaw.

The years hadn't changed the need in him to always help, to be there for someone who needed a shoulder to cry on. That was what had made me fall for him so hard when we were at college, beyond the silly teenage crush I'd had on him since high school. Depending on Miguel for emotional support had been my biggest fear, because that was easily something I could see myself needing like I needed air. And here we were, fulfilling my self prophecy in the most delicious way. It was just as terrifying.

"What did I do to deserve you?" I regretted asking that question the second it came out. I wasn't exactly ready to reveal what that could say about me. Pulling back slightly, I grabbed the blankets and wrapped them around me. Evading his eyes I said, "Um, sorry. I don't know what-"

But I never got to finish the sentence. Next thing I knew, I was flipped on my back and Miguel was snug between my legs, as if the bed sheets weren't between us. His forearms framed my head as he looked down at me, his head tilted and eyes narrowed like he was trying to figure out a puzzle.