03 The Fate Of The Muse - Marina's Tales (41 page)

“No,” I said, touched that he saw them the
same way I did, “They need me to stay here.”

He took me in a close embrace, whispering in
my ear, “I need you to stay here too.”

I stroked the back of his head, kissing his
ear. There was no point in saying it anymore. I was just going to
have to prove it.

“I’m starving,” I said, “Let’s go get
something to eat.”

I followed his truck back out onto the
freeway and we ended up at the little pizza place he’d taken me
before. We took the same exact booth in the back and looked at the
menus.

“They all look good,” I said, “You pick.”

I looked up to see him smiling at me, “Do you
remember this place?”

I nodded, smiling shyly, “After my first
surfing lesson… You made me so nervous, the way you were staring at
me.”

The waitress arrived, and he ordered, playing
footsie with me under the table. I had to struggle to keep a
straight face.

He nudged me when she left, “So I was
staring, huh?”

“Yes,” I said reproachfully, “You made me
very uncomfortable.”

“Really?” he smiled wider, “You looked so
freaked out… I just wanted to come around the table and give you a
big hug.”

“You did?” I asked.

“Couldn’t you tell?”

“Not really… Why didn’t you?” I said
teasingly.

“You made me nervous too.”

“Do I still make you nervous?” I asked with
raised eyebrows.

“Yes,” he said, getting up to come around and
slide in next to me, “But it doesn’t stop me anymore.” He scooted
closer, raising his hand to my face, caressing my lips with his
thumb.

“You know what else I wanted to do?” he
asked.

“What?”

He bent down to kiss me softly, and we stayed
there like that, lost in each other’s eyes and lips until the food
arrived, bringing us back to reality.

We ate in comfortable silence, and I thought
about how much we’d been through in the short time we’d known each
other. Within a few months Ethan had become the most important
person in my life, and I knew that I’d stay with him forever. He
must have been feeling the same thing.

“When we’re married,” he said, “I might have
to put you to work in my greenhouse.”

I smiled, “As long as you feed me
afterwards.”

“I’ll cook for you every night…” He looked at
me sideways, “Unless you wanna cook.”

I sighed, “Ethan?”

“What?”

“Do you think that maybe…”

“What?”

I bit my lip, “Uhm… Sometimes, I think that
it’s never going to live up to your expectations… I mean, you
do
know that when we’re married things won’t always be
perfect… right?”

His eyes were so blue I wanted to go for a
swim in them, and they bored into mine, “All I expect from you is
one thing.”

“What’s that?” I whispered.

“All I want from you is everything.”

“OK,” was all I could manage.

I could feel the tides between us slowly
turning, washing all my lingering doubts away. There was no place
to go now but forward.

“Now,” he said, brushing the hair from my
face, “Tell me what happened at Evie’s.”

And so I did.

Everything.

-THE END-

Book #4 in the Marina’s Tales series, “The
Turning Tides” will be released in early 2012.

www.derrolyn.com