Page 86 of Beneath Your Beautiful

“Are you guys getting tired of me yet?” she asked one rainy, lazy Sunday afternoon, about a week into this new living arrangement while we were watching one of theFast & Furiousmovies. Connor asked us to pause it while he tended to his microwave popcorn. Eden and I were on the sofa, her head resting in my lap, and I tipped my chin down to look at her face.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of you,” I said, and I meant it. I couldn’t imagine a day when I wouldn’t want to see her face, listen to her conversation, justbewith her.

She smiled. “It’s nice to see you relax.”

“You told me it was mandatory.”

“Do you ever get scared?”

I wrapped a lock of her hair around my fingers. “Of what?”

“Us. It’s just…everything is so good with us. It feels so right.”

I looked over in the corner, at the artwork she rolled up when she wasn’t working on it. She wanted to paste it on the concrete tower on top of the eight-story burnt-out warehouse. So far, she’d sketched the curl of wave with a surfer girl inside the barrel. It looked like the wave was about to crash over her head. Or, if you were an optimist, the girl would ride it out. Eden called it: Finding Peace in the Chaos.

“That scares you?” It surprised me she had the same fears I did.

“Sometimes. Now that I have you, I don’t want to lose you. I think…” She chewed on her lip. “My heart would break for real.”

Jesus. “You’re not going to lose me. You’re stuck with me.” I hoped it was a promise I could keep.

“Popcorn?” Connor asked, holding out the bowl. Eden sat up and dug her hand in the bowl, coming out with a big handful.

“Thanks Connor.”

I waved the bowl away. Connor always melted tons of butter on it and sometimes he sprinkled sugar and cinnamon over it. “Mm, sweet and buttery,” Eden said. “This is sooo good.”

Connor smirked at me and collapsed in his chair, setting the bowl on the coffee table for him and Eden to share. She scooted closer for better access to the popcorn and I hit play on the remote and pretended to watch the movie.

Before Eden, I didn’t know what love felt like. Now I did.

Chapter Thirty-One

Eden

The credits were rolling, and I was snuggled up against Killian’s side. Connor was asleep on the chair, his long legs kicked out in front of him, arms folded over his chest. He looked like the younger version of Killian. Dark hair cut short on the sides and spiky on top, and the same electric-blue eyes. Straight nose. Chiseled jaw. Equally beautiful. With one dimple, instead of two.

The tattoo sleeve on his left arm was birds in flight and fish that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle inked in blue and black.

“M.C. Escher,” Connor had said, when he’d caught me staring at his tattoo sleeve the day we met. “It’s based onSky and Water.”

Killian pointed the remote at the TV and turned it off, plunging the room into silence. “I’ve been thinking about getting another tattoo,” he said.

I perked up at that. I’d become a big fan of ink, especially on Killian’s body. He had the perfect canvas to work with. “Where?”

He took my hand in his, curled it into a fist, and held it over his heart. “Will you design it?”

My breath caught in my throat. A tattoo over his heart, and he was asking me to design it. That was kind of huge. I turned my head to look at his face. “What do you want?”

“Whatever you design. Connor can work from your sketch.”

A tattoo designed by me and inked by his brother. I knew Connor had designed all of Killian’s tattoos. I also knew Connor was supposed to paint the wall of Jared’s shop. Jared had let it slip. The other day, when I was alone with Connor, browsing through his sketchbooks, I’d asked him if he was okay with it. I felt like I’d stolen something that had been promised to him. Connor had assured me he was cool with it, and it was his own fault for skipping town.

“Connor was supposed to paint the wall,” I said.

“He told you that?”

“No. Jared did.”