Page 114 of Rivals

I sigh and rub her back. “No. I made it when I was thinking about my sisters and my mom. About how I may never see them again since my father thinks I’m throwing my life away. I missed them, and the painting just looked happy. All the bright colors and impressionist strokes felt like a good contrast because I wasn’t happy when I made it. I felt like I had failed them, given I decided to pursue my dream.” I don’t think about that often. I try not to.

“Is it selfish if I say I’m glad you decided to pursue your dream?” I chuckle.

“No, baby, it’s not. Though, I wish you didn’t have to go through what you did to get to me. I wish maybe it was just a bad case of anxiety.”

She huffs a laugh on my chest. Her warm breath skates over my chest. “I think I could handle some general anxiety.”

“We need to get to work,” I say quietly, but I don’t want to break this fragile bubble. We turned another page together last night. It was a hard night, but another good, solid step. I hope.

“I know, but I just…I want to stay like this for a little bit longer,” she says into my chest, pressing a kiss on my pec.

I tighten my arm around her and pull her to my eye level. Her eyes are full of pain but also full of love. She tilts her chin up, and I dip my head down. My lips sweep against hers before I capture them. We lick and taste each other, sinking into the overwhelming flood of love I have for this woman. I am in awe of the way her body responds to me when I nip at her lip or curve my tongue against hers, making her shiver.

She pulls back on a gasp, and I look her in the eye. “I love you,” I say.

She smiles softly and pats her hand on my chest. “I meant to tell you before…everything yesterday. I heard a saying that I thought was pretty.”

“What’s that?”

“Dolce far niente. It means the sweetness of doing nothing.”

I kiss her forehead again because I can’t help myself. “So, what we’re doing now?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she says.

I kiss her again, only I thrust my tongue against hers and steal every bit of breath she has. She rips her mouth away, panting. Her eyes are molten like she wants more. I flip us so I’m on top, and pepper kisses over her jaw and neck. “Does this count?” I ask between the kisses I place on her soft skin.

“Yeah, I think so,” she says, breathless.

I slide my hand under her shirt and tweak her nipple. She gasps again and bites her lower lip. “What about this?” I grin. She shakes her head and giggles. I slip my hand between her thighs and tease her.

“I don’t know about that,” she moans, her voice breaking off in the middle of speaking.

“Maybe it should be,” I say. She nods rapidly.

I kiss her once more, and her lips curve up in a smile against mine. I sit up, shaking my hands out. My knuckles hurt, and I need to get them cleaned up along with washing these sheets. “As much as I would like to, we have alot of work to do.”

She sighs and relaxes back into the pillows. Her black hair fans out messily across the pillow. I mentally take another picture so I can recreate her like this. “What?” she asks.

I shake my head. “Just taking you in.”

A blush spreads on her cheekbones and across her nose. She tries to hide behind her hands, but I reach to pull them back. Seeing her smile in the bright light of day feels good despite the darkness in the shadows. “Well…now that I think about it…maybe just five more minutes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s about to be the best five minutes of your life,” I say and leap onto her. She giggles, reaching for me.

It was unquestionably more than five minutes.

Chapter 68

Lachlan

Thegalaisfastapproaching. We’ve been working non-stop for almost two weeks, only taking breaks to eat, sleep a little, and maybe some moments where I can’t help but touch the woman I love. I can’t go more than an hour without running my fingers through her hair and pressing my lips to hers, feeling her skin against mine. I’ve been very creative.

It’s starting to come together. I’ve carved the section of the figure that will look like it’s coming out of the column. We decided to gesso that part to prime it, then paint directly onto it with the gelled paint so it’s thick. It can be almost sculpted into submission.

While we started on the column after all the canvas had dried on it, Revna started painting part of the landscape that blends into the piece as a whole, so it looks like a portal to another time. There are wisps of flowers and tall grasses, with the romantic-looking waterfall that pours over a rocky cliff behind the statue beginning to come out of it. Revna decided she wanted it to be a woman coming through it. Part of the figure is painted. Revna gave her beautiful long hair that reminds me of hers.