“You need to sleep, Poppymin,” Rune said and lowered his mouth to kiss my neck.
I threaded my hand through his. “With you beside me in bed.”
I felt him nod against my neck, before kissing it one more time. “I’ve run you a bath and I’ve ordered food. You bathe, then we’ll eat, then we’ll sleep.”
I turned in his arms and lifted onto my tiptoes to place my hands on his cheeks. They were cold. “I love you, Rune,” I said softly. I said it often. And I always felt it with my whole heart. I wanted him to know, at all times, how much I adored him.
Rune sighed, and kissed me slowly. “I love you too, Poppymin,” he said against my lips, barely breaking away.
Then he led me inside where I bathed. We ate. And then we slept.
I lay in his arms in the center of a huge four-poster bed. With his warm breath drifting across my face. His bright blue eyes watching my every move.
I fell asleep, cradled in his embrace, with a smile both in my heart and on my lips.
Poppy
I thought I had felt a breeze through my hair before. But nothing compared to the breeze that whipped through my tresses at the top of the Empire State Building.
I thought I’d been kissed in every way there was to be kissed. But nothing compared to Rune’s kisses under the fairy-tale castle in Central Park. To his kiss in the crown of the Statue of Liberty. In the center of Times Square, the bright lights flashing as people rushed around us like they had no time left in the world.
People were always rushing even though they had plenty of time. Although I had very little, I made sure everything I did was slow. Measured. Meaningful. I made sure to savor any new experience. To take a deep breath and drink in every new sight, smell and sound.
To simply stop. Breathe. Embrace.
Rune’s kisses varied. They were slow and soft, gentle and feather-light. Then they were hard, fast and ravishing. Both left me breathless. Both made it into the jar.
More kisses sewn onto my heart.
After eating a late lunch at the Stardust Diner, somewhere I decided may just be my third-favorite place on Earth, I led Rune outside and around the corner.
“Is it my turn now?” I asked, as Rune took hold of my collar and pulled it close around my neck. Rune checked his watch. I eyed him curiously, wondering why he kept checking the time. Rune saw me watching him in suspicion.
Wrapping his arms around me, he replied, “You have the next couple of hours, then it’s back to my schedule.”
I scrunched my nose at his strict attitude and playfully stuck out my tongue. Heat flared in Rune’s eyes as I did. He dived forward and pressed his mouth to my lips, his tongue immediately stroking against mine. I squealed and held on tight as he dipped me back, before breaking the kiss.
“Don’t tempt me,” he said teasingly. But I still saw that heat in his eyes. My heart skipped a beat. Since Rune had been back in my life, we had done nothing more than kiss. Kiss and talk, and hold each other so impossibly close. He never pushed for more, but as the weeks had rolled on, I had begun to want to give myself to him again.
Memories of our night, two years ago, ran like a show reel in my mind. The scenes were so vivid, so filled with love, that my lungs seized. Because I still remembered that look in his eyes when he moved above me. I still remembered the way his eyes watched mine. The way heat flooded through me as I felt him, so warm, in my arms.
And I remembered his gentle touches on my face, my hair and my lips. But best of all, I remembered his face in the afterglow. The incomparable expression of adoration. The look that told me that, though we were young, what we had done had changed us forever.
Joined us in body, mind and soul.
Truly made us infinity.
Forever always.
“Where are we going, Poppymin?” Rune asked, pulling me from my reverie. He held the back of his hand against my burning cheek. “You’re hot,” he said, his accent strong, the perfect sound running through me like a cool breeze.
“I’m fine,” I said coyly. Taking his hand, I tried to lead him down the street. Rune pulled on my hand and made me face his concern head on.
“Poppy—”
“I’m fine,” I interrupted, pursing my lips so he would know I meant it.
Groaning in exasperation, Rune slung his arm around my shoulder and led me forward. I searched for the street name and block, working out where to go from here.
“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing?” Rune asked.
Ensuring we were heading in the right direction, I shook my head. Rune pressed a kiss to the side of my head as he lit up a cigarette. As he smoked, I took the opportunity to look around me. I loved New York. I loved everything about it. Eclectic people—artists, suits and dreamers—all woven into the giant patchwork quilt of life. The busy streets, car horns and shouts the perfect symphonic soundtrack to the city that never sleeps.
I breathed in the fresh scent of snow on the cold crisp air and hugged closer into Rune’s chest. “We would do this,” I said and smiled, briefly closing my eyes.
“What?” Rune asked, the now-familiar scent of his cigarette smoke billowing before us.
“This,” I said, “Us, walking down Broadway. We would walk the city, heading to meet friends, to our schools or our apartment.” I nudged his arm over my shoulder. “You would hold me just like this and we would talk. You’d tell me about your day and I’d tell you about mine.” I smiled at the normalcy of the picture. Because I didn’t need grand gestures or fairy tales; a normal life with the boy I loved would have always been enough.
Even in this moment, it was worth everything.
Rune didn’t say anything. I had learned that when I spoke like this, so candidly about things that would never come to pass, Rune found it best to say nothing at all. And it was okay. I understood why he had to protect his already-breaking heart.
If I could protect it for him I would, but I was the cause.
I just prayed, to all that was good, that I could also be the remedy.
Seeing the banner on the old building, I looked up at Rune and said, “We’re nearly there.”
Rune looked around in confusion, and I was glad. I didn’t want him to see where we were. I didn’t want him to be angry at a gesture kindly meant. I didn’t want him to hurt at being forced to see the future that could be his.
I steered Rune left toward a building. Rune threw his finished cigarette to the ground and took my hand in his. Walking to the register, I asked for our tickets.
Rune pushed my hand from my purse when I tried to pay. He paid, not yet knowing where we were. I reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “Such a gentleman,” I teased, and watched as he rolled his eyes.
“I’m not sure your daddy thinks that way about me.”
I couldn’t contain my laugh. As I giggled freely, Rune stopped and watched me, holding out his hand. I placed mine in his and let him pull me to him. His mouth landed just above my ear and he said, “Why is it when you laugh like that I desperately need to take your picture?”
I looked up, my laughter fading. “Because you capture all aspects of the human condition—the good, the bad, the truth.” I shrugged and added, “Because despite how much you protest and exude an aura of darkness, you strive for happiness, you wish to be happy.”
“Poppy.” Rune turned his head. As always, he didn’t want to embrace the truth, but it was there, locked deep in his heart. All he had ever wanted was to be happy—just him and me.