It seemed picture perfect to Lexi as the lights of the pool danced right along with them on the patio. She was already sketching it and painting it in her head. She’d use cool and soft colors and every small detail would be perfect and precise. Magic, she’d name it Magic for the song that was playing and the feelings she had right now dancing with Travis. “You are very far away Alexandria.” he practically purred her name in her ear before dipping her.
“Mmmm, sorry just…”
“Paint as always.” he finished for her because she couldn’t find a way to explain it. He understood though, just like he understood her snappy temperament when she bit his head off for interrupting her work this afternoon. It was a feat because he was far from a patient guy. He could be patient for her though.
She smiled and drew back slightly. “Sorry habit.”
He grinned back making her pulse jump like crazy. “No problem, it’s one of the things I love about you. Everything beautiful deserves to be captured.”
His words were kind but they made her falter dearly. “Travis I’ve told you-”
He hushed her and spun her out and back to her. They were so close that all she could see was the brown and gold of his eyes. His brow brushed over hers as he slowly danced them around in place. “Both my parents failed in love but I refuse too.” he murmured in her ear.
“Your mother is marrying my father.” she reminded him but her voice sounded very far away as he spun her out again and then back into his arms drawing her closer then before. Lexi felt her head spinning as his lips touched her jaw line briefly.
“And I know it won’t go well like all the rest. He won’t hurt her like the others though and maybe it’ll be civil unlike the rest.” Travis entertained himself with the prospect of that. His mother had never been known to be a civil person when it came to romance.
Lexi on the other hand didn’t find it as amusing as he did. She pulled back away from him. Their hands still laced together she quit dancing altogether as the music continued in it’s sweet tune. She let go of his hand and crossed her arms. “Not all marriages end. My parents’ didn’t, nor did my grandparents’, or any of my other relatives. I grew up knowing there was love to be discovered in the world. I pity you if you view love as something that doesn’t last.” Her words were harsher than she expected them to be but she had a point to make. Her father’s heart and happiness was something she didn’t take lightly.
Instead of being angry with that temper she knew he had buried under his cool and collected persona he smiled at her for a change of pace. “Pity the fool who has met you and still thinks that way.” he countered and advanced on her. She mirrored his movements backing up until she hit the edge of the outdoor dining table. With ease she still couldn’t fathom he picked her up by the waist and perched her on the edge of the table like an parent would their child. They were both far from children she’d come to realize though with great alarm. She had expected a boy and instead came a man that had startled and surprised her every step of the way so far. She gripped the edge of table as he leaned in closer but careful not to touch her.
She was scared and breathtakingly beautiful, he thought as he caught hold of her scent again. Roses, blossoms, top soil from her digging in the garden today, paints, and the faintest hint of turpentine. What use were the most expensive perfumes in the world when her natural scent was enough to drive his mind crazy?
Travis indulged himself by stroking a hand through her beautiful hair. Hair that had haunted his dreams and tortured him every time he searched for it in a crowd and never found it. How something this ordinary could delight him and render him awestruck was no longer a mystery to him.
Travis brought a lock of it to his lips and kissed it before turning his gaze back to Lexi. Her cheeks were slightly flushed because to her this was embarrassing. Her, a vixen in high school, a child raised to be a die hard romantic, was falling for a boy that made moves casual as glances. The well educated and good girl within her knew better but nothing seems to drill into her head that this wasn’t right.
He leaned in even closer until his lips were only a hairbreadth away from hers before he spoke. “Beauty was your muse, love was your song, you found things to laugh about so easily I do recall. There I sat lost in time, then you were there in a flash by my side. Your fire blazed but did not burn, in my world full of ice I saw you turn, and smile at the fool who had yet to learn to love and be loved without fear being burned.”
Lexi’s breath hitched at the shock that came when his lips touched hers. His cool lip simply brushed over her leaving her to want mo
Sorry I got cut off because of the character limit.
Here’s the rest of it.
more as his lips began to explore her face as they always did. Her cheeks, her jaw, and even her eyelids.
So perfect, the back of her mind mused. To her the world was one big picture. She always saw things in pictures, people, places, and events and at times she thought she’d expect nothing less of her partner. How strange it was though that she’d be moved so easily by his words. This guy that had no patience for detail and hated having his picture taken. He should be the last on her list of people to be attracted too.
His words thrilled her, they touched her deeper than any painting of Da Vinci’s ever had. “Where’d you read that?” she asked in a voice no higher than a whisper. Maybe if she heard the writer’s name her heart would quit pounding like crazy.
His lips grazed over her throat making her heart stumble in her chest. “I wrote that the first night I stayed in this house.” he mumbled against the skin h
Okay this site has officially made me angry.
he mumbled against the skin he was tormenting.
She jolted, the shock being so bad. Travis fisted his hand in her hair so he could tilt her head forward to look at him. Her head had unconsciously lolled back when he was teasing her throat. He smiled with that trademark smirk she was used to like the dark shade of brown his eyes were with the gold ring around his pupils.
“Love isn’t impossible in my mind when I have you in my life.” he said barely above a whisper before taking her lips a second time.
Every single time they kissed it was like a new experience. Each one was different and perfect for the moments they happened in. He slowly deepened it inch by painful inch until she thought she might simply go crazy. She was already insane. They were like fire and ice, water and oil, picture and word and yet this attraction did not feel tragic or fleeting. On the contrary it felt as if it was just beginning.
–Emilie CoulterSummary: