The Resurrection of Aubrey Miller(69)

The number 256 stares me in the face for about thirty seconds before I reprimand myself for being ridiculous and finally knock on the door. Heavy footsteps approach, and as the handle turns, I close my eyes and take in another deep breath. When I open them, I’m met with a sexy half-smile and beautiful hazel eyes. Eyes that don’t look at all stunned to see me. They actually look…relieved.
“Come on in.”
Slowly I step inside the room. The candlelight catches my eyes as the flames flicker and dance all around me. I stand there in shock, watching the glow that lines almost every inch of the room. Kaeleb clears his throat from behind me and I turn to face him. I eye him suspiciously before finally take notice of his appearance. A white undershirt clings snugly to his chest and around his biceps, and he’s still dressed in the pants and shoes from the funeral. The silver buckle on his belt catches my attention before my sight works its back up to his face.
And then it dawns on me.
They had this planned the whole time.
No wonder Quinn threw me out of the house.
The corner of my mouth jerks upward when the revelation hits me, prompting Kaeleb’s half-smile to turn into a full one.
“Damn it. I had a really good speech planned too,” I remark with feigned disappointment.
He cocks his brow and gestures for me to have a seat on the bed. My own eyebrows lift at his presumptuousness, sending a rumble of laughter through his chest. “Well, don’t let my wooing, as you like to call it, stop you. I’m suddenly very interested to hear this speech you have prepared.”
He takes a seat on the bed as I remain standing. Still smiling, he leans back against the pillows, locking his arms behind his head. He stretches his long legs out along the bed as he kicks off his shoes and crosses his feet at the ankles. His face is full of amusement as he widens his eyes, signaling me to begin. “Come on, Sunshine. Don’t go getting all shy on me now. Let’s hear it.”
My face pinches tightly as my eyes narrow in his direction. “Really?”
“Really.”
We stare at each other in some sort of unnecessary stand-off for a couple of minutes before a long conceding exhale passes through my lips. “Fine. I need some water though.”
Nothing like some preemptive stalling.
I make my way to the sink while running through my epic speech one more time in my head. Once I’ve downed the glass, I kick off my shoes and stride to the bed, displaying false confidence as I take a seat beside his legs.
Clearing my throat, I begin. “So, I’ve been thinking a lot about this,” I gesture between the two of us, “About us.”
Kaeleb responds with an encouraging nod but remains silent. “In the time we were apart, I changed. I mourned. I lost. I accepted. I grew. But the most important thing I did was survive. I survived all the things that frightened me the most. And do you want to know how I did that? What I focused on?”
His eyes hold mine as he unlocks his arms and brings them forward to reach for my hand. “Of course.”
Interlacing our fingers, I answer, “Balance.”
“Balance?”
“Yes, balance.” I tighten my grip on his hand. “You call me your sun, well you’re my moon, Kaeleb. I know it’s not the most romantic thing I could say right now, but it’s true. You’re my balance. You’re the ebb to my flow. You’re the day to my night. The light to my dark. With all the bad that I’ve experienced, you are the good that balances my life.”
Happy tears rise in my eyes and a smile crosses my face. “This brand new, beautiful life that I’ve just begun living doesn’t work without you in it. I need you, Kaeleb, like the sun needs the moon.”
A familiar, smart-aleck grin breaks across Kaeleb’s face. “You know, technically the sun doesn’t need the moon.” A chuckle escapes his throat and his shoulders bob with laughter as I pull my hand out of his and narrow my gaze at his statement.
“Really? You’re going to discount my entire extraordinary speech with your stupid-ass, know-it-all tendencies?”
His face falls serious as he leans forward into my line of sight. “Will you let me finish before you get all huffy?”
I cross my arms over my chest and indeed, huff.
He fights a smile. “But I do understand what you’re saying.”
His grin fades and his tone loses its humor. “I think some people are just inexplicably bonded. Drawn by forces beyond their own comprehension, they have no choice but to gravitate toward one another. Destined by fate to keep crossing paths until they finally get it right.”
He reaches to stroke my cheek with his fingertip. “So, yeah. I understand completely. Because the way I see it, we’re two people, so hopelessly intertwined, that without one, the other ceases to fully exist. You call me your moon, well, I call you my soul mate.”
My breath stalls and my heart hammers in my chest. Before I can say anything, he leans forward, hooking his hand around the back of my neck as he draws me into him, brushing his lips softly against mine. The taste of him as his tongue gently parts my lips…the scent of him as I breathe him in…the feel of him as I run my fingers along his chest…it flares every single one of my senses, bringing them to life with the need to absorb him. For our bodies to become one, to join, to immerse so deeply in one another so that there is no possible recognition of where one begins and the other ends.
I rise to my knees as he does the same, our mouths insatiable, growing with frenzy. My fingers work their way to his nape, pulling him as close as I can just to savor his taste. His teeth nibble along my bottom lip and his tongue tangles with mine as he releases his hold on my neck, to grasp my waist.