There was so much to see that my heart raced in anticipation. This was where I was meant to have lived my life. I would have been at home here. Blossom Grove would have been my roots; New York would have been my wings.
And Rune Kristiansen would forever have been my love. By my side through it all.
Noticing a door to my left, I walked over and pushed down the handle. I gasped as a cold breeze hit me, then I truly let myself take in the sight.
A garden.
An outdoor terrace with winter flowers, benches and, better still, the view. Zipping up my coat to keep warm, I stepped out into the coldness. Flurries of light snowflakes settled on my hair. Needing to feel them on my face, I tipped my head back. Cold flakes landed on my eyelashes, tickling my eyes.
I laughed as my face grew damp. Then I walked forward, running my hands over the glistening evergreens until I was standing at the wall that offered a panorama of Manhattan on a plate.
I breathed in, letting the cold air fill my bones. Suddenly, warm arms were around my waist and Rune’s chin rested on my shoulder. “You like it, baby?” Rune asked softly. His voice was barely above a whisper so as not to intrude into our little haven of tranquility.
I shook my head in disbelief and turned back slightly until I faced him. “I can’t believe you’ve done all this,” I replied. “I can’t believe you’ve given me this.” I pointed to the sprawling city below. “You’ve given me New York.”
Rune kissed my cheek. “It’s late, and we have lots to do tomorrow. I want to make sure you’re rested enough to see everything I have planned.”
A thought sprang into my mind. “Rune?”
“Ja?”
“Can I take you somewhere tomorrow too?”
He frowned, creasing his forehead. “Of course,” he agreed. I could see him searching my eyes, trying to discover what I was up to. But he didn’t question me. And I was happy about that. He’d refuse if he knew ahead of time.
“Good,” I said proudly and smiled to myself. Yes, he had given me this trip. Yes, he had things planned. But I wanted to show him something, to remind him of his dreams. Dreams he could still achieve even after I was gone.
“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.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.