The Embrace by Vivian Wood

18

“Isla!? Isla!”

From across the castle, I can hear Keir’s angry shout. It follows us faintly down the stonework hall. I turn around and glance behind me with a sigh. Calum is right behind me, shaking his head.

“Keir has his hands full with his daughter,” I tell Calum.

Calum nods and transfers the picnic basket into his other hand, taking mine and squeezing it tightly. “That he does. When we went out alone yesterday, I asked him about where her mother went. But I didn't get a good answer. I mean, Keir can't expect to just let his daughter run wild.”

We reached the front door just as Keir makes an aggravated sound from far away. This time I don't even stop. I just wrench open the front door and hold it open for Calum. He raises his brows a little bit as he walks through the doorway. I feel guilty about it, but that doesn't mean I don't sigh with relief when I am safely outside.

“That girl is a holy terror. Did I tell you that she went through all of my stuff? When I got up this morning, I caught her wearing that emerald necklace that you gave me. But she lied and insisted that it was hers.”

He glances at me sharply. “You didn't mention it, no. But it doesn't surprise me. She filled my shoes with shaving cream and locked me in a spare room when I was exploring the castle.”

“Oh, no.” I bite my lip, glancing back. “Keir is going have to do something about her.”

Calum grabs my hand and pulls me along. “That's Keir's problem. We're on vacation. We're not responsible for his daughter.”

I smirk a little at him. “She is cute though.”

He shoots me a dark look. “Yeah, if you don't mind her incessant pranks and her pouting anytime anyone tells her no. I'm telling you, that's the worst case scenario for a parent. I know you can't predict what temperament your child is going to have… But that's got to be one of the worst ones.”

“She is a challenge, that's for sure.”

I look up at the castle walls as we pass them, my eye drawn to the varying shades of gray. To my surprise, Calum leads me around the back of the castle. There I find a large lake spread out below the castle, placid and peaceful as you could want. There is a copse of trees only a few hundred feet away and it leads down to the perfect sandy beach.

Calum leads me down to a spot on the shore and lays down a blanket. I look at him, impressed. “Nice work. This is just about the most romantic spot that has ever existed.”

He sets the picnic basket down and smirks at me. “I’m glad that you think so. I wasn't sure how you would fare this far outside of the city.”

I roll my eyes and find a spot to sit.

He sits down beside me and opens the picnic basket, pulling out all kinds of goodies. Champagne, cheese, fruit, meat, and a few little slices of bread. I laugh as he pops the cork on the champagne, and it spills stick sweet wine everywhere. He grins and pours us each a plastic cup full of wine.

He peers at his cup. “I think I made a fundamental mistake by putting plastic cups in the picnic basket. If I could do it again, I would've insisted on champagne flutes.”

I cock a brow at him. “You're assuming that Keir has champagne flutes.”

He frowns but nods. “Yeah, that's true. Keir definitely has some weird stuff… But I don't see him drinking a lot of champagne. If I hadn't brought this bottle from New York, we would be high and dry.”

My lips tip upward and I hold my cup out to him. “Well, cheers.”

He holds his cup out but doesn't tap it against my just yet. “What are we toasting to?” he asks.

I squint off across the water, listening to the low lapping sound of the water rising and falling on the shore.

“I’m not sure,” I say. “But it does seem to me that we could toast over almost anything in our lives. I can't think of anything that isn't going my way right now.”

His lips quirk. “That's fair. Well, here's to everything in our lives continuing to go right.”

He clinks his glass against mine and I smile as I take a sip of the foamy champagne. I move over to his side of the blanket, monopolizing his space and resting my thigh against his leg. He doesn't say anything but he does take my free hand. He laces our fingers together. For a while, we just look out over the lake and sit in silence.

A question bubbles up from my chest to my lips. “Am I just content right now? Is that what I'm feeling?”

Calum arches an eyebrow at me. “Maybe. Have you never been happy with your life before?”

I blush a little and slowly shake my head. “I don't think that I have, no.”

He looks thoughtful. “I guess I haven't ever felt that way either.” He casts his gaze over me and sips his wine. “I just feel calm. Is that how you feel?”

I lean my back against his chest and sigh. “Yeah. I guess things are just going well with us. Plus things at the ballet company are going well… My mom is finally out of my dad's house…” I wrinkle my nose. “The only thing I can even complain about is eating too many bagels and putting on weight from that. That's a pretty minor complaint.”

I can feel the reverberation of him chuckling through his chest. “You could stand to gain a couple of pounds, okay? I am as sensitive as any other dancer about weight, but I have noticed in the past that you were…”

He trails off and squints. I turn around and look at him, my lips pressing into a thin line.

“Be very careful what you are about to say.”

He shrugs a shoulder and sets his glass down, caressing my shoulder. “When you first moved into my apartment, I just thought that you were thin as a rail. That's all.

I exhale through my nose and roll my eyes. Turning back around to look out over the water, I shrug my shoulders. “What can I say? I got really into running while we were apart.”

Calum brushes my hair away from my shoulder and places a kiss just at the spot where my shoulder and my neck meet. I shiver, always responsive to every little touch from him.

“We are not apart now, are we?” he murmurs.

My lips curve upward. “No, we’re definitely not.”

He places another kiss next to the first one. Then he stills for a moment. I hear him take a deep breath.

“This is getting pretty serious, isn't it?”

I'm a little taken aback by his question. I turn my head so that I can see his face.

“Our relationship?” I clarify.

He nods, his expression somber.

“Well… It's the most serious relationship I've ever been in. But then again, I've never lived with anybody. I've never been in love before. I've never done any of the things that we do on a regular basis. It's all new. It feels intense.” I frown a little. “But maybe it's supposed to feel intense?”

His hand drops down to my knee and he lazily explores the skin he finds there. “It has never been like this with anybody else that I've been with. I think that is unique to us.”

I purse my lips and scrunch my face up. “Still. It feels good. It definitely feels better to be together than to be apart.”

His lips find the curve of my neck again. He whispers against my skin. “It does.”

I shudder at that. I wonder if it will always feel this way. “This intense. This wonderful.”

“God, I hope so.” His lips pause against my skin. “I don't know. I would imagine that we will have our ups and downs. But I can say for sure that I love you. I want to be with you. And I can't imagine feeling differently than I do now.”

My skin suddenly breaks out into goose flesh. “Yeah?”

Instead of answering, he turns my head so that he can kiss my lips. It feels so good and so right, just being with him here, right now. I don't know for sure what the future holds or what kind of challenges we might face. But I do know that with Calum by my side, I feel more than ready for whatever life brings.