Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
“Now, turn around.”
I did as he asked, and then I gasped, covering my lips with warm fingers that were just interlaced with Theo’s.
We were on the south side of the city, near the top of the cliff, and from this angle, Positano spread out before us like a red carpet of glittering lights. The sun had just set over the horizon, casting the sky in brilliant shades of orange and pink that played with the deeper hues of purple and navy as the night tried to creep in.
One by one, lights popped on over the city. Streetlights, porch lights, lights in windows high above the cliffside, and lights on boats that still littered the water below. The night came alive with a warm orange glow from that little seaside city, and it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen in my life.
I turned to face Theo again, and right when I did, he snapped a photo.
I knew without looking at it what would be reflected in that photo. I knew there would be wonder and adoration in my eyes, and I knew the sky would be painted brightly behind me, and I knew that the way Theo had positioned us under a streetlight, there would be a soft orange glow on my forehead and down the bridge of my nose.
I smirked, shaking my head and reaching for the camera. Theo obliged with his own grin, and when the camera strap was around my neck again, I rested my hands on it.
For a long moment I stared at that camera, then back behind me at the sunset over Positano, and then back at the camera. When I found the courage, I finally lifted my eyes to meet Theo’s.
“It’s breathtaking,” I whispered.
He nodded, swallowing. “As are you, Miss Dawn.”
I shook my head again just as he stepped closer, his hand reaching out for my cheek. I leaned into his warmth, and then closed my eyes on a wince as if the touch had scarred me for life.
Perhaps it had.
“Why do you say things like that to me?”
“Because they’re true,” he answered with a cock of his head, as if the answer was obvious.
“But… I’m just…” I shook my head, looking down at myself. “Me. Just a girl from Colorado with a camera in her hand. And you…”
Theo frowned when my gaze met his, and he thumbed my jaw line, rolling his lips together before he whispered, “And I can’t get enough of you.”
My next breath shuddered out of me, and Theo’s hand swept back into my hair, gripping the back of my neck just slightly. He pulled me in, and my eyelids fluttered shut as I pressed onto my tip toes. I leaned into that touch like a moth to a flame, and when his heat came nearer, when I felt his breath on my lips, I wished with everything that I was for his lips to meet mine.
But inside, my stomach lurched in warning, and my body jerked back with the force.
“Uh,” I said, shaking my head when I’d pulled away. I tucked my hair behind my ear, glancing up at Theo’s confusion through my lashes. “We should probably get back to the boat.”
For a long moment, Theo just watched me, a million indecipherable emotions surging in his eyes. I watched the muscles of his jaw tick, watched the way he slid his hands into his pockets as if that was the only way to keep them from reaching out for me. He let out a long, slow, and steady exhale, and then a small smile found his lips. “Lead the way,” he said, gesturing toward the path that led down to the beach.
So I turned, and held my camera between my hands, snapping a few last photos as we made our descent.
Theo didn’t try to hold my hand on the walk back.
And later that night, when Joel was fast asleep next to me, I stared at the photo Theo had taken of me at the top of Positano and wondered who that girl in the photo was. She looked fresh and young and vibrant. She looked beautiful and luxurious and confident. She looked just seconds away from a laugh, just minutes away from a kiss. She looked aglow, like only a woman newly in love can.
She looked like no one I recognized.
And everything I ever wanted to be.
I spent that night wishing I could paint.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the photograph Theo had taken, and for some reason, I kept comparing it to the self-portrait assignment I had my freshman year at CU. The assignment had been simple: take a photograph of yourself. But it was so much more than that. You had to capture your entire essence in a single photograph, as if that one picture would be all the world would ever know about you.