Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 207002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1035(@200wpm)___ 828(@250wpm)___ 690(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1035(@200wpm)___ 828(@250wpm)___ 690(@300wpm)
Four years and counting...
The captain stepped over me, casting a shadow from the setting sun. “We’re weighing anchor for the night, Mrs Kara. Dinner will be in an hour in the dining room.”
“Can you have Harriet set up the table on the back deck, Ben? I’d like to drink in the sights of Karon.”
“Of course.” He nodded and headed back to the captain’s cabin above us.
Aslan stretched and sat up, tucking his pen behind his ear and giving me a lazy smile. His lion tattoo flashed me, slightly weathered with time, partly faded from sunshine. It never failed to bring a glow of happiness as I dropped my stare to my own. Even in death, our bodies would always wear that permanent mark. A picture of two hearts becoming one.
Catching my eyes as I looked back up, he gave me the sweetest grin along with a suggestive quirk of his eyebrow. “Want to get another?”
“Another?”
“Tattoo.” Leaning forward, he cupped my breast beneath my cream dress with familiar possessive fingers.
I gasped and leaned into his touch.
Society would say we were too old for lust and longing. But society was an idiot. Despite our years, our need for one another had never dampened.
“I think my name inked right above your heart would look extremely fetching,” he purred.
“Fetching, huh?” My heart kicked of its own accord, leaping from love, and not his faulty rhythm.
“We could pop into Thailand tomorrow and find an artist.”
“We could.” I smiled. “But if we do, I get to put my name right above yours too. It’s only fair.”
Sighing, he dropped his hand, his eyes burning with coal dust. “It’s been yours since I was born, Neri. It’s defective and damaged and only beats because you command it to, but if you want to autograph it, then by all means.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal then,” I whispered. “I’ll ensure it beats for another decade.”
“Knowing you, you’ll find a way to make that happen.”
He could live for a millennium, and I would still find new parts of him to love.
Still obsess over how handsome and kind and amazing he was.
Still want a thousand more years with him.
Looking toward the tourist beach in the distance, he took off his glasses and closed his sudoku book. “Another port.” He grinned. “Another night.”
“Another day.” I put my hand in his as he reached for me.
“Someday...but not today,” he whispered, squeezing my fingers and pulling me to my feet.
I smiled as he kissed me.
I laughed as he waltzed me around the deck, the slight clack of his blade in contrast to our bare feet.
Someday, but not today.
What a wonderful life.
What a fabulous love.
What an incredible day.
Today was not that day.
Tomorrow might not be, either.
But when someday came, we would face it together.
We would leap into the void.
We would swim into the stars.
And there, with the moon to guide us and the sea to carry us, we would find each other...
...all over again.