Indecipherable Looks

Chapter 10

"Marry me."

When he said that, Maxi wasn't sure if she was hearing correctly. Nothing else went through her ears; it was like being underwater right then. All these complicated and confusing feelings of longing, relief, joy, disbelief and probably eighty other various descriptive words flowed through her body as she held onto him in shock.

"W-What?" In hindsight, that was the dumbest response she could've had, but the words he spoke truly felt like make believe. She felt as if in a daze, barely situated in reality as she blinked up at him, wanting to validate that his question was real. A pained smile arose on his dignified face, somehow bringing her closer to reality.

"I have land, if that's what you're worried about. Of course, I have not the same prospects of the Duke, but you will want for nothing, Maxi. If you will have me, I will cater to your every whim," He sounded partially discouraged now, and she would have liked to ease his stress, if not for the shock still reeling through her body and mind. Looking up, Riftan avoided her eyes now as he stared at the clear blue sky through the tree branches above them.

"In truth, I have wanted you for...a while," He swallowed thickly, and as she watched his jaw clench Maxi felt herself going completely red. Did he really mean that? How long? When they had begun their walks? Or was it earlier, when she would catch a look from him across the dining hall? All the questions were piling up and ready to spill from her mouth, but then she remembered: he wanted to marry her.

Maxi thought she might actually combust from all the things building up inside of her.

"But if you say no, I will respect your decision." He begrudgingly added, loosening his hold on her now. It made her heart ache, his move of letting her go, and nearly made her want to laugh too. How could he think she didn't want him?

How ridiculous.

Fully knocked out of her stupor by his silly words, Maxi cautiously took his head into her hands, willing Riftan to meet her eager gaze as she squished his cheeks.

"I will m-marry you!" She declared, and these newly fresh tears sprung from her eyes as she thought of the future. The two of them out in the open, together, no one to tear them apart; it was a tantalizing vision to her, one she wanted to see come true. Maxi swore right then that she'd she the fruition of her dream, no matter what. She'd fight to be with him.

Riftan seemed to be in his own mind for a moment, stunned into silence as he looked at her, looked at Maxi as if...she were the last shining light in the world, and he couldn't afford to take his eyes from her, lest he be clothed in darkness. It was that same look he had given her all those weeks ago, and it made her shiver with some new emotion. She didn't know who had initiated it, thinking back- was it her? Or did he move first- perhaps it was both of them, drawing in like magnets, having no choice but to collide together.

Their lips met in one perfect, soft chaste kiss, and then Riftan was on her, hands on her waist and threading carefully through her hair, undoing the braids as he moved his own lips relentlessly against hers. All Maxi could do was move with him, helplessly along for the ride. She kissed him desperately back, not knowing what she was doing at all, but just wanting to direct her affections for Riftan into that movement, that passion which overtook her whole being and rid Maxi of any shyness she had in the moment. She wanted, no, needed him closer all the time, and the feeling was consuming her. In the same way a star implodes, Maxi thought she might be destroyed by her wanton actions, but couldn't find it in herself to stop. She had been teetering on the edge for so long around him; but now, wrapped up in Riftan's arms and crushed by his weight, she had fallen off.

And the feel of him was intoxicating; before she knew it was so good she might have thought his large body to be suffocating, but there was a kind of pleasure in it, the way he caressed every available inch of her skin and the small of her back while still paying attention to her lips. Soon enough, Maxi found herself nearly out of breath and needing to tap out like someone playing sports, but he didn't seem to be bothered.