Sweet Love of Mine

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Relief.

It gushed through him with tumultuous force, persistent and driving. Sebastian had never imagined such a feeling could exist, so refined in its eloquence, within his limbs.

And just for a simple knock that testified to the presence of the woman he loved.

He had allowed himself this want, this need, to have her in his chamber when he knew it would be nigh impossible to keep his hands off her, and Emily knew, too. Yet she had come and her shy knock had culminated in one of the most significant events in Sebastian’s life, paralleled against his father’s suicide, Emily’s entrance into his consciousness, his admission of his love to himself and to her, and now- this.

He had never granted himself the desire to will this moment to reality, had never allowed it to materialize within his subconscious, for the longing would be too great, but now- due to a series of unavoidable events- Emily stood on the other side of the door, a narrow strip of hard wood separating them, waiting for him-

God, she was waiting for him.

Sebastian shook the revelry from his limbs and closed the space across the floor in two, long strides. He must have been standing amidst his inertia for well over several moments, contemplating his unbelievable good-fortune like the winsome fool he was. No doubt Emily probably thought him asleep because of it.

Another hesitant knock followed, this one softer than the first.

He paused, his hand poised to yank the door open and crush her against his body. Instead, a grin swept across his limbs and he leant his shoulder against the cool wall to one side. “Who is it?” he asked cheerfully of the girl on the other side.

There followed an imperceptibly drawn out silence and then, finally, “Really, Sebastian?”

His grin deepened at the sound of her frustrated hiss, but he resisted the need to open the door. “What’s the password?”

“Sebastian, this is ridiculous,” Emily whispered furiously from the other side, her voice oddly muffled. “You know damn well who it is. Anybody could see me, too. Will you please open this door?”

He smothered a chuckle. “The door is open, Em. It’s always open. All you’d have to do is twist the knob…”

“Oh.” Again, she appeared to hesitate before Sebastian heard the soft click of the latch being turned open. He didn’t move, but rather waited where he was and watched as the door swung quietly forward. Emily blinked against the darkness, her eyes searching the space before her until she seemed to sense his presence to where she then turned and scowled up at him. “Incorrigible man,” she accused him softly.

Sebastian smiled at her and shut the door, the action forcing Emily to take a step closer to him to avoid being jarred by the movement. Her hair and eyes appeared to glow through the shadows, marvellously bright in his world of darkness. There was everything pure and whimsical embodied in one small slip of a girl, residing within arm’s reach and Sebastian’s blackened soul seemed to call out to it yearningly, aching for its nearness and temerity. Yet still he hesitated, forcing his tense muscles to relax, the urge to pull her against him almost suffocating. “You’ve never knocked before,” he teased quietly. “I find it amusing that now you chose to.”

Her brow puckered with a curious little frown and he observed the motion as it wrung the freckles across her face into delicate waves. He longed to brush away those subtle fluctuations of vexation with the tips of his fingers or the edges of his lips, perhaps even a bit of a lick…