What Happens in the Dark

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"I'm pleased that it went well," Draven said later that night as I relayed my time with my mother to him.

He was standing behind me, leaning against the counter opposite me while I cooked us dinner.

We were at a different hotel, because neither of us was willing to fork out the fortune that the other hotel cost. Genevieve had offered to foot our bill for however long we needed, but Draven and me had too much pride for that. Besides, what would we have done at a place that big in the long term?

Well, I could think of one thing, but there were only so many surfaces that we could fuck on before all of it was reduced to wasted space.

"I wouldn't say it went well, not necessarily," I said as I turned the boiling noodles down to medium. I turned to face him and leaned against the counter next to the stove. "We reached an understanding. Things aren't okay, but the thing to focus on is she's willing to put in time to forgive me. Us."

"I'm proud of you for being so optimistic."

I was too, because although things were somewhat settled between my mother and me, I still had some leftover guilt in me. At the moment, though, it was overshadowed by one very important question.

"We haven't talked about what we're going to do when summer ends." I said and turned back to the stove to stir the noodles. I did the same thing with the pot next to it, inhaling the bittersweet aroma of the spaghetti sauce.

"No, we haven't." Draven murmured, and I felt him come up behind me. He placed a soft kiss at the crook of my neck before propping himself against the counter beside me.

His eyes were warm on my face. "What do you want to do?"

I shot him my best blaise look. "Be with you, of course."

"That's not what I meant. I mean long distance or...?"

I couldn't believe he was even considering that an option. "Um, I can't believe that just came out of your mouth."

"It's not an option. I was being facetious, Darling."

"Mmm."

"Remember how I said I was using my job to open other avenues?"

I nodded.

"Well, I have the option to transfer to another office. An even bigger one, where the opportunities will be more prominent. I'll have a better chance of climbing the latter."

I sensed where this was going, and I felt a bigger smile threaten the skin around my cheeks.

"And where is this office?" I asked, though I pretty much knew the answer.

"Oh, you know," Draven mused cheekily, grabbing me suddenly, making me grip his shoulders as he set me on the counter, stepping between my already parting legs. "About twenty five minutes, by car, from your college."

A surge of excitement spread throughout my body. I wrapped my thighs and arms around him and pulled him to me, kissing him like I was starved of oxygen and he was the tube I required to breathe from.

He pulled back with a brisk lick of his tongue. "I take it you're happy with that." It was a statement rather than an inquiry, but I answered him with my lips eagerly.

He chuckled against my mouth, then proceeded to ravish it with a heavy tongue. We forgot about the noodles and the sauce, and just supplied each other with intense kisses that went on and on and on and on.

"You'll be with me all the time." He said in between eager strokes of tongue. "Every spare minute of yours will be spent in my arms. "

I had no arguments, only anticipation. It showed how far I'd come with him. I was excited to embrace a future with him, and I felt my lingering guilt fade away with it. Suddenly the world was at our feet. But I still had one more thing to address.