Love in thirds

4.3 Daniel & Nell

After making it back to the cottage you stand in the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for you and Daniel. You plan on finishing the novel you brought with you, and Daniel has decided to work on some of his designs for a new collection. You squeal when he wraps his arms around you. "Hmm, what's this beauty doing in my kitchen? Making hot chokkie?" you laugh, "yeah I'm making us hot chokkie babe" Daniel squeezes your waist while pressing a kiss on your shoulder.

"I plan on teaching you as much Aussie slang as I can, so when we'll move, you're almost a local." You hum, 'first he tells his mom there will be babies in the future, and now we're also moving to Australia.' You muse to yourself. "Seems like you planned our future out already Dan." "Hmm, only if you want to. If you want to move to rainy and wet Holland, I'll rent out my ranch in Perth and live there with you." You laugh while turning around and kissing him. "Definitely not moving back to Holland, so don't worry about that. Here." You pass him the hot chocolate before making your way to the living room.

You and Daniel have been doing your own things the whole afternoon, only interrupting the calmness when you wanted to share something you read, or when Daniel wanted your opinion on colour or text. It's 6PM when you finally finish your book, and you sigh happily. "Did it end like you expected?" Daniel asks when he realises you're done reading. You nod, excitedly explaining the story and how you figured out the biggest plot twist before it even happened. It's a challenge you set yourself when you read a novel, trying to guess the plot twist. So far, you almost always have it right, and it excites you again every time. Daniel listens attentively while you tell him all about the story, wrapping an arm around you.

You walk out of the bedroom into the living room, waiting until Daniel is finished with getting ready. You're wearing a forest green dress that hugs your body just right, and you had decided to let your hair down, only curling it slightly. You're wearing some light makeup and your usual gold accessories. Daniel walks towards you, and your breath hitches in your throat when you look at him. Apparently he packed something other than oversized shirts and jeans, because he's wearing black dress pants that hug his legs the exact amount, and a black button up on top of it. He winks at you when he catches you staring and slowly does a 360 to show his outfit from all angles. "Your ass looks really good in these pants, you better wear those every date night from now on, damn." You say while grabbing him to kiss him. He chuckles against your lips while wrapping his arms around you. "Sure baby, whatever you want."

After putting on your shoes and coats you step into the car, driving towards the restaurant Daniel made a reservation at. You look over at the handsome man driving you around and realise once more how lucky you are. The feeling you have when you're around him is something you've never felt before. The rational part of you tells you that you need to spend time apart as well, because you might get tired of him, but your heart only wants to be close to him. You know that Daniel wants to have you around 24/7, and even though you don't get why, your intuition tells you to do just that. It's a big part of the reason why you agreed to spend the whole summer break with him. Of course, pouting Daniel makes you sad, but if your gut feeling told you to not do it, you wouldn't have done it. It might be possible that your heart already knows that he's the love of your life, your brain is just being stubborn.

You look around the cosy restaurant you're sitting at. It's becoming dark outside already, the rain taps on the window and the candles in the restaurant give the man across from you a soft glow. You smile, observing him while he looks through the menu. "Do you know what you want babe? I can't choose." He says, looking straight into your eyes when he looks up. He smiles while raising his eyebrows. "Why are you looking at me as if I'm the best thing on this earth? You do realise we're about to eat a delicious dinner?" he chuckles at himself, and you shake your head while smiling. "I was just admiring you in this lighting. Just realised I love you. What are the options you can't choose between?"

After Daniel and you finally chose dinner, you chat about the phone call he had with his parents today. "It's just not nice to be away from them so long, you know. I just want the restrictions to lift for a while so I can fly them over to me. I just want to have them close." He sighs, rubbing his face. "I know babe, I know..." you say while rubbing your thumb over his knuckles. He looks at your hands together and smiles slightly. "I can't wait to walk up to them with our hands intertwined though. Mom was so happy on the phone again today when I told her we'd be spending the summer break together. She said that if I distract you from work you just need to text her. She'll call and tell me off then!" he laughs while you let out a giggle. "I miss your parents too. It will be amazing when we can see them again. As soon as we're allowed to travel again, we'll visit them together, okay? I promise." Daniel smiles at you while nodding.

When dinner is finished and paid for, you run towards the car through the rain. It started pouring halfway through the evening, and you're not in the mood for a free shower. "For fucks sake Daniel! I told you to have the bloody key in your hand before running outside!" you say to him while he's rummaging through his coat. "I know babe, I know but I didn't think it was raining this hard!" "God damnit, come here!" he walks over to you, and you pull out the things in his pocket. "Why do you have so much stuff in here?" he chuckles but stops when you send him a 'don't laugh now' look. Finally you feel the key and you take it out of the pocket. You're about to step into the car when Daniel tugs you into his chest. "Wha-" he shuts you up by pressing his lips on yours.

His warm lips form a delicious contrast in the cold rain, and you smile into the kiss. "I hate that you did that, but I'm happy we're going to be home soon anyways." You say after breaking away. He smiles at you while winking. "I'm so bloody cold now though, let's go back." He nods while holding the door open for you. After sitting down on his own seat, he winks at you and says:

"Don't worry love, I'll warm you up when we get home."