Sunny

Chapter 13

Five Years Earlier...

Rhea had waited over an hour and she was starting to get a little anxious, but she had promised to wait. She started to pace the small room stopping to look at her reflection in the mirror on the wall. She was practically glowing, and when she thought about Eli's kiss her heart would start to race all over again. The thought of another kiss from Eli would keep her waiting forever if that is what it would take to have another.

The door behind her opened and she could hear Eli's voice agreeing with someone on the other side as he backed into the room and closed the door before turning around.

When he turned to look at her she was lost, as his warm gaze found hers before taking in the rest of her.

Then the spell broke and he was moving towards her and before she knew it she was in his arms as he pulled her close, but he didn't kiss her again, he reached up and unclipped her hair letting it fall around her shoulders. "Do you know how many times I've dreamed of holding you in my arms?" he asked as he captured her face with his hands and traced her cheeks with his thumbs. He appeared to be a world away as his gaze searched her face.

But, suddenly, he snapped himself out of it and he stepped away grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door.

"Wait!" She pulled back. "Where are we going?"

He gave her a lighthearted grin. "I have no clue, somewhere we can be alone?"

Rhea felt her stomach dip and turn, if she was alone with him she knew what would happen. She slowly nodded in agreement. "But where?"

He pulled her close, as if sensing her hesitancy, and kissed her. It was a long kiss and they were both breathing hard by the time that he finally pulled away. But her hesitancy was gone and she knew she would go anywhere with him.

"Do you know of somewhere, we could go back to the hotel but we'll be noticed," he warned.

She shook her head, she didn't want that, she pulled away from him and started towards the door. When she looked back at him he looked confused and a little shocked as he stood rooted to the floor. He must have thought she was leaving. She walked back over to him and kissed him hard.

"I know somewhere we can go, I'm parked in the garage across the street, meet me in front in ten minutes?"

He nodded looking down at her as if he was trying to solve a riddle.

"I'll be in an old beat-up red truck." She smiled over her shoulder as she slipped out into the deserted corridor. She was glad that she and Lola had traveled separately to the concert.

She made quick time through the, now almost empty, stadium and to the parking garage across the street. It took her a little less then ten minutes to pull up in front of the main entrance but Eli was there, waiting with a ball cap pulled low.

He jumped in the truck and they paused to look at each other once more, both wondering to themselves if they were dreaming. Then she grinned at him and he grinned back.

"You up for a little drive?"

"I'm up for anything as long as I'm with you." He settled back into his seat and watched her as she put the large truck in drive and pulled out onto the quiet roads.

"How long do you have?" she asked, winding through the little bit of traffic that was on the road.

"I have to be in Jacksonville tomorrow night."

Rhea figured that meant that they had at least sixteen hours together, just the two of them. Her heart started to race at the thought.

They didn't talk of anything important while she drove them to the destination that she had in mind. They bounced from topic to topic happily as Eli played with told radio finding a station of oldies that he liked. As song after song played they sang along laughing at everything and anything in their happiness. It was the kind of happiness that could make an hour seem like minutes.

When Rhea pulled up to the private gate on a long dirt road that happiness was still there but it was being edged out by anticipation. She punched the numbers into the gate and it swung open allowing her to drive through. She turned on her bright lights as they followed the pitch-black road covered in moss draped trees to the edge of a clearing.

The moon was full so she cut the engine of the truck and turned off the headlights. Leaving only the sound of their breathing in the truck.

"You definitely got the message about us being alone," Eli said as he looked through the windshield.

There was an old abandoned church standing before them. There were three stone walls, the two side walls still had the outline of their windows present and were almost completely intact. The back wall was almost completely gone and there was no front wall or roof, but there were four large pillars standing strong where the front wall would have been.

"Come on!" Rhea insisted as she jumped out of the truck, grabbing an old blanket from the back. "There's something I want to show you."

Eli followed her lead and the slamming of the truck doors sounded unbelievably loud in the silence. She grabbed his hand and he paused to look at her hand in his. It amazed her that it felt so natural to hold on to him.

The moon lit the path through the columns and the church's moss covered stone floor. She stopped in the middle of the open church for a moment and looked up at the moon and stars, wanting to savor the feeling of having Eli beside her and all to herself, thanking God for allowing it.

He patiently watched her, waiting for what was coming next.

"This way." She led the way through the back wall and into an old cemetery. The headstones dated back to two hundred years earlier when the church had been built.

"Maybe we're not really alone," Eli whispered as if he didn't want to disturb anyone.

"You're not afraid of cemeteries, are you?" she teased as she led him past all of the tombstones.

"I never really thought about it?" he mused, allowing her to drag him behind her. "It's not exactly at the top of my romantic destinations."

Rhea stopped looking around her, taking in all of the history that surrounded her. "It's peaceful, no one in cemeteries have any problems, do they?"

"Only the living visitors." He said dryly, but she could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Not tonight, tonight we have no problems, do we?" she was pleading, she could hear it in her own voice.

"No, not tonight."

They looked at each other for a moment before she started dragging him once more. "Besides, this is our destination," she said as he pushed through few branches and emerged right by a river surrounded by marsh and a small sandy patch of land. 

She heard his sharp intake of breath at the beauty of it. "My God Sunny, it's perfect."

"Wait until sunrise," she promised as she spread out the blanket and sat.

He followed her lead and sat next to her. "Do you come here a lot?"

"More than I used to," she admitted.

He reached for her, pulling her close and she fell against him. Her heart was slamming against her ribs and she could feel his heart beating just as hard and fast as hers.

"What do we do until sunrise?" he asked, his deep husky voice warming her more than any blanket ever could.

"A kiss, to start?" she asked.

"To start," he agreed before his lips descended on hers.