To Fall (The To Fall Trilogy Book 1) (46 page)

68

Abby

This could have been romantic. The bath. Candles. Music. The amazing view of the mountain surrounding us. I wasn’t sure if he knew what the prescription was, but he let me have my moment and encouraged it. He knew I needed it, needed to grieve. Xander lifted me out of the tub, toweled me off, and wiped my tears.

Xander carried me to bed, took my clothes out, and left the room. I dressed in his bathroom and the doorbell rang. When I came out, a blanket was spread on the floor covered in plates, silverware, drinks, and Chinese food. A bedroom picnic. I hugged him in appreciation.

We ate, only exchanging words about the meal. When done, he said he would do the dishes. I brushed my teeth and splashed cool water on my face. It was just the late afternoon and I was exhausted. Lying down on top of the comforter, I fell asleep and woke up under the sheets to a dark room.

Padding through the house, I found Xander sitting in the family room with a soft smile, holding his hand out to me. I sat down next to him, but he pulled me into his lap instead, and we sunk deeper into the cushion.

His voice came just above a whisper. “Can I talk for a sec, and you listen?” I nodded to him. “I want you to hear me this time.” Pushing my head into the crook of his neck, his hand brushed through my hair. “I want you just as you are. I don’t care if we can’t have our own children. We’ll adopt. And he or she will be as special as you are. You must stop doubting me. You must trust that I love you unconditionally. All I want is you. I will make this work. I told you we are going to get old and wrinkly together. This doesn’t change anything. I’m going to fall for you. I’m going to hold you until my dying breath. I’m going to love you forever.”

When I woke in the morning, he was still sleeping. Sneaking off to the bathroom, I cleaned myself up and changed. I had no idea what we were going to do the next eleven days. Maybe we could go back to the Mission—they needed more help during the holidays.

Yesterday was emotionally draining, and a wave of guilt hit me when I realized we didn’t exchange Christmas gifts like we planned. I ruined our first day.

Looking in the fully stocked fridge, I smiled. There was no reason for us to leave the house for a week. Bozo whined at the door and I let him outside. The morning was cool and sunny. I left the back door open and went to the kitchen.

Mom called to tell me they were already at Disneyland and having a blast. I assured her I was doing fine. The pipes whined in the walls—Xander was awake. When I said good-bye, I turned the music on to play through the house.

Before Bozo whined, I had seen a package of breakfast quiches in the freezer. Taking them out, I grabbed a kitchen knife to open the wrapping. I slid the knife along the shiny plastic and I spotted a flash of pale yellow just as Bozo bumped into my thigh.

The knife went into the flesh of my wrist, but I didn’t feel it at first. A second later, the pain seared and blood was everywhere. Washing the cut in the kitchen sink, I saw it was deeper than I thought. I wrapped a towel around my wrist and walked to get Xander.

Bozo whined at my feet as he zipped around me and tripped me. The slick towel alerted me that it was soaked through already. My body felt disconnected from my head as though I were controlling someone else’s arms and legs. I called for Xander, but the music drowned me out, and with the shower running, he wouldn’t hear me.

My heart was beating too fast and blood roared in my ears. The walls seemed to move like a fun house. The door was already open a crack; I nudged it open and leaned against the wall. Xander sang along with Frankie Ballard, and steam from the hot water beaded the glass desert etchings, making him a blur.

“Xander?”

“Hey, beautiful! Uh, fair warning. Naked angel in the shower. And…it is morning.”

Red droplets fell to the floor and I sank to my knees. “Xander?”

“Whatcha wanna do today?” He paused. “We could go for another hike? This time without the cactus impalement.” Another pause. “No? Yeah, I don’t blame ya.” He paused again. “Abby?” The door opened. “Ah hell!” Xander’s feet landed in front of me. He knelt and tore off the blood soaked towel. His hand was hot over my skin and the jagged edges of the wound sealed together as though nothing happened.

As I stared at my red arm and floor, my voice shook. “I’m sorry. I was stupid.”

“What happened?” His hazel eyes were still wild. Thick droplets of water dripped off him and onto me.

“I was going to make you breakfast.”

He exaggerated a cringe. “Oh, Abby. Why?”

I let out a weak laugh. This was the point we both realized he was, in fact, naked. I looked away, conflicted—seeing more than I should, but not as much as I wanted to. And what I did see…God knew what he was doing.

“I’m sorry.” I think I would have blushed if I hadn’t just lost a lot of blood.

Grabbing a towel, he laughed. “You didn’t have to go through all of that. I would have let you look. Hell, you could’ve joined me.” With twinkling eyes, he picked me up and sat me on the sink.

After he cleaned my arm, he put me on the bed. “Stay,” Xander commanded. When he was done in the bathroom, he put his hands on me again for extra measure. “Come on, you need to eat something.”

An easy day of nothing but making couch impressions wore me out. Well…most of that was ignoring the movie and practicing. Xander suggested I take a nap. I woke to little kisses on my neck and the house smelled like tomatoes, basil, and garlic. “Mmm, smells good.”

“My spectacular body comes with a side of deliciousness. Feel free to have a taste,” he teased.

I slugged his arm. “I was referring to your cooking!”

His sideways smirk wasn’t enough to alert me before ten fingers dug into my sides, tickling me. Trying to wiggle away, I squealed and he kept up his attack. I laughed hard until my heart raced, ending our fun. Panting, I said, “I’m sorry, I always ruin it.”

He kissed me. “Don’t. Come on, sleepy head. I need to feed you before our fly.”

The spaghetti was even better than the one he made for class. After cleaning the kitchen, we changed to leave. The cloudy sky did little to hold in the Earth’s warmth, so I dressed in skinny jeans, a pink sweater, and white Converse. One of his Christmas gifts was slim enough to tuck into my back pocket. I wasn’t sure when we would exchange gifts. Since last night was a bust, I figured we would tonight.

Xander was shirtless, wearing dark blue jeans that hung dangerously low. Thick, dark hair moved with the breeze, recreating his bedroom-mussed look. It was near impossible not to stare at him and images of wet nakedness from this morning entered my brain.

With a gentle kiss, his arms wrapped around me and our feet left the ground. We were high above the earth in seconds. The wind whipped around us as Xander flew around the mountains with intermittent stars lingering above, and below was breathtaking.

He flew over the neighborhoods so we could look at the Christmas lights as though it were our own miniaturized town on display.

Dropping on a hill, I realized we were on our special spot. “Beautiful.”

“Yes, she is.” Xander’s eyes filled with love for me.

I did a little dance with my feet. “I have your Christmas gift, you want it?”

With a tilt of his head, a secretive smile spread. “Yes, do you want yours?”

“Yes!” I pulled out the package from my back pocket.

Xander leaned over my shoulder and stared at my backside. “I thought there was something odd back there.”

“Alexander Wright!”

He shrugged. “I told you, more guy than angel.” Handing him the gift, he unwrapped it and stuffed the paper in his pocket. “An iPod!”

“This is part of it. The speaker wouldn’t fit back there.” My chin jutted behind me. “I put our songs on it. The ones we’ve danced to…and practiced to, so you don’t have to use your phone.”

“I love it, thank you, Abby.” He gave me one deep kiss. “Okay, close your eyes.” Something cool and smooth linked around my neck and a slight weight hit the middle of my chest. He whispered, “Open.” On a long chain was a feather pendant that was almost the length of my scar. It was surprisingly light and carved out in exquisite detail.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Turn it over.”

The back was smooth metal, possibly made of platinum or something like it and it was engraved
My Reason To Fall
.

Tears brimmed and I couldn’t stop staring at his words. “Oh, Xander…thank you.” My fingers traced the lettering. How did I deserve him? Why would an angel fall for me?

Pressing the iPod buttons, he unraveled the earbuds and placed one in each of our ears. He hit play and increased the volume. It was the first song he kissed me to, here on this spot. Our spot. Our song, “Say Goodnight
.
”

Our arms looped around each other to dance. When his pearl wings unfurled, I held on tighter and we danced in the sky. Air from his wings competed with the breeze, but his body kept me warm. He hovered over our spot until the song ended, and then started home.

Swiveling me so my back was to his chest, I looked down like he did. The ground moved fast beneath us. My stomach crept into my throat and churned. I turned my head and closed my eyes until it passed.

His lips teased my ear. “You okay?”

I swallowed. “I need a minute.” Another careful swivel and we were face to face, his hands warmed underneath my sweater, and my stomach eased. “That’s better.”

His voice was a sexy rumble. “You just wanted to check me out.”

“What good is having a boyfriend if I can’t?”

Bending down to kiss me, I closed my eyes when I saw his would stay open, and kissed the entire way to his house.

When we landed, I asked, “Are you hungry?”

He groaned. “Yes! How about I eat half of the stuff in the fridge and you can take a swim in Calista’s tub. Here, take this and enjoy our music.” Handing me the iPod, he gave me one more kiss before leaving me to stuff his gorgeous face.

Even though I had taken a shower before my nap this afternoon, the tub was too good to pass up a long soak. While the tub filled with water and bubbles, I set up the speaker in his room. Using the lighter next to the tub, the entire bathroom filled with a wonderful vanilla scent and gentle candlelight. I slipped the necklace over my head and rested it on the counter.

The heated water was wonderful against my cool skin; holding my legs up during the flight made me sore. After washing my hair and body, I leaned back under the bubbles, put the earbuds in, and listened to our music with closed eyes.

A couple of songs played, and then two familiar lips touched mine. Shooting up, I yanked the buds out. “Xander!” Holy crap. I was naked. He did know, right? Did I miss the rule stating I had to wear clothes in the bath? Probably much too late, my hands shot over the vital parts.

He laughed. “Sorry, I called your name a few times. When you didn’t answer, I wanted to make sure you were okay and…”

My eyes widened. “And?”

“And you were okay. Then I saw you and couldn’t help myself.”

“What can you see?” Checking the bubbles, I appeared covered.

Xander roared with laughter. “I can’t see anything. I meant your face that wasn’t covered with vanilla bubbles.”

“Thank you for checking on me. Now get out. No boys allowed!”

He blinked at me as if I had just poured orange juice on his package of Oreos. “This is my tub, too! This is my house!”

Shock forced my mouth open. “Well, I’m your guest.”

His eyes sparked playfulness. “Well,
guest
, you want company?”

“Xander! I’m naked!”

He shrugged. “We’ve seen each other, Abby.”

“No! I didn’t! I was too busy dying this morning to look thoroughly!” Was this really the point I wanted to make now?

He grappled with a way to convince me and genius hit. “I’ll wear a swimsuit.”

“Xander, I’m not wearing a swimsuit.” Again, I needed to reiterate the naked detail.

He looked down at himself. “So I won’t wear one.”

“Xander!” Oh, he was exasperating sometimes.

He left, sulking. I kept the earbuds out in case he returned. Relaxing in the water, I shook my head and smiled. I shouldn’t be smiling, but I was.