Divine (24 page)

A
smile turned up the corner of his mouth. “Well, now you know
how
I
feel
all the time.”

“
Well,” I
challenged him, “I think you should tell me.”

“
That's too bad,
cause I'm not going to tell you.” He uncrossed his arms and
walked out of the kitchen, swaying his body with exaggeration. “See
ya later,” he said, tossing me a sexy smile over his shoulder.

I
crossed my arms and broke out in laughter. “Oh, so you
were
watching
me when I left the room, huh?”

He went over to the
table and picked up his tea, downing what was left in the cup. “Yeah,
I watched you alright.”

“
Yeah I know you
did, judging by how red your eyes were from you rubbing at them.”

He let out a short
laugh. “Yeah, you had my eyes changing colors. I had to work on
getting it to go away before your parents saw it.”

“
Why are you so
afraid for them to see your eyes, anyway? They already know that they
change colors.”

“
Because,”
he said smoothly as he walked back over, “I save that part of
myself for you.” He tossed his old tea bag into the garbage and
grabbed the kettle off of the stove to fill his cup with more
steaming hot water. After thumbing through the drawer of teas he
pulled out another red packet and held it out toward me. “You
can't go wrong with this stuff,” he grinned.

“
No, you can't,”
I agreed with a smile. “So, back to the previous topic, you
don't want my parents to see that your irises are glowing yellow with
happiness?”

He let out a short
laugh as he ripped open the packet of tea and dropped the bag into
the water. “They weren't yellow.”

My arms dropped to my
sides. “They weren't? Were you mad at me? Were they red?”

“
No,” he
assured me, “not at all. Please don't think that.”

I relaxed a bit,
thankful that my earlier attempt at a provocative exit hadn't made
him upset. “Oh, okay. What color were they then?”

He smiled into his cup
of tea and took a long sip, leaving me waiting for an answer.

“
Well?” I
laughed impatiently.

He looked up and shot
me a cocky smile. “They weren't yellow, and they weren't red.
That's all you need to know.”

“
Hmm . . . okay.
I'll remember that.”

“
I'm sure you
will.”

My
arms crossed defensively in front of me. “And what's
that
supposed
to mean?” I tried hard to stay serious but the start of our
playful banter made a smile creep across my face.

“
Ha, I'm really
getting to you today, aren't I?”

“
Yeah,” I
laughed, shaking my head at him. “I just don't know what to do
with you, Strong Jonah.”

“
Okay enough with
the Strong Jonah bit,” he grimaced.

“
Ha,
I'm really getting to
you
today,
aren't I?”

He sat his cup gently
on the kitchen counter and brought his hands up to crack his
knuckles. “Yep, you sure are.”

“
Oh no,” I
shrieked, “it's never a good sign when you crack your
knuckles.” I slowly backed out of the kitchen as he sauntered
toward me with a wolfish stare. “Jonah, no!” I cried with
playfulness as I turned and ran to get away from him. Before I could
escape I felt the grip of his muscly arms wrapping around me as he
lifted me up with ease and pushed me high into the air above him,
holding me up by the palms of his hands.

“
How's this for
Strong Jonah?” he boasted up at me.

“
It's great,”
I hushed him. I reached out and pressed my hands against the warm
ceiling. “Now put me down before my parents hear all the
commotion.”

“
Nope.”

“
Jonah,” I
giggled through a serious tone, “I'm going to fall.”

“
I won't let you
fall.”

I looked over my
shoulder at him and noticed how steadily and effortlessly his arms
held me above him. He didn't struggle or shake to keep me up, his
breathing was calm; he was in complete control.

“
I'm afraid of
heights,” I confessed.

“
You're okay,”
he calmly reassured me. “You know I won't let anything happen
to you.”

I kept my eyes closed
and smiled nervously, taking a deep breath as I tried to relax my
body. “I have to say, I've never touched my ceiling before . .
.”

“
I'll put you
down,” he said with a mild chuckle. “I don't want to
stress you out.” He moved his feet slightly apart, sending me
into a mild panic. “I'm going to catch you, are you ready?”
he said softly.

I gave him a small nod.
“Yeah, I think so.”

His hands quickly
dropped out from underneath my body and I fell swiftly down into the
safety of his arms. “I didn't mean to scare you,” he said
as he held me tightly against his chest.

I nervously shook my
head in protest. “You didn't. I mean, I was scared because of
being in the air with nothing to hold on to, but I knew you wouldn't
let anything happen to me. I just have to get used to it.”

He smiled and moved his
arms out from under my legs, bringing my feet gently to the carpet.
“So that means you'll let me do it again?”

“
We'll see,”
I smiled.

Secretly, I didn't care
if he lifted me above his head every single day, I just wanted him to
touch me. One of the best things about being lifted above Jonah was
falling gracefully back down into his muscular arms, and being held
tightly up against him. I didn't care how afraid I was, I wanted it
to happen again.

I wrapped my arms
around myself and stood in front of him, still a little shaken from
the height. “Oh, I almost forgot; I need to give you your
birthday present.” I put my finger up and motioned for him to
hold on while I hopped up the stairs to my room.

It was hard for me to
shop for people when I didn't exactly know what they liked. I knew a
lot about Jonah but I was stumped when it came to buying a present
for him. When I was searching for his gift I decided to go to some
random stores in the city to see if anything would jump out at me. I
saw the salt shaker and knew right away that it was what I wanted to
get him. Obviously, he loved salt, so a salt shaker was a good
choice. But what I liked most about it was that it was in the shape
of an ocean wave, colored with various hues of blue and white that
wrapped around in a crashing pattern. So, I figured since he loved
salt and was good with water, even though I still had no idea what
that meant, that it was a fitting gift.

I trotted back down the
stairs with the shaker hidden in my hands. “I didn't wrap it,
so I'll just pretend that my hands are a box or something.” I
held my hands out in front of him and opened them up, revealing his
present.

He chuckled quietly and
picked it up to inspect it. “A salt shaker? Wow, this is really
cool.”

My shoulders dropped
with disappointment. “You don't like it.”

His head quickly shot
up at me. “No, I love it. I love salt, and I'm good with water;
I totally get why you got this for me. It's great.”

I was surprised that he
understood the connection in the same way I did. “That's
exactly what I thought when I saw it. I knew it was perfect for you.”

“
It is. I'll use
it everyday. Thank you.”

“
You're welcome,”
I beamed, happy that I had picked out something that he liked.

He looked down at his
watch and sighed lightly at it. “Well, I guess I better be
going.”

I gazed down at the
floor and mustered up my best fake smile before looking back up at
him. “Okay, yeah. I need to get some sleep if I can. The plane
ride's going to suck, with my height fear and everything.”

“
Yeah, I bet
you're really nervous.”

“
Yeah.”

He looked down at the
shaker in his hand and gently slid it into the pocket of his jeans. A
small sigh escaped his lips as he shifted his legs slightly apart and
crossed his arms in front of his broad chest.

I couldn't help but
gaze over the protrusions of muscles that were displayed in front of
me. Every part of his arms stood out with unreal definition, like he
was sculpted from clay. I usually tried to hide it when I relished in
the muscular curves of his form, but this time I didn't care; I
wanted him to see my attraction for him.

My eyes trailed up his
arms and met with his. His deep breaths quietly raised his chest up
and down as he focused intensely on my face, watching me peruse over
his body.

He relaxed his arms and
brought them down to his sides. “I'm going to miss you,
Summer,” he breathed quietly.

Summer
. He never
called me by my first name. My heart jumped at the sound of it
trailing off of his tongue.

“
I'm going to
miss you, too.”

His gaze intensified as
he smoothly stepped into me and wrapped his arms around my body,
pulling me closely against him. I brought my arms up around his
shoulders and nuzzled gently into his fragrant neck.

“
Text me when
you're getting ready to fly out,” he said softly next to my
ear.

I raised my head and
stared at him from beneath my curled lashes. “Jonah,” I
gasped lightly, feeling woozy from having his body pressed so tightly
against mine. He looked down at me and knew exactly what I wanted; it
was the perfect moment for him to kiss me.

“
Not now,”
he whispered.

The feeling of my heart
falling in my chest overwhelmed me. “Why not?”

“
Because it's not
the right time.” He lowered his face and planted a kiss gently
on my cheek, coming dangerously close to my lips.

Waves of electricity
ran through my body from the feeling of his mouth on my skin. I
wanted more; I wanted him to release the tension I was feeling. But
instead of going further, he gave my forehead a soft kiss and then
released his grip from around me.

I turned my head to the
wall and closed my eyes, trying to hide my somber look as I let go of
him.

“
I'm sorry,”
he said as he brought his hand under my chin and gently tilted my
face toward him. “I promise there's a better time than this.”

I kept my eyes closed
as I listened to the sound of his soothing voice. “Okay,”
I sullenly agreed.

It was too much for me
to handle. I couldn't stand there in front of him like that with my
emotions on display for him to crush. But I didn't want to leave the
moment that was happening between us either, whether it was romantic
or not. Just being in the same room with him made me tremendously
happy. I guess I would have to learn to live with his incredibly slow
pace.

He brought his other
hand up and gently brushed my neck, warming my skin with his touch.
“Will you look at me, please?” he begged tenderly while
cupping my face in his palms.

I obeyed his request
and slowly opened my eyes toward him. A light gasp escaped from
between my lips as my sight was flooded by a vibrant green light.

With his face inches
from mine he studied me closely while green glowing sparkles fell
around his pupils. “Don't you know what this color means?”
he asked in a breathless whisper.

“
No,” I
softly admitted.

His luminous eyes
displayed an undertone of sadness as they searched my face. He took
his hands away from me and stepped back, bringing his arm up to rub
away the bright flecks. “I better be going,” he said as
he dropped his arm back down; there was nothing left of the beautiful
green that was there just seconds ago.