a proposal, of sorts. ✔️

twenty-one

I swear I'm finally going to snap and murder him. "Give it back!"

"Absolutely not!" My freshly baked apricot croissant is in his left hand, a bite taken out of it. A bite I must avenge.

"It's mine!" I yell sharply.

He grins in response, the smile stretching across his lips as a taunt. "Technically, dear wife, it's ours!"

"Semantics! I acquired it, and therefore it's mine." I want to pummel him, but I need to think about the best way to approach him. My croissant is at risk every moment it spends with him.

"If you want it, come and get it!" He clutches the apricot croissant over his head, out of my grasp. He's feet away from the couch, and if I'm smart about this, I can recover my croissant with minimal damage.

I start stalking towards him menacingly. He takes a step back in the direction I want him to go. I keep my satisfaction private.

Another step back: the back of his calves hit the edge of the couch. I bound towards him, jumping onto the couch and reaching for my croissant in one move. He isn't fast enough to stop my victory, but he does manage to curl a hand around my arm. So by the time I realize he's falling, I'm falling too. 

In my surprise, I let go of the croissant for his arm, landing ungracefully atop his body. He's sprawled across the rug coating our hardwood floor, and I'm sprawled across him. I push myself up but don't make it very far with the gaze he sets upon me.

I lay on his lap, my thumb centimeters away from his lips. I want to touch them but I'm afraid they'll fall away from me if I try. I watch them and realize in their movement that he was speaking to me.

"Seryn," my name comes out of his mouth as a groan. My heart thuds against my chest. A confession lays on my lips and my lust pulls it over the edge.

"I want to kiss you," I tell him, my thumb finally resting against the softness of his mouth.

"Seryn," he repeats, forcing me to look back at his eyes. "I need to tell you the truth."

My heart sinks. What could he possibly have to confess at this moment? An impregnated mistress? A secret lover he plans to leave me for? The visions of his mistresses return.

Bile crawls up my throat as I find my necklace with my free hand. "Okay."

"The truth is that I've loved you since the first time I knew you." His hand falls over my own, calming my worrying fingers pressing against the pendant. Slow strokes of his thumb against the back of my hand coax my breathing to slow.

I blink slowly, his confession slowly settling in. "What?"

"I've loved you from the third time we met, in that ballroom when we were still children." The time I poured chocolate over him for calling me a plum.

This fucker. "There's absolutely no way. You made my life a living hell."

He chuckles, low and deep. "I was only mean to you because you were mean to me."

"You've been in love with me for nearly 16 years? I didn't even know what love was at that age." I try to keep my voice from turning into squeals.

"I doubt I did either. I just remembered being enraptured by your smile and your wit."

"And all your escapades? Your mistresses?" I press.

"A foolish attempt to forget you. I never could. I know it sounds unbelievable, I just never knew how to tell you." His strokes follow a path down to my elbow, calming still. "I'm sorry for the pain I caused you. I felt the walls closing in on me so I lashed out."

I didn't know how to respond so I kissed him. After the initial surprise, his lips don't take long to meld against mine, gentle like the caresses of his fingers against my skin.

I pull away once my brain resumes function. "Well, I certainly have not been in love with you for that long. I think a week or two at most." The words are murmurs against his lips.

His eyes pop open. "What?"

"It's okay, some of us are just naturally more charming than others." I pat his bicep with a grin.

He scrambles upright, pulling me with him. "You're in love with me?"

"I do believe I just said that." I get up from on top of his body, catching sight of my apricot croissant, laying on a carpet, apricot side down. "Now, I need to go back to the marketplace to replenish my baked goods that you sacrificed."

He manages to make it to his feet seconds after. "Nope. Absolutely not. You're not going anywhere but our bedroom."

He captures my lips for another kiss and I let him.