Passion's Instinct

Ten

Natalie

The sun was shining brightly through the window in mine and Hayden's bedroom. I rubbed my eyes and sighed, tangled in the sheets. So far, through one night with Hayden, I've learned he's a deep sleeper and moves around. A lot.

At least neither of us snores.

Hayden stirred and turned on his side, facing me. He put his arms around me and held me against his chest. "Good morning, Beautiful," he mumbled.

"Good morning." I entangled myself from his arms and sat up, stretching my arms out. Kota came up on the bed and curled up in between us. Everything felt perfect.

Hayden shifted and turned to me. "I was going to see if you wanted to go for a run before we leave for Hilton Head this morning." I loved how his voice sounded in the morning.

"Sure." I propped myself up on my elbow and faced him, smiling down at him.

He wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me down on him. He kissed me, and I laughed. "I thought we were going for a run," I said.

"Yeah, in a minute," he said, running his hands through my hair. He kissed me again and threw the sheets back, getting out of bed. Kota jumped off and followed him to the bathroom. "Get out, Kota," I heard him say. He shut the door, leaving Kota to sit directly outside of it and wait.

I laughed, pulling my athletic leggings on and racerback tee over my head. I tied on my tennis shoes, and when Hayden came out of the bathroom, I was standing at the mirror and tying my hair up into a ponytail. He ran his hand through his hair and changed into his athletic clothes.

Once he was ready, he sighed. "Alright, let's go."

I smiled, and he walked out of our bedroom after me, letting Kota out also.

We decided to take the several flights of stairs down to the front door, and he put Kota on her leash before we started off on our mile run.

As we exited the big gate surrounding our house, immediately I caught with my eye someone duck behind a bush and snap a picture. As a celebrity, we were taught to ignore and move on, so that's exactly what I did. Not that I wasn't bothered by it.

Hayden groaned as a passing citizen commented on his metal leg.

"Ignore it, Hayden."

He nodded, and we kept running. Hayden made a clicking noise with his mouth when Kota trailed off of the sidewalk. "Come on, Dakota," he instructed. "Back on the sidewalk."

A small group of people sitting outside of a restaurant startled me, and we kept our eyes off them. "CONGRATS ON YOUR WEDDING, NATALIE AND HAYDEN! WE LOVE YOU!" the one girl said. "Aww, look at the doggie," another girl said. "See his leg? It's the newest type of prosthetic," a man said to his wife.

Hayden touched my back briefly, and I gave him a small smile as I glanced at him.

We took a more secluded hill back up to our house. Kota panted profusely, and Hayden and I both were breathing heavily.

When we got in the door, I sat in the middle of the floor, Kota collapsing next to me.

Hayden shut the door and leaned against it. "No more...people."

"And the fact we have to face more of them later at the airport," I said, sighing.

"Speaking of, we should get the rest of the way ready."

"Yes, I know, I'm just procrastinating."

Once we were ready to go, Hayden set up the alarms on the house, turned the water off and set the lights on timers. He covered the pool, and we packed up the car with our suitcases. We took Kota to the kennel, and after that, we were on our way to the airport.

"I love you, Hayden," I said, after a silence in the car.

"I love you too, Natalie." He glanced at me and smiled before turning back to the road. We would be at the airport in a number of minutes.