“We should go,” I told him, feeling completely out of my comfort zone and wanting to be anywhere on earth but in his kitchen. “Please.”
“Alright, come on.” He grabbed my hand and led me back through the kitchen to the patio door we’d entered through. “I want to show you something.”
Despite my continual requests that he give me at least a hint about our destination, Sebastian remained stubbornly silent. He led us out onto the patio, skirted around the perimeter of the house, and cut through the yard toward the back edge of the property. The well-kempt greenery of his sloping lawn eventually gave way to longer, wilder grasses and a copse of tall yellow poplar trees. As we wove through them, I stopped asking about our destination and silence descended over us. The poplars were old, soaring high above our heads with a majesty only Mother Nature can conjure. Walking beneath the shelter of their branches, we seemed miles from civilization rather than mere steps, as though we’d been transported to another world when we crossed the barrier from landscaped lawn to untamed wild.
There was serenity here, a hushed dignity it felt wrong to interrupt with words. Our footfalls were quiet against the mossy earth, and the only sounds were that of the wind whistling through the trees and the gentle trickling of a nearby stream as water flowed over the rock bed.
There was no trail — none that I could see, anyway — but Sebastian walked with purposeful strides, as though his feet had walked this path so many times he’d long since committed it to memory. After about five minutes, we broke through the dense-packed trees and came to a small clearing.
I gasped when it came into view, in awe of the mammoth sentinel before my eyes.
At the center of the glade was a huge, red oak tree. It dominated the clearing, dwarfing the surrounding trees with its thick trunk and long-reaching branches. It was so wide that had Sebastian and I stood on opposite sides and stretched our arms around its circumference, our hands wouldn’t have touched. Its boughs were low-hanging, the bottom branches only about ten feet from the earth. It must’ve been a dream to climb as a child.
Detaching my grip from Sebastian’s, I ran forward to skim my hands across the trunk, moving around it in a circle with my neck craned to catch a glimpse of the top. I felt a wondrous smile break out across my face as I made myself dizzy running in circles with my gaze trained skyward.
Giggling and breathless, I came to a halt with one hand planted firmly against the bark to steady myself. “Wow,” I breathed. It must’ve been seventy feet tall.
“This is my favorite spot on the property,” Bash revealed. I looked up to find him standing ten feet away, his eyes locked on my face. I could feel the color in my cheeks and I was warm in spite of the crisp air. My hair had slipped out of its ties during my mad dash and was hanging loose around my torso, a wind-tousled mess. “I hate that house,” he added, nodding his head in the direction we’d come from.
I could see why. The plantation-style mansion he lived in was gorgeous — certainly fit for a senator’s family. It looked like something off the set ofGone With the Wind, with its grand-scale white columns and sprawling front lawn. The circular drive leading to the house wound around a huge fountain, and the freestanding car garage was larger than my entire house. On our way to the woods, we’d passed a bean-shaped, in-ground pool in the backyard, as well as a stable which, from the soft neighing sounds and wafting fresh-hay smell, I’d bet contained more than one thoroughbred. Though I hadn’t seen much beyond the kitchen, I could imagine the rest of the interior was equally extravagant.
And yet, for all its apparent wealth, the house was cold, impersonal. Like some museum exhibit where everything was warded withlook-but-don’t-touchsigns, encased behind glass panels, and cordoned off with red velvet ropes. It was probably as pristine and unlived-in as the day it had been constructed.
No wonder Sebastian hated it.
“Have you ever climbed it?” I asked gesturing up at the massive red oak. I was genuinely curious but also hoping to steer his mind to happier topics.
Bash grinned. “More times than I could count,” he told me.
“I’d like to see that sometime,” I said, grinning back at him happily.
“Come here.” His command was soft, his eyes beckoning with a gentle intensity. My feet responded instantly, drawn like the proverbial moth to his flame. When I came to a stop in front of him, he leaned forward into my space so only a hairsbreadth existed between our faces. His hands came up to cup my neck, then slid back to wind into my hair. With the lightest of pressure, he guided my mouth forward to brush against his.
His lips were softer than I’d expected, pushing against mine with gentle insistence. I bent into his frame, bringing my body flush with his. My lips parted and Sebastian deepened our kiss, the unfamiliar sensation of his tongue brushing mine nearly startling me off balance. My mind raced at twice its normal speed and I prayed I wasn’t messing this up, making a fool of myself.
“Is this okay?” he asked me softly, pulling away a fraction of an inch.
“More than okay,” I whispered back.
“Your heart is beating really fast,” Sebastian said, his right thumb skimming over the pulse point in my throat.
“I’m nervous,” I admitted.
“Don’t be nervous.” He leaned down to brush a featherlight kiss across my lips. “It’s just me.”
“That’s exactly why I’m nervous,” I pointed out.
He laughed lightly, wrapping his arms around me and drawing me in for a comforting hug that warmed me down to my bones. Without fully detangling our limbs, Sebastian walked me backwards until we were standing directly under the tree. Stepping out of my space, he sat with his back leaning against the thick trunk and extended one hand up to me.
“Come sit,Freckles.”
I sat next to him and within seconds he’d hooked one arm under my knees and swung them across his lap so I was settled on top of him. My head landed on his shoulder, and one of my arms curled naturally around his waist. I sighed contentedly when Bash’s lips pressed against the hair on the crown of my head.
We sat for a long time, the prince and his pauper, sharing a moment beneath the most beautiful tree I’d ever seen. I could only imagine what it would be like in a few weeks, when spring arrived and it was once again full of lush green foliage.
“Lux?” Sebastian asked, his arms tightening around me slightly.
“Yeah?”