One Tiny Secret - By Adam Kunz Page 0,98
giggle and tap him on the arm. He flinches before yelping in pain. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I forgot you were stabbed there.”
“Damn…now you’re beating me up,” he comments with a chuckle.
“Just shut your handsome face and kiss me again already.”
He leans forward, bringing his lips mere inches from mine. “With pleasure.”
Confusion hits me when I notice he’s stopped kissing me and I’m left doing all the work. My eyes shoot open to see him looking right back at me.
“Something wrong?” I ask, hoping there isn’t.
A half-smile curls his lips as he drapes a stray lock of hair behind my ear and keeps his hand there. His lengthy gaze without a single uttered word begins to make me feel anxious.
“What?” I prompt with a soft smile.
“Something just occurred to me.” The pause he takes only succeeds in making me want to hear what he has to say even more. He sweeps his tongue across his lips with his eyes still fixed on mine. He reaches to grab my hand and interlocks our fingers before resting them over his heart. “I was your first…and if everything goes the way I hope it does, I’ll be your only. I can’t promise our future, Dani, but if you allow me, I’ll do everything in my power to love you like no one else will ever be able to.”
I draw up our laced hands and place a kiss on each one of his fingers before finding my way to his lips. The love I have for him stretches beyond any emotion I’ve ever felt for one single person. After we finally separate, breathing heavily from our enthusiastic display of affection, I’m met again by his trademark grin. His eyes almost seem like they’re asking, “Well, what do you say?”
With all of the hard questions I’ve been faced with recently, this one seems like the easiest one I’ve ever had to answer. “You most certainly have my permission, Mr. Reed,” I whisper, hovering close to his mouth.
“Consider it done,” he replies, cradling my face in his hands for one more kiss.
Five Months Later...
I look into the full-length mirror that hangs on the back of my bedroom door, studying my choice of swimsuit for our spring break trip to Florida. My attention switches to the glaring scar on my right thigh. It rests there as a constant reminder of the night my life changed forever.
“Dani, mail’s here,” I hear my dad call up to me.
Throwing a towel around myself, I rush from the room and down the stairs to meet him in the kitchen. He’s standing there with the biggest smile on his face. In his outstretched hand is a bright white envelope. Snatching it from him, I notice the Blackburn University insignia in the top left corner.
“I can’t read it,” I say, returning it to him.
He pushes it back into my hand. “You have to.”
I smile at him and release a huge sigh before tearing into the envelope. Sliding out the folded piece of paper, I let the envelope fall to the ground. I unfold it and begin to read aloud.
“Dear Danielle Marks, it is my pleasure to welcome you—” Before I can even finish, my father’s arms wrap around me, crunching up the letter between us.
“I knew you’d get in,” he whispers in my ear while squeezing me even harder than before.
“I can’t believe I got in!” I exclaim with the largest grin on my face.
He pulls back and smiles. “I had no doubts at all. Now, go finish packing. You’ve got a trip to make,” he says after letting me go and motioning to the second floor.
Bounding up the stairs two at a time, I hurry back to my room to get changed out of the swimsuit. The moment I hear the doorbell ring, I grab my bags and keys before moving to the stairs.
Parker stands at the front door wearing a black tank top and a pair of red board shorts. I guess I should’ve stayed in my bathing suit. My father shakes his hand, and Parker glances up at me as I wait at the top of the stairs. He grins and I feel a smile light up my face.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” my dad says as I make my way down the steps, bags in hand. When I pass by him, he gives me a peck on the cheek and moves back into the kitchen.
Parker steps in front of me as I set my bags on the floor. He