tucking strands of her soft blond hair behind her ears lets me know she is worried about asking me whatever it is that she wants…
“Yes, Kitten?” I lift a brow, waiting for her to speak.
She gives me a little grin. “Can we go on a walk?”
I swallow, not expecting that to be her question. “A walk?” I raise both eyebrows in shock.
“Yeah… just around the house. I mean, I don’t really care where we go, even if we just walk around the backyard. It’s just that I want to be outside, feel the sun on my face. I haven't been outside in so long.” She’s looking at me like I might tell her no, and there’s no way I could do that to her. If she wants to go outside then she can go outside. We might be hiding but that doesn’t mean the house we’re in has to be seen in as a death sentence, as nothing more than a jail cell.
“Of course, Kitten, we can walk however long and far you want, so long as you stay close to me.” I barely finish the sentence when she jumps up from the chair, her face alight with excitement, which in turn makes me excited and happy.
“Can we go now?” She acts as if she’s a child who was just told she could go outside and play in the first snowfall of winter. I get up without realizing it, wanting to be close to her, to touch her.
“Sure. There should be some shoes, or sandals in that box I had shipped here.” She takes off down the hall and I follow her into the bedroom, watching her dig around in the huge box.
I use that moment while she is distracted to grab the gun from the inside of my jacket. It’s hanging on the chair next to the bed, where I placed it on purpose. I like to sleep with a gun close by just in case, and even more now that we’re on the run.
I turn away from her and slide the gun into the back of my jeans beneath the shirt I’m wearing.
“Ha, found them!” she exclaims and pulls out some sneakers. She slips them on with ease and looks up at me with excitement dazzling in her blue eyes.
“Okay, my only rule is stay close and within my sight. I don’t want you wandering too far off by yourself.”
She smirks and rolls her eyes as I open the backdoor. “Okay, master,” she murmurs beneath her breath and walks past me and out onto the porch. I watch her cautiously as she takes a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill her lungs. She tilts her face up toward the sun, letting her skin absorb the rays. She looks so different in the sunlight; it makes her hair shine as if gold has been spun into the long strands.
When she finally opens her eyes again, she turns to me, offering me a wide smile as if to say thank you and I forget how to breathe for a moment.
Her beauty literally steals the air from my lungs. Her eyes look different in the sun, brighter and bluer, her long blond lashes fanning against her cheeks as she blinks.
With the sun peering down on her skin, freckles I never noticed her having before are smeared across the bridge of her button nose. I have the urge to reach out and run my fingers across that smattering of beauty marks, to kiss each and every freckle on her skin.
“You coming?” She smiles at me again over her shoulder. I cross the distance separating us and take her hand in mine. It’s something so simple, so easily done by normal couples, but it feels crazy to be doing it with her. We lazily stroll around the yard and down a little path leading away from the house and into an open clearing. There are some woods around the house, shielding it from anyone driving by, which is the primary reason I selected this place as our hideaway.
We walk for a long time, but I don’t mind. I could do this all day with her. She is visibly enjoying being outside, her constant smile giving her away. I can barely keep my eyes off of her. My head is constantly turning toward her as we walk side by side, fingers intertwined as we hold hands. The longer we do this, the more I long for something more...something deeper. I can see myself