Chapter 84 - Rain and dandelions

I could hear Sin as he moved slowly around the room. I turned slowly to my right, my eyes falling on his broad back. He was wearing a black shirt, but I could see a slight stain on it. Knowing how pristine and immaculate Sin was, coupled with the scars on his face, I knew something had happened.

He was serving the food that the butler had brought with him, while Angel slept on the couch in the VIP ward.

"Did... something happen?"

He slowly turned to me, his brows furrowed. "What?"

I swallowed, then started to push myself to a sitting position. He watched me keenly before covering the distance to fix the pillow behind me. I felt my breath catch in my throat as he came close, his profile available to me, along with the scars that part of his face carried.

"Did something happen?" I asked, my hand reaching to cup the other side of his face.

I could feel the sticky warmth of his blood in my fingers all over again, and it made me hold him a little closer.

He turned to me, his eyes darting slowly between my eyes and my lips. My stomach felt like mush, and I wondered how I stayed holding him so close despite what he was making me feel inside.

"I..." He started, then gave a small sigh. "Just be alright. That is all I want."

He started to pull away, but I held back, my other hand resting on the hand he had kept on the side of the bed.

"Can I at least clean it up?"

His eyes lowered for a bit. "Let it be, Annalise. I am not dying."

"I am not dying either."

He said nothing but brought his hand to cup mine, his eyes darting across both of mine.

"I don't think I will ever be able to tell you how happy I am that you didn't."

I bit down on my lips. "Why? Am I a great kisser?"

He gave a small laugh, his hand leaving mine and gently cupping my face too. "Because I can work to have you consider forgiving me."

My smile faltered, and I swallowed hard, a single layer of tears covering my eyes. "You... you came that day too. Just like this."

His jaws clenched. "You remember?"

My tears rolled down my cheeks, but neither of us went to wipe it off. His lips were parted, too, and I could see the visible struggle with the vortices I knew to be swirling around inside. I wish he would show me. I wish he would bare himself to me.

Tell me the things I so desperately need to hear. The things I have yearned for for so long.

"Yes. You came with flowers. You told me to live. You told me that people like you would worry. You made me want to stay, despite everything. Enrique had snatched my life from me, but you... like those roses... you gave me back at least a piece. A will to go on."

He let out a shaky breath, his lips parting lightly. He said nothing for the longest time, his chest lightly heaving, his eyes holding mine.

"I am sorry, Annalise. I am sorry it took so long. I am sorry you had to go through all of that. I am sorry I..."

My thumb came to rest on his lips, and my fingers caressed his face lightly.

"You already apologized enough, Sin. When you feel like apologizing, from now, just kiss me."

He gave a small chuckle, but his eyes spoke a different story, and I could see the reflection of light caught in the layer that now covered his beautiful eyes.

"Can I do that?" He asked, his voice a small whisper as his fingers gently ran down my face.

I nodded slowly. "You can."

"What if I feel like apologizing every day?"

I broke into a laugh, and he looked up to meet my eyes, his eyes holding seriousness within the thick layers of emotion.

"Well, Sin, you can..."

"I like the little sound you make just before you laugh," he said slowly, his fingers running down my lips.

The combination of his words, his soft caress, and the intensity in his eyes caused me to go speechless.

"Makes me want to keep you laughing for much, much longer."

I swallowed hard, my eyes taking his face in. Without thinking, I leaned to him, my lips lightly pecking his before I immediately pulled away.

My heart was beating wildly in my chest, my fingers were shaky, and my knees were weak, but more than the peck itself, the way he looked after, the hunger, the desire, the painful need in his eyes, it had me leaning closer again.

"I... that's what you get for complimenting me."

He raised a brow, then let his fingers gently rest on my neck, his eyes taking me in.

"You are begging to belong to me, Annalise. You are tempting me in more ways than one."

"Is that a bad thing?"

He smiled, leaning so close that I could feel his lashes brush my cheeks, every bit of what he was doing, ruining my entire perception of men.

"I just will make you mine, Annalise."

I moved back a bit to meet his eyes, but he didn't let me for too long as he covered the distance I had opened up and let his lips kiss my forehead. My eyes closed, my breath faltering, the words I had been struggling to pull together dying in my throat, unsaid.

He let his lips run down my face, in a sort of marking, and I grabbed onto the hospital sheets to keep myself from falling at his feet.

He finally reached my lips, then let his teasingly hover above it, his breath fanning the already sensitive skin, his fingers fanning these embers alight.

"I will protect you," he whispered, my lips parting at his words. "Against the world, and if need be, against me too."

"Why would I ever need protection from you?"

He gave a small shrug, and I knew there was more to that than he would ever tell me or let on.

"I hope you never do."

He leaned in, his lips parting to take mine, and my eyes closed, the questions dying in my throat, my hands moving from the bedsheets to his hair. He moved further, essentially pinning me back on the headrest, his lips devouring mine, his tongue showing mine how to dance in a field of dandelions and rain. I was a fast learner, and before long, we were in perfect synchrony, the yearning surpassing everything else.