Epilogue-3

Once he was successfully inside my bedroom and I gave him a smattering of applause for his reckless yet hilarious jumping stunt, his presence filled up my room and it was as if he had sucked all of the oxygen from the atmosphere and all that existed in the world in that moment was him. Tight dark wash denim jeans hugged his muscular legs and the crisp white button down shirt that he filled out was only made sexier by the way he rolled the sleeves up to his elbows and showed off his nice brown leather watch and his put together look made me want to take everything off of him, and quickly. His scent of sandalwood and musk invaded my senses and I was sure he could've seen the drool dripping from the side of my mouth because of it. "So, again I ask..." "Right.  These are for you, milady.  We are going somewhere very special.  I see Eva held up her end of the deal.  She was supposed to get you all dressed up 'for fun' and give you a makeover.  Now all you have to do is put your shoes on and we'll be ready to go." He put air quotes around the words 'for fun' after he handed me the beautiful daisies and I suddenly understood Eva's incessant whining and insisting that she give me a makeover and dress me up in one of my nicest dresses that I owned no matter the fact that I still didn't feel one hundred percent myself after the whole ordeal. I was dressed in my favorite royal blue dress that hit just above the knee and did wonders for my curves and had straps in the back that crossed to form an 'X' in the center of my back. My hair was done up in ringlets and I had a natural glowing makeup applied with a bit of eyeshadow that helped me feel better about the one stubborn bruise that had yet to completely fade and was still an ugly yellowish hue attached to my left eye. "So, is where we are going a surprise?" I asked him shyly, gazing up at him through my thickened eyelashes while pretending to bat them at him as if I were the biggest flirt in the world. He pretended to ponder that question for a moment, a finger tapping against his freshly shaven chin, before replying, "Oh, it is quite the surprise." I could feel the smile stretch my face almost in two as I stumbled over to my closet to find a pair of nude heels that would compliment my outfit the best, but when I struggled to pull them on my feet I felt a pair of strong arms encircle my waist and lead me to sit on my bed. "I could've put them on myself, you know," I half joked at him, not wanting to feel like an invalid. Ever since I had come home from the hospital, it was as if I had three in-home nurses: my mother, my father and Kieran.  I was on the mend and I wanted to finally feel normal again. "I know, but I actually just wanted to do this," he said while bending down to place the shoe against my foot, hands trailing up and down my calf sending shivers to dance across my smooth skin. He leaned in and his lips brushed the sensitive area behind my kneecaps and if I wasn't already sitting down on the bed, I was sure that I would have fallen to the ground at his actions. "Wow," I gulped.  "I'm g-glad my parents aren't home," I told him truthfully, remembering that my dad had accompanied my mom to her very last cancer checkup appointment.  If all went well, she wouldn't have to go back for another six months, and those visits were just to assure the cancer was gone for good, as she would have to go every six months for a few years. It meant that it was the end of the road for the problems in my life.  Nathan was safely in prison where he couldn't hurt me, my mother was on the mend and cancer free, and Kieran was...well, Kieran was the love of my life; and I got to have him all to myself. "Caroline," he groaned out, almost in frustration. I leaned my head back in ecstasy as his hand traveled further and further up my leg, fully aware that we had somewhere important that we needed to be but completely unfazed by that fact.  I would've stayed with him in that way forever if it weren't for his phone ringing and ruining the moment. "And that's our cue," he said in a disappointed tone.  He finished strapping up my heels on my feet for me while I got my spinning head and foggy vision to clear up, wondering how he so abruptly could cool himself off while I took a bit more time. One look at the smoldering in his eyes, though, told me that he was still very much affected by our interaction and there was a promise behind his gaze that told me we would be able to revisit that moment sooner rather than later. Gripping my hand tightly within his, he led us outside to his awaiting sleek vehicle and I had to remind myself more than once to not ask him where we were going; I never really did enjoy surprises all that much. The comfortable silence that we rode in for all of five minutes was made even more sweet by the tender caresses that Kieran inundated on my palm whilst holding my hand the entire ride to wherever we were going. The orange and pink hues of the setting sun broke across the blue horizon and we were parked directly across from a gazebo that overlooked the ocean, jagged rocks puncturing the smooth coastline in rugged formations. "This is beautiful, I've never seen this gazebo before.  When I would go running, I would always take a left down the shorefront, never to the right," I commented to him as he opened my door for me like the perfect gentleman that he was. We strode hand in hand towards the open gazebo that gave wonderful views of the setting sun and high arching cerulean waves. I noticed once we were a bit closer to our destination that Kieran had set up a little picnic inside the gazebo, along with another item that I hadn't noticed had gone missing from my bedroom. "H-how did you get this here?  Weren't you afraid someone would steal it?" I asked him as I carefully approached the intricate dining table setting and keyboard piano that had been set up to face the water directly.