She didn't know what it was about his words that reached that place inside her. It's not like she hadn't heard the phrase before. Burke had told her a million times that she was beautiful, and she heard it. She appreciated it even.
But there was something in his tone. There was something about the way he looked at her.
Cristina wanted to respond to him, but she wasn't sure what to say.
Sometimes words fail you.
Her hand moved from under her face and rested gently against his. Cold air seemed to seep from the concrete underneath their flesh as she moved a little closer. Her other hand tentatively slipped from her lap and over to his cheek. She slid her fingertips down his stubbly cheek and under his chin.
Other times, they are not enough.
Owen's eyes met hers and he felt like his breath was caught in his throat, tangled with all of the words he wanted to say to her. He wasn't familiar with this place, not being able to say anything to a beautiful woman. There was so much that he wanted to say to her, so many things he wanted her to know. None of it would come out.
Gently, his hand turned under hers and he laced their fingers. His other hand reached out slowly, tentatively and he ran his fingers through her soft ebony curls.
Actions speak louder than words.
Cristina tried to resist the desire rising in her body. She tried to ignore the way his icy blue eyes pierced her soul. She felt like he was in her head. Like he could hear everything she was thinking without her ever speaking a word of it. He was intriguing. Addicting. She wanted so much more of him.
In the end, desire won out. She leaned forward and just barely brushed her lips over his. Longing to taste what she'd only been privy to twice before. Her lips grazed his once more after barely pulling away and this time she kissed him more deeply, her fingers sliding around his neck. She was holding on for dear life.
Soul meets soul on lovers ' lips.
Owen felt her lips part and did not hesitate to sweep his tongue into her mouth. It was a heated match of thrust and parry. Hands began to wander, bodies came closer together. Cells deprived of oxygen began to dizzy the pair to the point where the world spun around them.
Neither cared enough to pull away even to breathe.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
When their bodies demand for oxygen finally won over, they pulled only inches away. Their hearts pounded in unison, their cheeks red not from the cold but from the heat rising in their bodies. Each ached to know more about each other, to reach the heights of passion with one and other and fall free amongst crested sheets with glowing skin- away from reality, away from their after and before and everything else that kept them firmly grounded.
Firmly attached to a bitter reality that they knew all too well.
True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights.
True love did not exist to either of them. True love was for fairy tales, mythology and French literature written by Parisians drunk on romance and expensive wine. Yet, perhaps it had found them in the strangest of places. In a darkness where they sought solace, yearned to rebuild the walls that once made them an impenetrable fortress that supported their cool exterior.
They were not looking for it, they were not searching it out.
Their thoughts faded as the moon into the morning sky as they sit on the porch in silence. Their gazes remained fixed, their bodies pressed together and fingers intertwined. No words had been spoken since his admission and none others would be spoken today. They were content as they were- they were at peace, their thoughts quieted from the constant mainstream of worry and sadness, their breathing evened.
Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts beating in unison.
It was uncommon, what they had found and it was certainly something unexpected. They would not speak their thoughts or even acknowledge them. It was too soon for that. Maybe it wasn't that words had failed either one of them.
Maybe it was just that the words would come in their own due time.
We sat side by side in the morning light and looked out into the future together.
-footnotes-
Quote Sources in order of appearance: Percy Bysshe, Unknown, Erich Segal, Unknown, Unknown, Brian Andres