Wingless and Beautiful

Chapter Forty-Eight

“Angel…” he whispered. “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

He titled my chin up so I could look at him. “Hey, this is me. You can tell me anything.”

“I know,” I sighed. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m okay.”

I gently pulled away from him and then walked towards the bathroom.

“Angel,” he called out and I turned back to him. “If it bothers you, I can sleep in the next room.”

I shook my head. “No. It’s fine.”

He walked towards me, giving me a reassuring smile. He wrapped his arms around my waist, looked into my eyes and said, “I don’t want you to feel any pressure, angel. I didn’t bring you here so I could seduce you.”

My heart stopped beating altogether.

“I just want us to have some alone time before we head off to college,” he continued. He pushed a lock of hair away from my face. “I want to sleep in the same bed as you because… well, I want to watch you sleep and wake up next to you. But that’s it. We don’t have to do anything you wouldn’t be comfortable with. You know I will wait as long as it takes.”

I smiled and then I hugged him. “I love you, Hunter.”

“I love you more, angel. Now, go change quickly. I’m challenging you to a game of chess.”

“Seriously?” I pulled away from him.

“What? Did you really think I brought you here so you would sleep with me? Of course not. Out of all the people I knew, you were the only one who ever gave me a challenge in a game of chess.”

I gave him a slight push. “Oh, really? Wait for me downstairs, I just might beat you this time!”

“Game on!” He gave me a wink. Then he turned towards the door. “I’ll be in the garden.”

I felt relieved that we talked. He was right. There was nothing to be pressured about. Sex did not define our relationship. I knew we would eventually do it. When the time was right. It was always better to go with the flow, feel in the moment, rather than plan or expect. It would be a lot better that way.

When I came down to the garden, I was dressed in a pair of white shorts, a yellow sleeveless blouse and the yellow slippers that Hunter gave me.

He was standing in the garden, in the center of a giant chessboard with huge chess pieces reaching almost up to his waistline.

“Oh my God, Hunter. This is so cool!” I couldn’t help laughing.

He stood by the black pieces. “Your move, angel.”

I must admit, carrying the chess pieces around the board was fun but kind of distracting. Thus, it became much more difficult to strategize. But I did well. Before Hunter announced ‘Checkmate’ he only had three pieces left on the giant board.

“Damn it! Someday, I would beat you in this game!” I muttered.

He laughed, giving me a hug. “You have all the time in the world to try beating me. Come on, you must be starving.”

“By the way, I still owe you for these slippers,” I said, pointing at my feet.

“What are you talking about? I gave them to you. I told you I didn’t want you to pay me back.”

“Why would you just give it to me?”

“Because you’re my girlfriend. I’m allowed to give you gifts once in a while, right?”

“Right. But you already agreed to accept payment in kind for this, remember?” I reminded him. “I don’t like owing anybody.”

He sighed and then without warning, he pressed his lips against mine and gave me a thorough kiss on the lips that almost rendered me mindless afterwards. He smiled when he saw the violent blush on my face. “There. Your debt has been paid. Now, can you just let it go? It looked good on you and I felt good showering you with presents. Let’s just eat. I’m starving.”

I sighed and decided to let it go. He was right. Maybe it was normal for a guy to give his girlfriend presents. Maybe I was just not used to receiving any gift from anybody. I could tell it made him really happy.

Barbecue had been prepared for us beside the massive barbeque gas grill. He had hotdogs, corn, potatoes, burgers and steak. We ate dinner under the stars again.

After dinner, Hunter put a mat and blanket out on the lawn and prepared some bonfire where we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. He played the guitar and we sang. He taught me chords to new songs. The evening felt so relaxed, so comfortable, like we were in a world of our own.

Then suddenly, Hunter’s wristwatch alarmed.

“Time to sleep?” I asked.

“Almost,” he replied. He put his guitar aside and stood up from the mats. “Come. Let’s go up.”

“Are we just gonna leave our stuff here?”

“Yeah, we’ll fix them tomorrow. There’s no one else here. We’re totally alone and the gates are locked. We’re perfectly safe. No one will bother us or invade our privacy. Don’t worry.”

He led me up the stairs. “You take the shower in the master’s bedroom. I’ll take the other bathroom.”

I took my time in the shower, making sure I got rid of the smell of barbecue in my hair and skin. Then I dried my hair and dressed in a pair of pink pajamas and matching long-sleeved shirt.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, I found Hunter sitting on the bed. He played chill out music in the room.

“You said you weren’t going to seduce me,” I said in a teasing tone. “What’s with the music?”

“I don’t think I need music to achieve seduction, angel. I can manage that all on my own,” he said smugly.

I laughed. “You and your big, inflated head.”

He reached out for my hand and then he pulled me towards the glass doors. He opened them and led me to a huge terrace.

“Oh my,” I breathed. “This is surreal.”

There was a daybed lounger with a pulled-back sun canopy in the middle. There were lamps around the terrace and the lounger was covered in pristine sheets, with duvet and pillows on top of it.

“What are you planning?”

“You’ll see,” he said, lying down on the daybed and pulling me with him. I rested my head on his shoulder as he pulled the duvet over us, keeping us both warm.

A lover’s moon illuminated the clear night sky. It was full of stars and I could see some constellations. The big full moon illuminated the sky along with the stars.

“It’s beautiful,” I said. It reminded me of our date under the meteor shower and I made a wish. I still remember that wish.

“What did you wish for the last time we watched a meteor shower?” he asked, gently rubbing my forearm with his hand.

I took a deep breath. “I wished you would be able to see again.”

He lay still. I thought he stopped breathing, I looked up at him.

“Hunter, are you okay?” I asked.

“Out of all the things you could wish for, you wished for that?”

“Yeah.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Thank you.” He turned back to the sky. “Now, you can make another wish or a dozen of them, if you want.”

“Why?”

“Look up, angel.”

When I looked back into the sky, I saw a flash of light, followed by another, and then another.

“Oh my God, Hunter…” I breathed. There was another meteor shower. Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched the amazing display of falling stars above us.

I felt his arms around me tighten as he inhaled through my hair and then kissed my forehead. Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched the meteor shower above us.

I propped up on my elbow so I could look into his eyes.

“I love you,” he breathed.

“I love you too.”

Slowly, I bent towards him for a kiss. I felt his hand on the back of my head as he pulled me to him and deepened our kiss. His arm snaked around my waist, trying to get me as close to him as possible.

I could feel heat emanating from his skin to mine. He gently pushed me towards the bed, without breaking our kiss. My heart pounded inside my ribcage, but I didn’t feel nervous at all. Instead, I felt a sense of thrill and excitement that I could hardly control. I was lost again. I was hopeless to be found but I didn’t give a damn.

Then I just know… that moment felt right.

Hunter pulled back and looked at me. His eyes were a darker shade of blue, and he looked consumed by his own raging emotions. I knew we were both thinking the same thing.

His hand went to the edge of my shirt until it touched the bare skin underneath. He gave me a wistful smile and then he whispered, “I have to stop. But God knows, I want to keep kissing you.”

I giggled, “Me too.”

I pulled him to me so I could kiss his lips. He kissed me more aggressively. I gave him all the permission he needed.

When he pulled back at me again, he, too, was breathless. “Are you… are you sure?” he asked gently.

I nodded. “Just… go slow. It’s… it’s my first time.”

He smiled at me. “It’s mine too,”

I blinked back at him. “Are you serious? I thought dozens of girls were pining for your attention, Hunter Vaughn.”

“I was waiting for the right girl, angel. I was waiting for you all along.”

He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine again. I could feel the loud sound of his heartbeat. He took his sweet time showering me with kisses, caressing my skin… discovering me…. drowning me to oblivion. When he nipped at my earlobe and nuzzled my neck, I slowly opened my eyes, just in time to see endless streaks of meteor shower in the sky above us.

At that final moment, he looked me in the eye, ensuring that I was sure about what we were doing. In his eyes, I saw desire. I saw love. I saw his entire soul bared to me. He was giving me everything he had, leaving nothing to himself.

Finally, when that inevitable pain ripped through my body, he held me in his arms to comfort me, until I could feel no more pain, only pleasure. And just when I was fully drowned in our passion and fell over the edge of sanity, he caught me, held me, whispered my name and told me over and over how much he loved me. And in that final moment, before he allowed bliss to fully consume him, he whispered against my ear, “I am yours forever, angel.”

It took us both a moment to catch our breaths and come back down to reality.

Another first.

And it couldn’t have been more perfect than this. With this boy. At this place. In this moment.

I realized now, more than ever, how lucky I was. My first was with the guy I loved with all my heart. A guy who promised to cherish, love and protect me for the rest of his life. I was enveloped in love and cloaked in passion. I was also drunk with desire, when I didn’t even know what it was.

When I thought my heart swelled with love for Hunter, the guy I was sure I would want to spend the rest of my life with, I didn’t know our relationship could reach an entirely different level. The thrill that I felt right now, the electricity that brought my nerves to life when he touched me, and the way he left me breathless each time his lips touched mine took our love to new heights.

From the moment I met him, Hunter was the only one who could make sense of everything in my life… I didn’t know he was also the only one who could take sense away from me, until I couldn’t think of anything, didn’t know anything, wouldn’t see anything… just him—only him!

He held me in his arms as my head rested comfortably against his shoulder. I felt warm and secure in his embrace. The lazy kisses he gave me made me feel treasured and loved.

The peak of the meteor shower was over now, but I knew that Hunter and I had never been closer, our relationship had never been deeper, and our love had never been stronger.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Hmmm…”

“I’m sorry if I caused you pain,”

I giggled. “Only for a moment. The rest of it was… ethereal.”

“I know. I felt it too. It was out-of-this-world amazing,” he agreed.

“Do you think it always feels like that?”

“I think it only happens when you have a deep emotional connection with the person you’re with. I don’t think we’ll have a problem connecting that way again.” He leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the lips. Then he stared back at me. “Sleep now. We have an early start tomorrow.”

“What do you plan to do?”

He pushed a lock of stray hair away from my face. “There was something I wished I could have done for you before, but couldn’t because I was blind,” he replied. “I’m not blind anymore. So I could do it now.”

I drew my brows together and asked. “What’s that?”

He smiled at me gently. “I will teach you how to swim.”

I stared back at him, remembering our first date when he first found out I couldn’t swim to save my life. I saw pain cross his face when he said he wished he met me before his accident because he would have loved to give me swimming lessons. Back then, I didn’t know it was still possible for him to see but I didn’t care at all. But being with him now, in this little piece of heaven, where nothing was hindering him from seeing me, protecting me, taking care of me, I was quite thankful that we were given a chance like this. We were given a chance to make our love story even more amazing than it was before.

“Do you know who your donor was?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t think I’m allowed to know. Most transplant organs are donated anonymously. But whoever he was… I would be forever thankful that he made a decision that saved my future.”

I smiled, tears welling up my eyes. Hunter’s donor may have passed, but his or her corneas still lived to give Hunter the most precious gift of life… the gift of seeing how beautiful the world around him was.

I thought about those people who passed away but some parts of them continue to live on because they chose not to be selfish. Their lives may have ended but because they cared enough… were selfless enough… they were able to save the lives of others.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me. Nobody ever wanted to confront issues like these because they were afraid… because they thought that not thinking or talking about death would make it evitable. But it isn’t. And right now… I’m making a decision that if ever something happened to me and I could not move on in this life… then I would give whatever I could to make sure that the others, who needed that part of myself, could still have a chance of surviving… of living longer so they could still be with their loved ones.

Just like Hunter’s donor. If he didn’t choose to give away his corneas when he passed away, then Hunter would not be here with me. Because of him, Hunter would have the best memories in the world… the most beautiful images of me and the life we would live together. Because of that selfless choice, Hunter and I were given a chance to continue our extraordinary love story.

“I’m thankful for him too,” I whispered. “Because he gave me a chance to show you how beautiful our love was, and how wonderful our life together was going to be.”

Hunter stared at me for a long moment and then he shifted so that I was lying on my back and he was on top of me.

“I will always thank my donor because he gave me a chance to take care of you and protect you with my life.”

He leaned forward and gave me a thorough kiss on the lips. After the kiss, I looked into his eyes lovingly.

“You are my guardian angel in human form, Hunter. You may be wingless… but you’re just as magnificent, just as beautiful as an angel would be. I love you.”

“I love you more.” he said gently kissing my lips again.

I raised a brow at him. “Really? How could you be so sure that you love me more?”

He gave me a playful grin. Then in a serious voice, he said, “Because I traded my wings just to be with you, beautiful.”

As we kissed again under the stars and the lovers’ moon, I vowed to prove him wrong. I have the rest of our lives to show him that I love him… exactly as much as he loves me.