Chapter 59

- LOUISA -

We make love again that night, and we drift in and out of sleep between our explorations of each other's bodies. It's the best sleep I've had in recent memory. When I finally wake up, the sky has lightened a little - just enough to signal that dawn might not be too far away. It hasn't stopped raining, but it's still a light, peaceful drizzle.

Ward stirs beside me, as if somehow in his sleep he's sensed me waking beside him. We're still on the chaise lounge, our arms and legs twisted around each other, and his eyes drift slowly open. A smile curls across his lips, and he tilts his face forward and leaves a soft kiss on my temple.

"Can I ask you something?" I say softly.

"Mmhm." He's moving his mouth across my hair now, as if making up for the lost kisses during our earlier embrace.

There are so many things I want to say. To confess. But now that the moment's here, I'm terrified. My tongue doesn't want to move. Somehow, while I slept, I lost a bit of that emotional intim