"Annalise watch-"

A body toppled onto my lap, my legs bending at the impact. A ball hit the ground next to me, and I dropped my lunch onto its face. My dress was hiked up higher than before as the body's head turned to look up at me in the eyes.

"Sweetheart. Why are you eating a chocolate swirl for lunch?"

I was dumbfounded. My mouth agape.

His canine smile. His voice. So sexy. I forgot how much I missed it.

He stared up at me, his head on my lap. His soft hair tickled my thighs, leaving a tingling sensation. We gave each other a good, long look. We hadn't seen one another in a week. Damien looked the same as before, but with a smile of happiness on his face. And as he kept staring, looking at my features as if he hadn't seen me in a few years, the smile grew even more.

I bursted out laughing, my chest shaking him below me. He laughed as well, the ice breaking from our tension.

"I guess I'm the one who saved you this time, huh?" I could hardly form a sentence without laughing.

Just like the first time we met.

"Sweetheart, I'm still stuck on the topic of the chocolate swirl."

In that moment we both realized just how bad our position looked. My dress was hiked up from the fall, if he wanted he could glance down and see my underwear. I was leaning over him close to his face. We looked like a couple.

He cleared his throat, and scrambled up slowly, savoring his time. He reached his hand out. It felt like a peace offering, and I contemplated taking it. He hitched an eyebrow at me, daring me to let him help me.

Fine.

I took his hand, pushing my dress back down in the process. When I stood up to look at him, he wasn't smiling anymore. He gazed at me seriously, and I understood it was because he missed me. He didn't even need me to say anything- he just wanted to look at me.

"I um..." I broke eye contact and looked down at my feet. My foot played with the grass, uprooting the stems. Dirt got all over my slip-ons but anything was more interesting right now than his face.

"Annalise." His voice was so sincere. It caused my head to snap up, looking him back in the eyes.

His blue-gray eyes held me there. In one moment. I was frozen in place, under the spell of the ocean swirls with gold flakes. One calloused hand went under my chin, making sure I wouldn't break the hypnosis.

"Yes," I replied, too breathless for my liking.

"You can tell me anything. I'm here for you, always. Waiting. It's-"

"I forgive you." I stared clearly. Our eyes still hadn't broken contact.

"Forgive... me?" His eyebrows furrowed. He was confused.

"Who else is here?" I gave a small giggle, the tension breaking again.

"Annalise Woods... forgives me? The beautiful, intelligent, sexy-"

"Don't make me regret my decision." I placed my hand over his mouth and stared him down seriously. His lips felt so smooth and buttery under my delicate hand. It was distracting.

Then he did the unimaginable.

He licked my hand.

I gasped and glared, starting to put my hand away and scold him for giving him a second chance. Yet before I could do any of that, I watched as his demeanor completely changed. From confused and non-believing to pure happiness.

His eyebrows raised, grin lines seeping into place. The sides of his lips seemed to reach his ears, as well as a set of pearly white, straight teeth. His eyes held so much emotion.

As if he finally found something lost.

He used the hand on his mouth, placed it on his shoulder in a fast motion, and grabbed my waist tightly. Before I knew what was happened I was being spun around in circles, laughter coming out of his mouth.

Genuine laughter, the kind that never sounds the same twice and causes a smile even on your face though you might not even know what it's about.

"Yes! Thank you Annalise! Thank you! I won't let you down ever! I swear it, I'll make it up to you, you won't be disappointed," he placed me back on the ground, the same joyful smile on his face.

At that moment I realized how much I meant to this man.

Veronica or Isabelle will never stop me from still being in contact with him. Nothing they say or do can stop me.

He would never let me down again.

Or so I thought...

__________________________

😦