"It was definitely my best birthday ever." A content sigh carries the words, just like the waves are crashing on the shore a few feet away, naturally, peacefully.

This day has felt like an escape in heaven. Anastasia could relive it forever, and she would never get tired of any instant with Nathaniel. 

They have done nothing extraordinary: picnicking on the sand, walking by the shore, cuddling, swimming, and of course, coming in the water. Yet she knows she would always be surprised by Nathaniel's attentions, get captivated by his idle stories, be electrified by his touch, and mostly, savor simple details that they could never share anywhere else like the feeling of his calloused fingers intertwined with hers, his laugh vibrating from his chest to hers, and getting awe-struck together by the wonders of this landscape.

This landscape, this place, she can't believe he has taken her there. It may be slightly reckless, but she trusts him if he has said that it's safe. This day has been better than in her dreams, and he has fired straight to her heart with this surprise. In so little time, they have already shared so many meaningful moments and so many parts of their souls that no one has ever seen, some that they are discovering themselves. 

For once, she isn't scared at all. Maybe it's this place: the infinite of the ocean, no limitation, just the skyline that they can't reach, only feel. It has been so long since she has last seen the sea, and she hasn't remembered it could be so liberating. But she has a feeling that it is because she is in Nathaniel's strong arms. There, she feels like nothing bad can reach her and that she can achieve anything she wants; that's what he makes her believe too often with his words, his eyes, or his touches.

"The day isn't over yet..." He trails kisses below her ears, pulling her closer against his chest. "And actually, I have another little gift for you."

She straightens as he leans away, though he isn't going far, and his gaze is staying on her, sparkling and mysterious, as his hands rummage through a backpack. She doesn't even know where to look when he takes out a small white satiny box with a delicate red bow on top.

"Another gift?! You didn't have to..." She isn't used to so many surprises and presents, and the warmth each one is bringing into her chest is overwhelming, yet as he sits in front of her, her curiosity is winning in a swarm of little butterflies tickling her stomach.

"I wanted to."

She realizes the overpowering sensation in her chest is just her thumping heart as his intense gaze dives into hers.

"It's not much though..." he adds, putting softly the box in her hand, and he is now left with nothing to fiddle.

Instead, his anxious eyes are following all her movements, and it makes her fingers clumsier as she struggles to open the simple box. Though once she does, she is struggling with something else: breathing. Her lungs don't remember how to get air, and the oxygen is annihilated by the strong beats of her heart.

"It's okay if you don't like it, I can exchange it," he rushes to say, and she lifts up her gaze to him, which doesn't help her find her breath. The chocolate shades are dripping earnestness and softness, melting her brain and her whole body.

She can't find her words through all those intense emotions. What to even say?

"I've noticed that you don't wear your scales pendant anymore... so I thought it could replace it... but you don't have to wear it if you don't want to." He nibbles on the corner of his lips, while his gaze is seeking any movement from her, and she wishes he could see the bustle inside her chest as she searches for her voice. Though he probably hears it through her breathless tone.

"Of course I will wear it... All the time." Her finger grazes delicately the precious silver circle. "Je l'adore! A compass, there is no better symbol..." She smiles widely, meeting his eyes again because they are her North, her direction. 

Even when she has been lost, he has always been there to help her find her way. Now, though, she isn't lost. The beats of her heart have a determined direction as she takes the fine chain to put it in the place where her scales pendant has been hanging for many years.

But he stops her. "Let me hook it for you."

He grabs the delicate necklace, leaning closer to put it around her neck while keeping his gaze on hers the whole time, and she can glimpse the particular hint of nervousness blending in the warm chocolate shades. 

So she adds, trying to make him understand the loud bangs of her heart, although he surely already feels them under his fingers, "Thank you. This is perfect, I–"

"There is also another part," he explains just as she hears the faint click of the clasp being fastened.

She doesn't even know how he has managed to do it because his gaze hasn't left hers, but she should be used by now that he is really talented with his fingers.

He traces the outlines of the compass pendant with one of his aforesaid fingers, easily creating tingles all over her skin, and then he slides his hand over her heart to take something in his shirt's pocket. She has barely noticed this little item in his pocket, assuming that it has been his key, and in fact, she has been too absorbed by his presence to care about small details like this. Yet this small item isn't a detail. It is the same compass pendant hanging to a larger chain.

"They go together." His gaze flickers to the precious object in his hand before coming back to her, as if afraid that she could disappear at any second. "And this is my part." 

He moves his pendant closer to the one laying on her chest, and both needles of the pendants start spinning wildly until the compasses are magnetized together, her heart following the exact same pace as the needles.

"Nathaniel... this is... the most precious jewelry I could ever wish for," she whispers, taking the pendants between her fingers and observing each little detail from the 'let it be' engraved on the back to the way the compasses aren't exactly identical – his is more simple with raw metal, while hers has swirls and a little crystal gem that she has no doubt is real.

"How have you even found them in so little time?" Her eyebrows crease in a mix of question and wonder, her gaze following all his movements as he separates the pendants to put his on too, and as soon as he has fastened the chain around his neck, it's their lips that she connects.

Exactly like the pendants, his cracked lips are made to be on her velvety ones, maybe not for the common opinion, neither for the law, but it's something greater, an irresistible pull. However, contrary to the needles of the compasses, once their lips are sealed together, they don't stop; they only become more urgent. It isn't just their lips; it's their whole beings getting sucked in that kiss, and quickly, his hands are searching to connect more.

She pulls away just when his hands are about to slide under the few clothes she still has on, her eyes darker, but still holding a determined shine, and he can't even be frustrated as her fingers are tracing around his pendant, letting him guess she's waiting for an answer to her question.

"I already had them for some time..." He lowers his head to catch her eyesight and offers her a small smile. "I was planning to give it to you, and today was just the perfect occasion."

"Really?!"

"Yes." He shrugs, the movement holding nothing casual when he softly grabs her hand and kisses her knuckle, and not just any knuckle; it's on her bare finger that has caught his breath on their first encounter and that will too soon be covered with a concrete symbol that haunts all his nightmares.

He doesn't tell Anastasia, but he's planned to give her some time before her wedding. He just hasn't been sure she would be ready for this meaningful gift because this is more than any necklace. He's chosen it carefully, and it fits perfectly their special relationship, as he wants to have something that links them together forever no matter what happens. 

Maybe his ring finger is already taken, and he can never have the place on hers, yet he will keep this compass over his heart, and he can just hope she will too.

"Speaking of waiting for the perfect occasion..." Her frown comes back on her features as she glances between their pendants and her bag to then go back to his eyes.

"Yes?" he encourages her, more breathless than he intends to sound, but he never knows what to expect with that crease between her eyebrows.

Whether it's good or bad, he knows he'll be blown away by the tornado Anastasia, and his thoughts are already spinning as she slips her hand away from his and kneels to search for something in her bag. The soft skin between her eyebrows is etched with what looks like determination, but her movements are unsure, almost shaky, and when she finally finds what she's been looking for, he understands.

His breath gets knocked out of his chest like he's expected, yet he would have never imagined this, and like her grip tightens on the simple item, she is holding his heart and each of its beats with her doe eyes when she finds his gaze again.

"It isn't much, but I needed to tell you..."

For him, it is much, and that's why he still isn't breathing. In front of a blank-covered book, anyone would think he's crazy, and he's probably. But this book holds so much more meaning, and in the hands of Anastasia, it's a powerful weapon.

"Do you remember when I told you I haven't started reading it?"

He slowly nods, as he can't forget the disappointment that has now morphed into fear that she'll never be on the same page as him, feel the same words as he is.

"Well... I lied," she breathes out, her frown deepening, while a smile lightens his features. 

A lie like this can easily be forgiven. Besides, he's already guessed it.

"And now I've read it twice." She pulls her lower lip between her teeth, once again looking so innocent talking about something forbidden, and he, inch by inch, leans closer to his sinful angel.

All his movements are careful and slow, like often, making sure she won't run away or vanish, yet here, there's something more because when she's within reach, he becomes even more cautious and gentle to cup her delicate face with his large hands, as if the tip of his fingers held more weight with the book near.

"And... what do you think now that you've read it?" he whispers, when inside, his heart is roaring loudly, echoing against his ribcage. 

He can't describe it, but there is something so vulnerable about this moment. It's more than their words. It's shining in her gaze; it's what travels through their brushing skins.

"You were right... nothing much has changed." She offers him a small playful smile before focusing on his gaze with a deep seriousness, yet it doesn't feel heavy; it makes his heart soar. "But... that freedom they have, you know?"

He nods again, as he wouldn't trust his voice to talk, or maybe it's because he's ready to scream something from his chest.

"I've felt it today, here, with you."

He doesn't need more words. He crashes his lips on hers, letting her feel how free she makes him as he doesn't hold back his lips, releasing a rush of sparks through their veins, which is soon bursting in every inch of their beings, more and more exhilarating when his tongue is following, escaping to meet hers.

With just a few words, it's like she's made him fly, and he knows the fall back to reality will be harsh. Yet he doesn't care right now, and he isn't coming down when they pull away, both out-of-breath, but still soaring in a daze, and keeping her close with the hold of his hand, it's naturally that his murmur falls on her lips.

"I feel it too."

He searches for something else to add, but staring into each other's souls, they don't need words, and as their little bubble of cozy freedom grows thicker and thicker around them, they express it the best way they know: letting their bodies take the lead.

He grabs one of her hands and slowly places it over his heart, his chest rising and falling almost as fast as hers, and her fingers are met by the smooth firmness she is now used to, along with a few grains of sand tickling her pads. But all she focuses on is the powerful drumming that goes wilder under her touch – even though, contrary to what it might seem, it's the loud beats of his heart that are possessing her. 

Each strong thud is spreading a warm and vigorous surge through her veins, like the waves a few feet away carrying the light foam and the strength of the whole ocean in their trail, and her heart rate is following the lead of his erratic one.

She brings her lips to his again with this rush, and the kiss is more desperate than ever, as if they can never get enough of each other, seeking the deepest parts of their souls. His hands pull her closer, making sure to hold her to him, while her palm is still resting over his heart, feeling the skip when she sucks between his lower and upper lips.

Their mouths never parting from each other, they keep kissing like this, becoming more heated with each second. Yet in the haste of their desire, their movements are still languorous, and time is distorted between the erratic speed of their hearts and the swift caresses of their mouths, contrasting with the languidness of their hands and the lento pace of their hips starting to sway against each other. This is a strange and unique balance, and when his lips slow down on a particular spot under her ear, she lets her hand glides faster down his chest.

However, she is thrown off-balance, her heart and all her senses left hanging when he stops her fingers on the elastic of his shorts.

"No, today is your birthday, and I wanna make you feel how special it is..." 

And just like that, her heart takes off faster than ever, all her nerve-endings spinning as he leaves a languid open-mouthed kiss on her palm, the same hand that has been over his heart.

He doesn't stop there though, trailing his lips higher along her arms, as the ripped fabric is granting him more access to her smooth skin, and this sight of her in his half-torn shirt and tiny white bikinis that he's chosen just for her is rousing his hunger. He wants to sate her with overwhelming pleasure, savor and cherish this moment with her.

He will never get tired of the red marks following the course of his lips on the satiny of her skin, and today it's even better. The salty taste of the now-dried water is exacerbating her sweetness, and he follows the droplets still falling from her wet locks as they lead him to the soft moans on her lips. He lets his fingers follow the same path, shivering as he feels the goosebumps he creates on her soft skin. 

She has a way to make him feel powerful and so weak; he can never know if she does it consciously or not. The light movement of her hips circling against his, the run of her fingers through his humid curls, it looks so unconscious, yet perfectly made to drive him crazy.

"Make you feel how special you are," he breathes out on her lips, his words traveling until her chest, where his fingers are tracing her pendant.

She is now used to the tingles he sends to her core with his touch, although he always manages to make it better. But right now, the sparks are rushing to her chest, and it's even more dizzying as they come from his words, his eyes, and his whole being. They make her feel so special; they make her feel so many things.

"Another birthday gift? It's too much..." She isn't sure herself what she means by that, yet she is definitely getting overwhelmed, especially when he decides to answer her as much with his words as with his touches.

"Never for you." He easily slides his shirt off her shoulders, as smoothly pressing a kiss on her lips and melting her. "I wish I could give you more."

Her heart skips a beat, ready to soar, and she knows it's a dangerous leap as she finds the same infinite freedom of the clear sea's horizon in the dark shades of his eyes.

"Everything you want..." he murmurs, his hands stopping their sinful run to delicately lay her down on the thin blanket.

She wants too much she can never have, and she won't let those clouds invade their bubble of paradise. So she focuses on his tender and burning dark eyes, speaking the first words that come from her heart. "Sing me 'happy birthday'."

He pulls away one inch before kissing her again, his wide eyes blinking, yet still shining at her. "What?!"

"I want you to sing me 'happy birthday'," she repeats, totally serious, as if he wasn't already tugging on the strings of her bikini top and lighting her skin on fire. "I wanted to hear you play the guitar again, but since you don't have it, you can sing." She smiles as he laughs lightly, shaking his head while still keeping his adoring gaze solely on hers.

Only Anastasia could ask for something like that when he's willing to offer her the world. Yet he isn't duped; she's the most intelligent person he knows, and it's obvious she's just trying to preserve their 'let it be' and avoid their haunting worries.

"Okay, anything you want." He grins before trailing his mouth down her neck, and she almost comes to the conclusion that he won't do it as he sucks another mark on her hot skin, taking his torturingly sweet time.

But he always keeps his words.

"Happy birthday to you..." His smooth voice tickles softly just above her left ear, pulling a giggle out of her lips, which quickly turns into a moan as he continues lower. "Happy birthday..."

He peers up at her, his eyes sparkling mischievously through their dark lust, and she can't determine if the tingles are stronger in her chest or down her core. Actually, the electric swarm in her chest is amplifying the tingling between her legs. It might sound crazy, but she has given up her sanity the moment she has crossed his tenebrous gaze, and now, it is their unique, precious craziness. This duality of pure lightness and heavy desire, only they can create it together.

"... to you..." The tempo of the song is slowing down as Nathaniel's lips are busy tracing the outlines of her small bikini top, and her soft moans are adding to the melody.

She has had an idea that he has picked a smaller size on purpose, and his ravenous gaze is leaving no doubt as he makes sure to trace with his tongue the outlines of the tiny triangles barely covering anything, and before she knows it, his skilled fingers have got rid of the small fabric.

"Happy..." She has thought he has forgotten about the song – she has under his languorous kisses – but he carries on with the melody, now just above her stiff peaks. "Birthday dear..." he hums while slowly sucking on the tip of her left breast, his fingers offering the same tingling celebration to her right breast.

She isn't giggling anymore. The lightness is still there, in the way she feels like floating, but there is nothing pure in the desire burning through her veins.

"Anastasia."

She arches as his mouth reaches her navel and his voice reaches deeper. His voice, it is so smooth and... erotic, especially right now, vibrating on her skin. She has never felt so high, and he has just needed his angelic voice and his sinful touch.

"Happy..." His lento melody is setting a delirious rhythm in her core while she is slipping in the softest pleasure; it's like being suffocated by cloud nine.

"Birthday..." He slides down her bikini bottom, and she can only writhe desperately under his touch. "To..."

She knows where he is heading, yet her wide eyes are still watching his determined hungry ones, transfixed by the intensity of it all, his intensity.

"You," he breathes out on her throbbing center, and she is left with her fingers digging in the smooth sand to try to hold on to something as she cries out,

"Nathaniel!" 

This is exactly like in his wildest fantasies; it's even better. The sun reflecting in her wild golden locks and illuminating her milky skin, her breathless moans mixing in a perfect harmony with the faint sound of the waves, her sweet taste, salty-sweet, and her delicate body, wearing only his pendant and his marks, spread out just for him, it is a divine apparition. She looks even more angelic; she is sexier. 

He can't wait to be above this sight, lost deep inside her. He's already twitching just at the thought. But for the moment, it's another part of him that he dives inside her warmth, getting lost in her taste and in her urgent moans.

"Nathaniel! I'm..." 

He'll never get tired of the way she moans his name. It's the sweetest song, and now, he knows by heart each flicker and roll of his tongue to bring it out, just like he knows how to drag it out, and that's what he does as she arches under him.

"Please, Nathaniel..."

He hasn't expected her to plead; she doesn't have to, but these two words are gonna be the death of him. He grabs her small hands to place them in his wet curls, and once he's satisfied to have her closer, one of his hands sliding under her butt to accentuate the arch of her back, he resumes devouring her until she's moaning his name again. 

He recognizes she is close as her accent is stronger, and he pulls her throbbing nerves between his teeth ever so lightly to hear the 'Oh mon dieu!', adding two fingers just at this instant. It's her birthday, and he'll spoil her in every possible way.

"Nat– Oh mon... Nath–" she chokes out, collapsing on the white blanket as her body is convulsing under his touch, and he pulls away just slightly to watch her, losing his own breath at the sight of her coming undone. 

No fantasy of his wild imagination could match the way she looks so free right now, and he can almost feel the tingles from her orgasm as she roughly pulls on his hair. It shoots something as wild through his veins, unlocking any remaining barrier inside him, and he licks every drop of her release as she whimpers softly his name again and again.

He could grant her wishes every day if they end up with this soft melody, and for once, no shadow or bad thought is reaching him as he savors her addicting taste, passing his tongue on his lips. Giving is indeed one of the most fulfilling things in the world, especially as he lays back down next to his naked and sated angel.

Her slack jaw has turned into a content smile, and it grows wider as he peppers kisses along her shoulder, his fingers tracing the compass pendant, where under, he can feel her heart still hammering furiously. Actually, his heart rate is as fast, echoing through all his body, and when she opens her eyes, it's pulsing painfully down his tight pants.

Her pupils are still blown out from her high, and in the few color left, the striking gray shades are taking over, yet contrary to when he's just barely met her, they appear so accessible. It's probably the light reflecting in them, or something else stronger that has changed between them.

"You have a beautiful voice." She turns to him, just in time to catch sight of the cute red shade on his cheeks, although it might already have been there because of the burning steam between them and what he has just done.

Seeing him like this, flushed by her compliment, yet ready to devour her again, it does terrible things to her pounding heart, and she offers him to wreck it completely as she cups his warm cheeks and kisses him again. 

She instantly tastes herself on his swollen lips, and mostly, she feels his fervent hunger, even if he is fighting to keep the kiss slow and savoring.

All his movements are sweet and subtle from the caresses of his hands all over her skin to his lips and his tongue charming her languidly. Yet the lust he is reawakening in her veins is nothing but sweet; it is burning and intense. 

Before she knows it she is moaning against his lips, desire fusing in her hazy legs and in her still pulsating core. She has just come really hard, and she isn't even sure she can take it, but once again, her need for Nathaniel is stronger than anything. He frees something in her that could move mountains, though for now, she just turns them around, ending on top of him and earning a louder groan against her lips.

"Ana..."

She can note that the need is as strong and hard for him as she is straddling his hips, and she smiles against his ear when his fingers sneak to her butt cheeks, gripping and starting a languid rhythm between their centers.

"And you're really talented with your fingers." 

His low chuckle echoes in every cell of her body, raspy and electrizing. "Really? Talented for what?" He lets his fingers dance lower where she is aching for him again.

"For everything..." she breathes out on his damp skin, and her lips quickly follow the trail of goosebumps beading along his neck.

At this point, they're both losing their words, the same way as their breaths, and they don't need them. It all passes through their synchronized actions, or more exactly a chain of actions-reactions where they can't decipher which one leads to the other: her shaky exhales and his sharp intakes of air, her open-mouthed kisses on his jutting Adam's apple, his fingers digging in her flesh, and their swaying back and forth.

"Ana..." he moans as her own fingers are exploring lower. "You don't..."

She shuts him with a languorous kiss above his heart, lingering until his compass pendant, and she is glad he doesn't protest anymore despite his words of earlier that today is all about her because she wants to show him how special he is for her too.

She lets her lips translate him the words she can't find, and she knows he understands as his pulse rises under her mouth. She makes sure to appreciate each line and edge of his sculpted chest, her fingers and her lips not forgetting an inch. 

He is a work of art, almost surreal. His taut muscles are flexing under her trail, and as she loses the rest of her breath along his V-lines, his head drops back in pleasure, yet he always keeps holding her close as if someone could take her away at any second. 

This is what is the most surreal: how his strong and perfect body is fitting against her petite one. It feels too good to be true, though there is no way her realistic mind could have imagined someone like him, his sexy body and beautiful heart, and even less everything he awakens in her. She can't even describe it; thus, she tries to convey it as her mouth reaches the waistband of his shorts, thanking him for everything he's doing for her, for making her feel.

Her heart rate is escalating higher and higher, and it jumps to the sky when she uncovers what she makes him feel. She has remembered very well that he isn't wearing anything under his shorts, yet she hasn't expected to find him harder than ever the second she takes off his shorts.

Giving up coming back to a normal, or even steady, heartbeat – because anyway, the strongest pulsations are between her legs – she leaves faint kisses along the bulging vein of his hardness.

She is barely reaching his base when he stops her with a soft pull on her locks, and she doesn't even have to look up to understand; they are both yearning for the same thing, and it grows with a deeper intensity when she glances up and meets his dark gaze blazing with a need, which echoes in her chest. It's in a trance that she slides her tongue from the point of his V-lines up until she reaches his parted lips.

There, he immediately captures her tongue between his lips, and she returns eagerly the kiss. Though she isn't even sure it can be called a kiss, as they are too out-of-breath. Their shallow pants are just clashing as their tongues are tangling, desperate for the intoxicating mix of their inner tastes and the unique pinch of salt from this heavenly place, and as messily and sensually, every part of their bodies are moving around, trying to get closer. Well, it is mostly Nathaniel who is guiding them, and she gladly lets him take the lead because she is growing weaker under the overpowering desire.

She finds herself arching under him when she reopens her eyes, his smoldering gaze seeking hers as he pulls away like each time he makes sure she has no hesitation. Yet today, there is something more in the silence of the calm waves and their tumultuous breaths, something imperceptible but powerful traveling between their gazes, and she is about to combust with it when she tugs on his pendant to show him her assurance.

He instantly complies, although at the slowest pace ever, entering her inch by inch so they can both feel everything deeply. 

She is aware of every inch, every vein, every throb of his hard length against her stretching muscles, and it's like all her senses are heightened, taking each subtle detail to turn them into a raw and electric pressure in her lower stomach. She sees every shade of dark chocolate and shining emotions in his eyes. She smells the heavy desire engulfing the sea air. She hears each of his choked breaths hovering over her open lips, and he looks like he's battling and trying to say something, but she can't decipher what. The strength of it all is too overwhelming.

Once he is fully buried inside her, the pleasure and need are so intense that it's painful, painful to feel so much and to be so close to whatever is impending to be released, yet still so far.

She wants to close her eyes, but she is transfixed by his gaze where she glimpses the same power building inside him, and it's deepening the experience as they're the closest possible in every way. She can see the pleasure sparking slowly in him before she even feels it as he starts to move in torturously slow thrusts inside her. Torturously is the word; it is a torture of bliss growing slowly but surely with each clash of their hips and brush of their hands.

Every time she feels the orgasm about to explode, the pressure only tightens, and the clenching inside her core exceeds again and again what she believes she can handle. However, she isn't scared of the overwhelming intensity rising as he wraps her legs around his waist, and she realizes it is freedom. 

The wild wave surging inside her core and ready to engulf it all on its way, it is freedom, the freedom of getting lost in each other with nothing holding back. It is within reach as she clings closer to Nathaniel with each roll of his hips making him touch that place deeper inside her.

"Ana..." he groans, the sound being almost choked out breathlessly, yet echoing low from his chest, and the flex of his muscles drawing more deliberate thrusts is proof he is as close as she is.

"Nat-Natha...niel..." she cries out the same way as all her nerve-endings are stretching to that blissful liberty.

They are going to reach it together. Her gaze flicks down to their now-magnetized pendants, almost as if the energy was coming from these two little circles of metal, but in fact, it's Nathaniel and her who are the two opposite poles creating this energy field.

They are forming this ardent power together, and as she comes back to his dark eyes, her heart hammering faster and the hint of a smile forming between her gasps, the warmth is already spreading in all her lower abdomen.

"Anastasia..." He bores his gaze deeper into hers, if that's even possible, while slowly withdrawing his hips until just his tip is teasing her in a dizzying contrast, and he takes a shaky inhale, a split second where everything is hanging by a thin thread, and then...

"Je t'aime." His hips are slamming forward to connect their bodies fully upon those three words, and the abruptness is knocking the breath out of her chest. It isn't the roughness of his thrust hitting that sweet spot inside though; it's the three quiet little words echoing with the loud bangs of her heart. 

He doesn't even leave her time to reply or catch her breath, crashing his lips on hers with the same passion as his words and starting an uneven rhythm of pointed thrusts to leap them both to touch that release. But she doesn't need much; the explosion is already happening in her chest, creating the strongest wave of electric ecstasy. 

It washes all over her body, reaching her soul as she clenches tightly around him and triggers the same euphoric tide in him.

The sparking shoot of bliss coursing through their veins is something more powerful than freedom, and they bask in the powerful rush as their trembling bodies are glued to each other. They're even intensifying the ripples as she keeps throbbing with each flood of his warmth inside her, and their lips are still sealed in a messy yet meaningful kiss.

The pleasure lasts longer than usual, maybe lingering back into reality even once their lips finally part, and she can't feel the time anymore. The only clue is their ragged breaths that they can't seem to catch.

She could say that she has blacked out under the overwhelming high, but it's the contrary. She has experienced every sensation acutely like struck and swept away by a tsunami, feeling every ripple in slow motion, and now, her body is left devastated on the sand in the most beautiful way. She has barely any sensation left in her spent members when Nathaniel slowly pulls out of her.

However, if her body is limp and her mind blank, there is one thing she is hyper-aware of: the three little words echoing in her chest and not letting her heart come back to a normal pace. As he wraps her in his arms, and his uneven breaths are skimming the damp skin of her neck, the need to hear them again is tickling her lips.

She knows she has heard it right, even if it has been as quiet as the murmur of the ocean. The intensity of his gaze has left her no doubt. Besides, the words have come out in French, so it is not a mindless slip. But she still wants to hear them again.

Je t'aime... I love you... She has already heard those words from her mom, her dad, and even Fergus must have texted her this once or twice. Yet it has never felt that way, tingling in all her cells and resonating again and again like the sweetest melody. Maybe because Nathaniel has no obligation to tell her; he has just let out what he feels. 

He isn't even expecting anything in return. She has felt it in the way he has given her everything through this kiss. He has offered those words to her, and this is the best birthday gift she could ever wish for.

Even now, as they are lying peacefully, he doesn't ask or raise. She can sense his tenebrous gaze on her, yet it isn't expectant, just caring, loving, and it keeps adding more reasons for her heart to raise this subject. However, she doesn't dare to say a word, afraid that it could change things between them, or maybe just terrified that it won't change anything.

He's said it!!! For those who don't know, 'Je l'adore' = 'I love it' and 'Je t'aime' = 'I love you' 😍

I think there's no better way to celebrate the 1 year birthday of LOVE BUG! Yes, yes, it's been 1 year since I posted the first chapter of LOVE BUG!! It's crazy because so much has happened since then, but it feels like yesterday! This story has really helped me during rough times, and the love and support you give me are my rays of sunshine!! We've reached 5k reads just today, and this is the best gift to celebrate ❤! 

But don't worry, the story is far from finished and I have so much more planned for Natesia 😏😉

Speaking of this, what do you think will happen next? Will Anastasia say it back? Will it change anything between them? 😉😍🤭 I know they're slow on the uptake, but they didn't really know what love was before!

I hope you liked this chapter, if so, vote ⭐ and comment! Personally, it's one of my favorites! Between the 'je t'aime', the compass pendants, and the birthday song 😉😏 Who else wants a Nathaniel for their birthday?! I want him to sing to me! 😝

Anyway, I'll just leave with this: JE VOUS AIME, my little rays of sunshine ❤😘