last 3 chapters hehe
—> also this was a pretty vanilla scene but if you're sensitive just skip right through!

***

I flung myself forward, leaping into the air and into his arms.

"WHAT?" I screamed and giggled and cheered and was so just so happy for him. Nick lifted me up as if I weighed nothing, and spun me in a full circle.

"I know, crazy right?" He laughed. "I guess the incident just wiped out my prosopagnosia. Talk about a blessing in disguise."

I buried my face in the crook of his neck. "I'm so glad."

He leaned over with a foolish grin. "This calls for a celebration."

"What kind of celebration?"

Without a word, he carried me across the sand, and before I knew it, we were nearing the waters. I widened my eyes, half-laughing. "Nick, I'm not even in my swimsuit yet!"

"Then I'll just wet your legs." He chuckled as he sat me down into the knee-deep water.

"Wh--what did you just say?" I reached down and tossed a handful of water at him.

The water hit him and he set me down, a smirk emerging. "I'm going to get back at you for that."

Nick leapt up in the spur of the moment, arms encircled my waist, and then pulled me down with him. I screamed like a child as we went down, with him sheltering most of the current from me.

In our fake struggle, I flipped around and pressed myself to him. He had abandoned the shirt somehow and my hand had ended up on his chest.

"You know, I'm starting to doubt if you were really injured. Maybe it was just a ploy to get me back."

He put his hands under his head and swam backwards. "I could have thought of better ways to get you back."

I teased, "I'll be the judge of that. I'm going home."

I mockingly turned around and pretended to storm out of the water, but not before he took my hand and drew me in. He lifted me a little so my feet were no longer touching the water, and I was eye to eye with him. My legs went around him as support, but I knew he wouldn't dare to drop me now.

The sunset was at its peak, but I found a far prettier sight. I reached my hands into his golden hair, getting them lost in the tender strands that shone in what's left of the sun. They were damp, making them just a little curly all over again. Mesmerizing.

"Oh god, you're beautiful." He whispered to me, as if he had read my mind. Those were the words I had just wanted to say to him.

Nick was taking in every single part of me. I basked in his sunshine, savoring the moment.

"This is the best day of my life." I confessed. "I mean, I'm having a dream holiday with the boy I love, in the most breathtaking sunset ever—"

His hand on the small of my back suddenly stilled.

"What did you just say?"

I ran over my words. Oh.

I said that I loved him.

I answered shyly, "I said I'm on the most beautiful beach with the most breathtaking sunset."

"No, before that. Don't play dumb."

"I think you heard me wrongly —"

But my words were lost in the summer wind as he pressed his lips to mine feverishly. Everything that happened next was a whirlwind, out of pure passion and instinct. My mouth moved equally under his, each gesture stretching out into one full syllable.

Each movement was ecstasy. I could feel the intensity in his drive, yet he was always careful with me, and I felt precious in his arms. His hand on my back brought me closer to him, while I daringly traversed the entirety of him with my own hands.

First, they began with the shoulders. As we kissed I glided them down along his physique, down to the sides, and his knees went weak, literally. I laughed into his mouth as he stumbled a little, bringing me down with him.

Daringly, I took his bottom lip. A low sound escaped him, and I indulged in it.

He turned and kissed my neck just as feverishly, and I arched away to make more of it free to him. It was my turn to groan at the way he attacked the tender skin.

"Hold on, wait —" He said, transferring our positions so one arm was under my legs while one was supporting my back. I whimpered as he was breaking contact.

"I can't believe I'm being princess-carried, and it's not even a honeymoon." I threw my arms around him, feeling the stomps as he sunk each foot into the pink sand.

The villa suddenly felt so far away. I protested at the fact that he wasn't with me by now.  Any longer and I might go insane, so I instinctively arched forward and pressed my lips to his neck instead.

He tilted back a little and let out a grunt. This was his soft spot, as I began to realize. I took my time to cherish it.

It was a miracle that we made it back to the house, really. Once inside, we wasted no time. I kicked my sandals off as he shrugged out of his shoes, and he took me to the room.

I lured him against the wall first, and breathed a sigh as we finally connected our lips again.

"I see why you booked a room with a king-sized bed." He said with a huge smirk and darkened eyes.

I bit my bottom lip again. "Well, there is another room you can stay in for the night —"

"There will be no need." He chuckled, kissing me harder at that.

"You know, it's always been torturous to hold back when you bite your lip like that." He confessed, tackling the spot that I loved to nibble on.

"Mmhmm."

After that harassment incident, I had feared skin contact for a long time, and this level of touching definitely would have been triggering to me. Nick knew it, and made sure his gestures were full of love. He didn't want to force me into anything, but the problem was that I wanted everything right now.

Just like how I had healed Nick's prosopagnosia, he had healed my "haphephobia" — the phobia of touch — too.

I guided his hands to my back, where my sundress came together as a knot. He pulled on it, and undid the scrunchy bundling my hair together too.

"I know how much you like me in red."

"You're killing me, babe. It's awfully short." He groaned as it fell apart.

I could feel it pressing against my thigh now, and realized just how real this was. If I had wanted to stop, now was the time. Yet, I didn't feel fearful at all. It was him, just the boy who was my sunset and sunrise and sea —

Our passion for this was like magic. It was better than I had ever imagined it would be.

As we roamed, a spot that both of us had taken a fancy to was our red webbed scars. Mine on my collarbone, his on his abdomen. In a way, it was a strange connection that we had. I used to be self-conscious about my own mark, then I loathed it for it was a reminder of how my mom had passed on, and how my father had changed. Now, I'm even thankful for it. It had kept Nick safe.

"Emma, Emma." A voice broke my entranced chain of thoughts.

"Emma." He suddenly said with greater intensity, tearing away this time. I knew he had something to say. Disobediently, I kicked my legs up to force him closer. He tried to talk to me again, but the words sounded like we were underwater.

"I'm serious, Emma, look at me." He held me just far enough to see him fully. He had let his guard down entirely, baring his raw soul to me.

"I got you." I said, panting.

I could see his veins bulging and knew full well how much strength it took him to ask, but he wanted to make sure. It was then that I knew we had reached the point — the point of loving someone beyond what's physical.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to feel any pressure, because I'll always respect your decision. I love you even if we'd never touch again."

I wrapped my arms around him. "I love you, no matter what, too. But since we can, I want this." I assured him, reaching past him to the top drawer.

Relief flooded his face when I said it. He took over from there, and till the end, he kept calling my name.

Emma. Hearing it was paradise.

And as the world exploded around me into starlight, I held onto the boy that occupied my heart, my world.

When the world had stopped roaring around me, he kept me in his arms, burying his head in the crook of my neck. With a hoarse croak, I spoke up at last.

"Nicholas?"

His face was flushed too, bent over mine. I reached up to sweep a damp strand of hair that had fallen into his face as he responded, "Yeah?"

"I love you."

He pulled me closer than ever before. "I love you too."