“A do-over?” I pulled away and lay. “Weren’t you just spouting nonsense about woulda, coulda, shoulda?”
“Right.” He laughed. “Thanks, smart ass.” A pillow landed on my face before I could stop it. I pushed it away and sat up as he did the same.
“All I’m saying…” He sighed as if he had the world on his shoulders. “…is that I wish all my firsts and lasts were with you and only you.”
“Bummer.” I sighed. “I wasn’t the first freshman you kissed?”
“Actually…” H smiled thoughtfully. “You were.”
“Mission accomplished. And I better be the last freshman you kiss.” I jammed my finger in his chest as he winced and threw the pillow again.
“First, last, only.” He bit down on his lower lip. “Favorite.”
“Oh wow, you must want me to have good dreams tonight then, you’re really laying it on thick.”
“Just covering my bases.”
“Oh yeah?”
“What?” He pointed down at himself. “I’m not dream material?”
“Point Wes.” I held up one finger.
Grinning, he reared back and pounced on me, pressing my back against the pillows and the bed as he hovered over me.
“What if my dream turns into a nightmare?”
His face fell. “What do you mean?”
“What if you’re in the dream and I can’t reach you?”
“Close your eyes.”
“What?”
“Just do it.”
“Fine.” Humoring him, I closed my eyes and waited. His lips tickled my ear as he began to whisper.
“Every time you close your eyes, regardless of where I am or where you are, I want you to remember this.” His fingers laced with mine and then he pressed my hand against my own chest. “Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, alive or dead, young or old, my heart will always be with yours. Every beat you feel against your fingertips…” His finger tapped against my chest, once, twice. “…is me calling out to you. It’s you returning the call. It’s us talking, communicating, bonding, sharing. Living — Kiersten, it’s us living. There may come a time in your life when your heart will have to beat for mine… but you’ll have to carry on if I can’t. Just like there may come a time when I have to do the same for you. But in the end, one of us will always carry on this.” He tapped again. “So there’s never a reason to be afraid of running out of time — because we keep our own.”
I couldn’t trust myself to speak, not after what he’d just said. Wes had single-handedly put me at ease, as well as wisely taught me one thing. Control what you can, love what you can, and the rest, well… the rest was just the rest. So I couldn’t reach my parents? I tapped my fingertips against his chest. Well, I could feel Wes, and he was right. We were keeping our own time, making our own — living.
“Sleep,” Wes murmered. “I’ve exhausted you with my gibberish.”
“Not true!” I yawned.
Wes laughed and kissed my mouth. “Very true. Now, I want you to close your eyes while I hold you and keep watch.”
“Watch?”
“For the damn dragons!” he teased. “Don’t worry, I won’t let them take your virtue.”
“Right.” I laughed. “Because dragons are known to do that.”
“Never trust a lizard.”
“Uh, methinks dragons aren’t technically lizards.”