He didn’t release me, if anything he tightened his hold. The air was cold and there was a slight wind. I was thankful for my heavy black coat, yellow scarf, and hat. Trent was dressed similarly, only his scarf and hat were red.
“Let’s get a picture,” he pleaded with me.
At this point, I was used to Trenton and his pictures, so I obliged.
He positioned me in front of the jumbotron and stood beside me. He held his arm out with the camera. “Smile,” he warned me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave the camera the biggest, cheesiest smile I could muster. Then I kissed his cheek. In the last photo he took, he kissed me squarely on the mouth, his tongue finding its way past my lips. I took his face in my hands, the scruff on his cheeks rubbing against the soft cotton of my mittens. He nipped my bottom lip and I couldn’t help but giggle.
He kissed the end of my nose, his breathing unsteady. “I know I wanted to show you the city, but I’m beginning to think leaving the penthouse was a really bad idea.”
“How about this,” I grasped the collar of his coat, “take me to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, then we can go back there and take a really long shower…together.”
“That’s a really good idea,” he grinned. “I wish I would’ve thought of it.”
“Come on,” I took his hand. “The sooner we get a taxi, the sooner we see the tree, and the sooner we see the tree…” I trailed off, letting him finish my thought.
“The sooner I can have you wet and pinned against the shower wall,” he winked. “I do love showers.”
“And cameras,” I muttered.
He laughed. “Pictures are worth a thousand words, but those…something tells me they’re worth a million.”
A taxi finally stopped and I slid inside. Trent told the man where we wanted to go and I stifled my cough. The taxi reeked of cigarette smoke.
I crinkled my nose in displeasure at the nasty smell. I’d never understood the appeal to smoking. I mean, who wants to suck on a death stick? Obviously our cab driver.
He dropped us off and Trent handed him cash. “Thanks,” Trent called and the cabby simply grunted in response.
“Such a lovely fellow,” I joked. “I think he wants to be your new best friend.”
Trent’s arm wound around my waist. “Hardly.”
The crowd around the tree was thick, but not as bad as Times Square had been. I didn’t think we’d be able to get very close to the tree, but I was okay with that. It was lit up with multi colored lights and the ornaments were huge. I wondered just how tall the thing was. I had to crane my neck back to see the top of it.
“Excuse me,” Trent said, stopping a man passing by. “Would you mind getting a picture of me and my girlfriend?”
My heart stilled.
Girlfriend.
Trent had called me his girlfriend.
We had never defined what we were, but obviously Trent had his own idea, and I liked the sound of him calling me his ‘girlfriend’ a bit too much. I should’ve told him I wasn’t okay with him calling me that, but it would’ve been a lie. I did want to be his girlfriend. In fact, I wanted to be even more than that. But I knew it would never last, so I didn’t see the point in defining what we were to each other.
The guy seemed pissed that Trent had stopped him, but agreed. Trent handed him the camera and brought me close against his side.
The guy held the camera up and I smiled.
“Thanks,” Trent nodded, taking the camera from him.
Without a word the man left.
“Can I see it?” I asked, pointing at the camera.
Trent nodded, handing it over.
On the screen was the picture with the tree sparkling behind us. I smiled at the camera, but Trent was smiling down at me like…like I was his whole world. It was a beautiful picture, one that I wished I could imprint in my mind so I could look back on it years from now and remember how he’d felt.