At first, I thought it was only because she's my stepsister: the forbidden is always sweetest.
But then I realized that I thought about her as a beautiful girl with a gorgeous body and mind-blowing face.
I love how she bites the top of her pen when she does her homework. I love how she wrinkles her nose when she’s thinking deeply about something. I love how she smiles when she looks at our cat.
"Why should I believe you?" she asks just as quietly, and I can tell that she’s come closer to the door, and now she's standing right against it.
"Because I love you, silly," I whisper, and I swear that my heart stops beating at the last word that escapes my mouth.
The couple of seconds that pass before I hear the door unlocking are the longest in my entire life.
Chapter Eleven
Sky
I can't believe that he just said it. When I lean in to the door, I feel my heart trying to break free from my chest.
And when I finally open the door, I see Zac standing there, pale as a sheet, leaning on the doorjamb.
Our eyes lock, and I hold a breath.
He doesn't try to walk in; he just stands there, looking at me.
"Did you call me ‘silly’?" I ask after a pause, my voice trembling.
"Is that the only thing you heard?" He grins in response.
I shake my head but can't say a word. For some reason, I still think that I imagined those words in my head.
"I love you, Sky," he says again, and my heart skips a beat. "And it didn't just happen. I’ve loved you for a long time." His gaze doesn’t leave mine as he speaks. "I think I always loved you."
I can't breathe...My head is spinning, and it seems like I'm going to faint.
The second I open my mouth to tell him that I believe him, he speaks again. "Come with me."
And he takes me by the hand and leads me out of my room and to the stairs.
"Where are we going?" I ask when we’re on the first floor.
Zac keeps silent, but when we get to another flight of stairs, I realize where we're going...
To the basement.
I didn’t think my heart would be able to beat faster than it already is, but it does.
Zac is finally going to reveal his deepest, darkest secret to me.
My palm is sweating as we walk down the stairs. So many thoughts are going through my mind about what he might be hiding down there.
Does he have a secret obsession? I remember the scene when Christian Grey shows Ana his red room.
A slight smile lights up on my face from that thought. And not because I want Zac to have a BDSM bent, but because I'm happy that he trusts me enough to show me.
When he opens the door with the key and finally lets me in, I freeze in place, unable to even breathe or speak.
What I see in front of me is not a typical basement, more like an artist's studio. The walls are covered with paintings of all kinds, from nature to objects I don't even recognize, but all the images are made in the same style: part of it is in shadow, so it’s half-light and half-dark.
When my eyes travel from the ones next to me to those hanging on the farthest wall, I hold my breath.