To Sebastian.

To love.

To happy endings, even in the gravest situations.

"I can’t believe how lucky I am to have you," I whisper after a minute, meeting his gaze. His blue eyes burn into mine, but not so much in a fiery way anymore. If anything, his eyes are warm, just warm, and it feels so good to stare at him again.

"I think the same thing about you every single fucking day, angel," he breathes, reaching out to touch his thumb to my bottom lip. I let him hold it there, as he looks at me and smiles harder, and then he reaches across the table and gives me a long, gentle kiss, so perfect I find myself not wanting it to end.

"I love you, angel," he whispers, moving his lips against mine, his rough skin brushing against the side of my face. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Sebastian," I whisper, kissing him back gently, and I mean it more than I've ever meant anything in the world.

I love him.

And as I sit here, with the classical music playing somewhere in the corner of the room, with the wind and snow howling outside, with us, tucked away in our warm little hut, off in the middle of nowhere where no one can find us, I know I really, really do love him.

We kiss for a few minutes, and I just relax, loving the feel of his lips on mine, the warmth and the tingles his touch gives me. Everything else fades away when Sebastian is kissing me, and nothing matters, nothing but him.

Finally, after a while, he pulls back. I breathe slowly, not taking my eyes off of his. I know by the flicker of a smile across his lips as our eyes lock that this is just the beginning of the foreplay.

And I would rather have it no other way.

I reach out to kiss him some more, to press my lips to his, when suddenly something hits me. I stop, and then I frown at him.

"What's your real name, Sebastian?" I say after a minute, curiosity getting the best of me. "I've never asked you before, and I realize it's the one thing about you I still don't know. But you can tell me now, right? You can trust me."

Sebastian stops then, winces internally, but in a sweet kind of way. "Angel, trust me, it is as embarrassing as hell," he says, his eyes narrowing in that playful, challenge kind of way.

"Tell me," I say, smiling at him. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

He sighs and takes a sip of his wine, watching me closely. Then he says, "My name is Richard. Richard Passini." He winces as soon as he says it, a little blush creeping across his face.

I laugh despite myself, because there is something truly amusing about a man as strong as Sebastian still mortified over a bad name, even since childhood. "That is a horrible name," I say to him, grinning. "No wonder you kept it a secret."

A sly smile flickers across his lips, and he leans out and kisses me again, warm and soft. "I know, angel," he whispers. "I know."

Thank you so much for reading Shards of Us! I can't thank you enough for giving this little book a chance. If you want to get in touch, you can find me on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/KR-Caverly/185758821582376 or you can email at: caverlyauthor@gmail.com