AFTER TITANIC
Chapter Eighteen
It was dark and cool out.
"Stay close to me," Rose whispered as the shooting stars continued to
fall. "Stay close to me while the sky is falling. I don’t want to be left
alone."
James lifted his hand and touched
Rose’s face. Erotic shivers rushed through her back and neck. "I won’t
leave you alone."
Their eyes met, locked. After a
time, she averted her eyes modestly but could still feel his stare upon her.
She knew then that she was not just a heartbroken woman, condemned to
loneliness. She was a human being capable of passion. And now that she was
finally letting out that passion, that love, she felt good. "I never want
this feeling to go away," she said softly.
"What feeling?"
She smiled and looked back up at
the sky. "Love," she said. James took in a breath to speak, but Rose
shouted, "Look! There’s more!" It really was a miracle. Hundreds of
stars were falling through the sky. Rose grinned the biggest grin and put her
arms around James’ neck and shoulders, rocking in happiness and laughter.
"It’s astonishing," he
said. "I’ve never seen anything this amazing in my entire life." Both
their hearts were beating faster, and they laughed out loud in their
overwhelmed state of awe.
Neither of them could tear their
eyes away from the sky. Even when the shooting stars got fewer and farther
between, all either of them could do was watch. "I meant what I
said," Rose told him. "I do love you."
Now he looked to her. "I
know," he said, and leaned into her. She felt his warm breath upon her
face and closed her eyes slowly. He kissed her cheeks, her eyes, her hair, her
forehead, and finally her mouth. Their lips were soft upon each other’s, and
neither of them was willing to pull away from this amazing thing. It was like a
painting. A young couple sharing a soft, passionate kiss in the darkness with
the shooting stars in the background, like God was giving them His blessing.
The kiss went on and on and James
wrapped his arms around Rose. She ran her fingers through his hair and felt a
powerful force from within telling her what to do. With his welcome weight upon
her, she fell back gently onto the rooftop, their lips still touching. She
gripped his shirt collar and let her hands fall upon the buttons. She undid
them as best she could without taking her face away from his. He undid the
buttons on her dress with little difficulty and their kiss was only delayed so
he could pull it off. Lust overcame their logical thinking, though they
probably still would have kept going, even if they had control over their minds
right then.
It was everything Rose could have
hoped for. Passionate, ardent, gentle. And it left her feeling full. The next
morning, when she was back sitting in church, she could still feel the warmth
of him in the tenderness between her legs. She could still smell the sweat from
his chest on her face and hair and could taste him on her lips. When she closed
her eyes, it was not in prayer, but in a reverie of sensuality. The whole night
had been one perfect miracle.