All I Want Is A Kiss

by Willow Winters

Change can be unwanted, and even scary at times. But, like I tell each and every one of them, change is necessary. If you want to be at a level you’ve never been to before, you need to do something you’ve never done before.

“Your room?” she asks, her eyes half lidded as she bites down into her bottom lip. “Damn right,” I answer her beneath my breath, leaving cash on the bar and then helping her off her stool. Her small hand slips into mine and I lead her towards the elevators, listening to click of her heels and loving how she holds on to our clasped hands with her other, her shoulder brushing against mine as we walk, as if she needs to touch me, needs to have her body close to mine.

“Because I want you. I want all of you. I love our stolen nights and I’ll do everything I can to keep giving them to you, but I need more.” A quick intake and a single step forward, closing the distance between us is all that pauses the confession I’ve been working over in my head all week. “I want to be with you, really be with you. Every day and always. Not just a secret rendezvous. I want it all. The picket fence, kids, I want it all… with you. And only you.”

“You asked me what I want for Christmas. At the hotel, you asked me and I lied to you,” her voice is soft and riddled with emotion but I can’t decipher it. I need an answer. “I know. A kiss. You said all you wanted was a kiss.” I can’t bear it if she tells me that now. I’m not ready to say goodbye. I nearly backtrack, I nearly give in and tell her I’ll go back to only hotel rooms and discreet rendezvous if that’s what she wants. “I lied. I lied to you,” her voice cracks and it echoes the feeling in my heart. “I want so much more than a kiss. All I want for Christmas, is you.”