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“So do you think Silveny volunteered to do this because she wanted us to have a good time, or does she have some kind of an ulterior motive?” Sophie laughed, leaning back against Keefe’s body to feel his warmth in the cool night air.
“I think she just likes seeing us happy,” Keefe said, though he did give Silveny a pat suspiciously. “That’s right, isn’t it? You aren’t here to be our chaperone?”
Silveny whinnied, and Sophie laughed. “I’m pretty sure Silveny is the opposite of a chaperone. She’s probably rooting for us to start making out right now.”
“Now that is an idea.”
“We are not making out on a horse thousands of feet above the Atlantic Ocean.”
Keefe chuckled. “Okay, okay. By the way, it’s never going to stop being weird to me that you use the word ‘foot’ for measuring things. I thought maybe it was a human thing, but when I went to the Forbidden Cities, they had their whole own measuring system with all this math and stuff.”
“You must not have spent a lot of time in America. Our measurement systems there are wack.”
“Good to know,” Keefe laughed, tightening his arms around her as Silveny swooped down near the water, and Sophie giggled. She was so genuinely happy with him that it felt unreal, like it must be a dream. She’d never felt as giddy in her life as when it was just her and Keefe (and in this case Silveny) and their thoughts and feelings and all the love and warmth between them.
“So, like, when we get back to Havenfield, then can we make out?”
“Do you want to be chased off the property by Grady?”
“That’s not a no.”
Sophie sighed, but didn’t deny it. Truthfully, kissing him was an otherworldly experience, and the two of them didn’t get nearly enough time alone because of their bodyguards and the amount of time they spent around her family. “Fine. If you want to go somewhere out of view of Havenfield’s windows and make out, I’m… not opposed, but I am so going to call you desperate.”
“Sounds absolutely perfect,” Keefe said teasingly.
Silveny whinnied approvingly. KISS! KISS! KISS! she chanted in Sophie’s head. Sophie groaned. “Now Silveny is chanting for us to kiss.”
“You were right, she is rooting for us to start making out. Maybe—”
“If you keep talking about how much you want to make out with me, I’m canceling our makeout plans.”
Keefe laughed, and Sophie giggled along. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said playfully, tugging on her ponytail. He was so silly, in such an endearing way, and Sophie was always looking for excuses to tease him for being wrapped around her finger, so she was going to have a lot of fun with this conversation later.
Sophie shook her head rapidly, swatting his hand away from her hair, and he chuckled, moving his arm so it was wrapped around her again. He leaned close enough to whisper into her ear, and Sophie was sure he could feel her blushing—not that it mattered when he could also feel everything else she was feeling. “You know,” he murmured, “an alicorn ride was one of the first moments I realized I might have a shot with you.”
She knew the one he was talking about. It was the moment they’d been on their way to get her abilities reset, and she’d leaned back against him just like she was doing now, and a warmth had spread through her entire body. It had felt nice, but she hadn’t realized what it was. Now she experienced that kind of warmth all the time. Being with Keefe was that amazing. The flutters were always there, and she didn’t even have to be insecure about them, because Keefe was just as giddy as she was. She knew that boy was forever hers, which was made abundantly clear by the fact that he was going practically insane not kissing her.
“When I look back, I think it’s the first time I really felt the feelings for you that would grow into what they are today,” Sophie whispered back. “And I’m glad I did. Because I love being with you. I love you.”
Keefe’s breath caught a little, and she smirked slightly. She loved his reaction to hearing her say those words. “I love you too, Foster,” he murmured, and now she was the one who couldn’t breathe, not because she hadn’t heard him say the words before, but because they were just as amazing every time she heard them.
And now her self-control was plummeting to the floor. Maybe it could make friends with Keefe’s.
Sophie spun around, swinging one of her legs around Silveny so that she was facing Keefe. “You know,” she said breathlessly, “being high above the ground doesn’t matter so much when you have the ability to teleport.”
Keefe nodded vigorously. “I wholeheartedly agree. No reason to worry about heights.”
“You are down so bad.”
“I don’t deny it.”
Then again, she was in equally as deep.
She leaned forward, slotting her mouth against his. He responded immediately and eagerly, using the arms that were wrapped around her to pull her closer. The fact that they were sitting on a horse made this not the most comfortable position they’d ever kissed in, but Sophie didn’t really care, because his mouth on hers made her forget everything else that was happening in the world.
KISS! said Silveny approvingly.
Sophie pulled back, breaking the kiss and glaring down at the alicorn. “That’s what I was trying to do.”
“You were succeeding, too,” Keefe added. “Succeeding very very well. Please do it again.”
Sophie laughed, rolling her eyes. “Remember when I said I was going to have fun calling you desperate?”
“So what if I am?”
Sophie responded by kissing him again.
She wondered what it was like to be him in these moments, feeling all of her love for him radiating off of her. She could practically feel it radiating off of him, too, and she wasn’t even an Empath. She felt like she was flying—and okay, yes, they were technically literally flying, but that wasn’t what she meant.
It was like Keefe transported her to a whole other world—and the shining stars above them, the clouds and water below them, and the majestic swooping sound of the alicorn’s wings set the perfect mood for that. So what if making Keefe wait had been fun? This… this was also fun. Definitely.
When they parted once again for air, Keefe looked up at the sky, like he was trying to tell something. “How late do you think it is?”
“Late enough that I’m very glad I decided to bite the bullet and tell Grady and Edaline we were going out,” she replied wryly. “If they realized I was gone this late, Grady would lock me in my room for eternity.”
“I’d just have Silveny bring me up to your window.”
“Heaven forbid something keeps you from making out with me.”
“Correct,” Keefe said with a smirk that made her blush, causing a little tornado in her feelings, and though she tried to cover the feeling by rolling her eyes, she knew Keefe could feel how endearing she found every piece of him, including that stupid smirk. “But I also don’t think I could spend that much time apart from you. Maybe I’d make little drawings of you, looking beautiful as you stared out your window, and then bring them to you when I visited.”
“You’re literally obsessed with me.”
“This is true.”
The way he stated it, so matter-of-factly, made Sophie think about how unbelievably lucky she was to have him. And also how unbelievably unfortunate it was that Keefe always knew just how much she reciprocated his feelings.
Having an Empath for a boyfriend was nice at times (for example: when they were making out), but at others she felt downright defenseless. There was no playing it cool when he knew exactly how he affected her.
Good thing Keefe made sure to make his feelings as obvious to her as hers were to him.
“Another kiss?” Keefe suggested, and Sophie shook her head with a laugh.
“Nope, now you wait.”
Keefe pouted, and the expression was so adorable on him that it made Sophie regret her decision immediately.
“Is that regret I’m picking up from you?” he said, his pout quickly shifting into a smirk.
Sophie blushed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, but I think you do.”
Sophie scrunched her nose. “You’re annoying.”
“But you love me,” he sang.
“Are we at our date spot yet?”
“I think Silveny’s been flying us in circles on the way there trying to get us to kiss,” Keefe said. “So I think if we just—”
“What did I say about what would happen if you kept talking about how much you wanted to make out?” Sophie warned.
“...That you’d cancel our currently scheduled makeout session,” Keefe said with a dramatic sigh.
“That’s right, and you’re on thin ice there, Keefe Sencen. Silveny, congratulations, I gave in and kissed him. If you’re flying us in circles, you’d better take us straight to our destination from here on out.”
Silveny whinnied in a tone that gave away that Keefe was, in fact, correct about her motives, and Sophie sighed. “I will just jump off with him and teleport us there,” she warned Silveny, and she could feel the shift when Silveny began flying with more purpose to her direction. She leaned into Keefe, burying her head in his shoulder and making herself comfortable. “I really, really like being with you,” she said, and it was a simple, almost childish statement, but she could feel the way his cheeks heated up in response.
“I like it too,” Keefe agreed, pressing a kiss to her hair.