He grins, making my thighs clench together on an instinct I have never known before. Glancing up, his eyes roam across my face, down my neck, to my breasts that have gotten larger since the last time he was here, a few months back. Heat settles between my legs, and I bite my bottom lip as his eyes finally find mine.

“Of you, Wendy.”

My laugh comes out shaky as I glance away, but he cups my chin gently in his palm and slowly forces my stare back his way.

“Everything.”

He brushes his thumb across my mouth, and I swear I almost die. My heart beats so out of control inside my chest. Peter always says whatever comes into his head, so how can I know what he’s saying is one hundred percent genuine. Really true.

“Everything about you is my favorite part,” he finishes, as his thumb caresses the right side of my cheek.

“Part of what?” I repeat, then silently kick myself for being such an idiot. He already answered that, I anxiously start to stir in the bed, anticipating what he’ll say next.

“Part of living for,” he says without pause. “Breathing for. Looking forward to.”

I have to tell myself to breathe as he backs away, acting like what he just said didn’t change the course of my entire life. He picks up his pipe naturally, unknowing of how much what he just said changed me and brings it back to his mouth. Before he starts to play again, he shrugs.

As if it should be as evident to me as it is to him, he says, “Favorite part of my life, Wendy.”

He looks at me over his instrument and starts to play again. My heart soars, my body feels numb as I stare into his eyes. When he gets to my favorite part, he gives me a wink that almost makes me do something crazy. Almost makes me shoot up out of bed, grab the pipe from his hands and cover his lips with my own like I’ve wanted to for months now. I suck in a shaky breath as he continues to play, slowly rising from the bed he walks over to the window.

I watch him for a moment, mesmerized by the difference between us since the last time he was here. He’s always been older than me all the years he’s stayed by my side. He’s always seemed out of reach. A part of a different world. That is, until now. Something has changed. As he looks back my way from the shadows, I sit up in bed and don’t miss the way his eyes fall and take me in.