From 📚Love Letters: To What Has Been, What Is, and What Awaits
Stella ♾️ Vincent
“You make me feel like the ocean loves me back.”
He pauses, his dark eyes narrowing slightly. “What do you mean?”
For a moment, I’m lost in those eyes, searching for a way out, something playful to break the weight of what I’ve just said. A part of me wants to run, to escape the vulnerability of this moment, but before I can retreat, he moves. His strong arms wrap around me, his body pressing against mine with a force that feels magnetic. It’s like I’m being pulled under, but instead of drowning, I feel safe, like how I feel under a thick duvet. My body relaxes, as if confirming the truth of my own words.
I close my eyes and smile softly. “Yeah... like it loves me back,” I whisper.
Protectively, he draws me in tighter, his heartbeat strong, steady. I can feel it vibrating through my own chest, as if we’ve become one pulsing rhythm. I tilt my head up, eyes tracing his face; sharp angles, shadows playing across his jawline, the dark cascade of hair brushing his broad shoulders. His skin, rich and warm, seems to glow, his tattoos snaking down his arms like ancient maps I ache to trace with my fingers.
His presence is overwhelming, commanding, like a force of nature, able to control everything around him, but under the soft glow of the moonlight, he seems almost otherworldly, his strength softened. He looks at me like he would let me crush him if I wanted to, surrendering the power he so effortlessly carries.
“I’ve never felt like I belonged anywhere,” I begin. “I’ve wandered through cities, countries, tried different cultures, communities and families. But none of them ever felt like home. I never met anyone who can see me, understand the being that I am. I’ve always known I had a home somewhere... just didn’t know where. “
I pause and take a breath.
“Water’s always made me feel anchored, like I belong. Every time I’m near it, next to a river, a lake, a waterfall, it’s like I exist because the water sees me. It reflects me. Every time I touch the water, I feel grounded, as if my existence becomes clear. Throughout my life, rivers, waterfalls, lakes made me feel real. Free. In love. “
His eyes soften, and I feel the calm intensity of his presence, holding space for my every word.
“But it was the ocean… the ocean felt like the final piece. I was instantly both overwhelmed and energised by the feeling the ocean gave me. As if my existence on this planet was fully formed.
The ocean feels like the home I always knew I had.
I feel its energy in me, I could stare at it for hours. I feel like I belong, like I’m anchored. It’s the only thing that gives me the feeling, no, the knowing of my home. But even so, it felt like a one-way connection.“
I pause. His eyes burn into me, like he's reading every thought, every piece of my soul.
“Until you. Your presence, your being, the way you look at me, the way you handle me, it makes me feel like I’m standing at the edge of the ocean, only this time, it loves me back.
You feel like the ocean itself, like I’ve finally found the place I’ve always belonged, like I’ve found my home.”
He doesn’t speak right away. Instead, he pulls me closer, one arm around my back, the other cradling my head. I’m enveloped in him, a mountain of a man, shielded from the world. There’s heat, yes, a simmering fire of desire, but there’s also peace. Like the world could fade away and I’d be safe right here.
“I’ve always loved the ocean,” he whispers into my ear, his voice low and raspy, “but I’ve never seen it. I’ve been searching my whole life, and now…” His lips brush my temple as he pulls back to meet my gaze. His hand moves to the back of my neck, his thumb grazing my jawline in a way that sends sparks through me. His eyes, deep and dark, searching for my soul.
“I’ve found it.”
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