After a while of waiting, Crow heard the sound of rustling off to his right side. He glanced away from the sky to see Penelope step into the clearing. His heart fluttered excitedly at the sight of the warm smile on her face. Whenever she looked at him like that, she always made his pulse quicken. Her affection for him was something he cherished, and it made him all the more fond of her in return. He looked forward to spending every day of his life seeing her smile at him in such a way.

Filled with passion for her, he didn’t skip a beat as he left the tree he had been leaning against to meet her halfway as she approached him. He met her lips as she kissed him briefly before going on to say how happy she was that they didn’t have to wait a week to see each other. Slipping his arms around her back, he nodded in agreement. “Three days is good,” he murmured, pressing a few affectionate kisses to her cheek and jawline as he held her close to himself. “Not as good as meeting every day, of course, but much better than waiting a whole week.”

Leaning in again, he pressed a longer kiss to her lips, enjoying the feeling of being with her again after they had been apart. He lingered for a while before pulling back to meet her gaze with a grin, staring into those rich green irises he found so beautiful. “So,” he said, tracing his hand down the length of her back. “What do you think? Should we get the formal part of our meeting out of the way or…” he smirked at her flirtatiously and shifted closer to brush his lips along the skin of her neck. “…Should we start with something a little more fun?”