Cate & Ryle

He had to come back.

The memory of last year's Valentine's night made him vow that all his Valentines would be celebrated with Cate. She was his only Valentine. He had first gone to her home but hadn't found her there. Her neighbor, Estella, told him that she was here, recognizing him to be the guy 'Caty got banged by that night'.

Underneath the obfuscated sky dripping rain to clean the earth, she looked still as mesmerizing as she had been a year ago. Her long black dress stuck to the shape of her body, framing a delicate, drenched figure. Her long wet mass of black hair was left open, the tips reaching her waistline. It was her eyes, however, warm brown like the earth's, that made him lose himself for a while.

Every part of his body called him to walk to her but he remained frozen in place when she stared at him, her expression starstruck.

"You're late," she said when she was able to compose herself.

"Had to travel a long way..." Ryle let out, his hands fisted in the pockets of his long trench coat. "...but I'm finally here."

"You left without giving me an answer."

"I called you every single day. You didn't pick up any of my calls."

She measured her steps toward him, a muddy foot limping behind. From afar too, he could see how exhausted she was. Seeing her breaking down in the middle of the pavement had made his heart clench. It consoled itself when she reached close, stopping at a distance such that he could count the freckles on her face, count the streaks of amber that lighted her brown pupils.

"Why did you call me?" she asked, sounding like she was speaking through gravel lodged in her throat.

"To say those words back," Ryle answered. "And before you say I could have texted, I wanted you to hear them instead of reading them."

He put the truth as it was — with his heart on his sleeve, afraid that she wouldn't forgive him for how he left things between them. The last year had been merciful to him, except for the agony of her separation. She tormented his very veins from miles away. There wasn't one day that he didn't think of her.

Cate's eyes shone with fresh tears that longed to be let out.

"I'm exhausted, Ryle..." she spoke with a groan. "Tell me what those words were."

"I love you too, Cate Miller." He didn't waste a second before confessing. "You are magnificent."

A smile shaped her lips, her tears escaping, mixed with the drops of rain underneath which they were standing. The street on Fifth Avenue had gone empty with the promise of the storm; only a few cars passing by and they remained.

"That's a compliment I never received before," Cate chuckled, sniffling with a finger under her nose.

"Does it make you feel better?" he asked.

"A lot." She nodded briskly before slipping her arms around his waist, her shuddering breaths dying when her cheek met the fabric right over his chest. "Fuck...you're warm."

"You're cold," Ryle said as he hugged her, folding her into him tight when he could feel every shiver that passed through her body — not from the cold but from every moment they shared.

"You're famous." Her voice sounded muffled over his thin cotton shirt.

"With your name on that book."

Cate went quiet and the sound of the rain encased them for a while. The scent of it mixed with the flowery perfume of Cate, the scent of her hair when he buried his nose in it, his lips breezing over her scalp, filled his senses.

"I love being here," she husked after a while, laying a palm over his chest under which his heart beat like a mad organ, pumping too much blood and making him hot. "This place...right here...it gives me peace hearing it beat."

"You make me warm too," Ryle whispered.

"I'm tired, Ryle. I have had a crappy year," Cate informed with a whimper that made him close his arms around her tighter. "Dad died, Mom was even worse with him gone, my brother got married to a wife who likes to make fun of me along with my sister, and...and I went on a string of blind dates, had a brief relationship even but it didn't last. They all got bored of me."

The thought of her with another man — thinking that she could love him — made him see red but he calmed himself before he could let that jealousy make him spew out harsh words.

"Why would anyone get bored of my majestic Cate?" he inquired instead with a solemness that made Cate curl into him.

"I kept talking about you," she replied. "All I did was talk about you. About your books, about how great you were. It was like every date I went to was with you and not anyone else."

The jealousy ceased instantly, replaced with pride that comforted him. He spoke all about her too, although he didn't go on any blind dates whatsoever.

"Did you now?" he teased her, rubbing her back soothingly in circles.

Cate pulled away to look at his face.

"Don't laugh." She frowned. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, baby."

Her lips parted to let out a sigh as she closed her eyes like she was branding the sound of his voice within her.

"Call me that again," she pleaded.

Ryle's lips dived to her cheek first, then her chin, her jaw, her neck where he licked the drops of rain off her skin while murmuring, "Baby...baby...baby."

She cupped his face when he was close to reaching her cleavage in her V-neck dress which was made of a warm, expensive material but it did nothing to protect her from the chill.

"You have no right to be this handsome," she said firmly, pouting the raspy lips he was dying to kiss.

"Says the woman who can turn heads left and right."

"I'm not that pretty."

"If anyone else said that about you, I'd have them six feet under," Ryle declared strongly.

Cate laughed. "I'm sure the cops would have a field day with that."

Ryle could capture that laugh someday, trap it in a cage and never let it escape. For now though, his thumb touched her cold lips, seeking to warm them with his own.

"I always wanted to kiss you under the rain," he rasped, noticing the same haze of lust in her eyes that churned inside him. "Can I, Miss. Miller?"

"Yes, you can, Mr. Davis."

Ryle didn't wait for another invitation as he dragged her to him, looping his arm around her waist, kissing her hard and deep. Her tongue met his, hot and tasting like wine as she ravaged him, grasping the strands of his hair in her fists. The kiss made her complexion bright, warming her cheeks and he could feel it when the coldness left her body, replaced with high temperature as he cherished her moans, burning himself with intense love for her.

When they parted to inhale some oxygen, Ryle's eyes found Cate's.

"Date me, kitty Cate," he said breathlessly.

"I will, Mr. Davis." Cate smiled. "But I have a condition."

"What is it?"

Her pupils glinted mischievously as she drew his face near and spoke right against his lips.

"I'd like to ride your face, Mr. Davis. Will you lie down when we get home?"

Ryle moaned in response to the delicious offer. "It'd be my honor, baby."

Their lips met again, dewy with want, under the rainy sky. He interlinked his fingers with hers, giving in to every particle of atoms that made Cate Miller.

He told himself that he loved her then and he would keep loving her every day for the rest of their lives.

He owed Sam one for breaking his leg and bringing them together.

T H E  E N D

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word count: 1337

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• author's note •

and we are done!

thank you so much for reading Cate and Ryle's short love story; I really enjoyed writing this as it was my first novella and hope you had a good time too

participating in my first ever ONC was an amazing experience; winning or losing is a different matter but I enjoyed every moment creating this book!

don't forget to check out other amazing entries by other authors!
they are mind blowing!

please leave a review behind 💕

see you in another story <3

love,
- iya