I reach for his hand and squeeze. “You didn’t lose everything.”
I stare at him for a beat. I can’t keep it inside anymore. I knew the second he gave me the box of my favorite perfume. My ex barely remembered my birthday, and Duke remembers every little thing. And then, then watching him fight his demons tonight, I realized that I want to fight right alongside him.
“I love you, Duke.”
He turns to me, gaze flicking over my face like he’s stunned. “Say that again. Please tell me I didn’t imagine it.”
A watery laugh escapes me. “I said I love you.”
His eyes widen. “You don’t know what that does to me. I love you too. So damn much it hurts.”
“And we didn’t even have to test our love at IKEA.”
Duke lets out a ragged laugh. “Good thing. I can field-strip a rifle blindfolded, but assemble a dresser with those instructions? That would’ve broken me.”
I giggle and he pulls me in, pressing his forehead to mine. “We’ll stick to pre-assembled furniture. Less chance of losing each other that way.”
I laugh too, softer this time. War nearly broke him, but love is mending what it can. Eventually, we make it back to bed, the night settles and we drift to sleep—tangled together, warm against the dark.
make her stay
DUKE
The light pouringthrough the windows is nothing compared to the light inside of me. The weight I’ve carried for ten years isn’t gone … it’s just lighter. Maybe because I have someone to help me carry it and she’s still curled into me, one leg flung across my hips, her cheek pressed to my shoulder.
Her hair’s a little wild, her lips still swollen from kissing me. She’s breathing deep and even, in that kind of sleep that only comes after being thoroughly wrecked.
Last night, not only did she rock the daylights out of me, she didn’t run when I woke up screaming from another nightmare.
She stayed.
Held me.
And she didn’t even flinch when I broke wide open.
She shifts slightly, murmuring something incoherent as I press a kiss to the crown of her head. Her sleepy eyes find mine, and a slow smile spreads across her full lips.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I say.
She turns and rests her chin on my chest. “Good morning. Were you able to fall back asleep okay?”
I turn to the clock. “Seeing as how it’s after 9 a.m. and I missed the daily runs, yes.”
“Good,” she says, leaning in for a kiss.
“You did drool on me during the night, though.”
She chuckles. “Ah, I think someone else is guilty of that.”
Jameson grunts at the foot of the bed. He’s lying on his back with his tongue touching the comforter, snoring away.
I run my fingers through the strands of her loose hair. “Thank you for last night and the early part of this morning.”
She arches a brow. “Which part?”
“All of it, letting me cry on your shoulder, not letting me scare you off.”
“I told you,” she says, shaking her head. “You don’t scare me. I’m proud of you for opening up. I know that’s not easy to do.
