The sensation sent me over right after her. I buried my face in her neck and came hard, holding her.
I managed to roll to my back before my arms gave out and I crushed her with my weight. Her head rested on my chest and my fingers traced patterns up and down her spine.
“I never thought it could be like that,” she whispered.
I tilted her face up. “Like what?”
“Safe and intense at the same time. Like coming home and jumping off a cliff.”
I kissed her softly. “That’s what it felt like for me too.”
She settled against my chest again, resting her hand over my heart.
Soon, we both drifted to sleep.
When I woke, her eyes were open and her brow furrowed.
“Talk to me, Saffron.”
When she shook her head, I crawled on top of her, using my arms to hold my weight. “Tell me what’s going on?”
Her eyes bored into mine. “What if the wine doesn’t work?”
“It will.”
“But what if it doesn’t? What if we do everything right, and it’s still not good enough?” Her fingers traced circles on my arms. “What if December comes, and we open those tanks, and it’s…ordinary?”
I rolled to my side and brought her with me so her body was stretched on top of mine. “Then we’ll figure something else out.”
“There is nothing else, Snapper. This is it. This is the only chance.”
“Saff.” I reached up and cupped her cheek so she had to look at me. “You’re borrowing trouble. Right now, we’ve got everything we need. That’s enough.”
She was quiet for several seconds. “I keep thinking about the journal entry. How they agreed to split the formula. ‘What we created can never be made again.’ What if they were right?”
“Or what if something happened we’ll never know about or understand that kept them from making it again? Sometimes,the only thing stopping us from fixing a problem is our own stubbornness.”
She huffed but smiled. “Are you saying I’m stubborn?”
“I’m saying you come by it honest.” I kissed her forehead. “But at least now, you’ve got backup.”
“Yeah. I do.” She settled against me again. “Thank you. For staying. For listening. For not trying to fix everything the second I told you about the foreclosure.”
“You don’t need me to fix it. You need me to help you fix it. There’s a difference.”
“Is there?”
“Yeah. One makes you feel weak. The other makes you stronger.”
Her breathing evened out, and the tension in her body slowly released.
“Try to sleep,” I murmured.
“Will you stay?”
“All night. I’m not going anywhere.”
She relaxed against me, and within minutes, she was asleep with her head on my chest and her body flush with mine. I couldn’t imagine a better feeling in the world, other than being inside of her. There’d be plenty of time for that later. For the rest of our lives if I had anything to say about it.
