I can’t help but smile at that. “You always know how to make me smile.”
“I just say what I feel here.” He gently taps his chest with his knuckles, right over his heart, then lowers his hand to my right hip, his fingers brushing me there.
“Because of the army?”
He lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug. “A little. Mostly, it comes from knowing things can change anytime. You never have as much time as you think you do. I don’t like to waste it.”
“You take your time with me.”
He’s the most patient person in the world when it involves me. With Makhi, he’s ready to snarl at him for the smallest thing. I guess it could be because Makhi likes to provoke.
“It’s not a waste of time to wait for you, Byrdie,” he says with quiet intensity. “Just being near you is enough.”
“But sometimes you want more.”
He gives me a searching look. “Sometimes I do. But that doesn’t mean anything has to happen.”
The electric tingle of his fingers on my hip is distracting. “Like now?”
“Now is not a good time,” he says, avoiding my gaze. “I’m sweaty from working out, and you?—”
“That isn’t what I asked you,” I softly interrupt.
His gaze darts to mine, away, then returns, holding it this time. He sees something in my eyes that makes him swallow so hard I track the motion in his bobbing Adam’s apple.
“You’re looking at me as if you want more from me, Byrdie.”
Knowing he would stop if I wanted him to, and that he would never hurt me, I let myself explore this feeling instead of running away from it like I did on the night in the kitchen when he first kissed me. “My feelings for you are complex and complicated. You started stealing pieces of my heart weeks ago. Sometimes I think you’ll own it all if I give in to my feelings. You deserve a better girl than I am. I have so many scars.”
Inside and out.
He takes my hand, cradles it, and lifts it to press a lingering kiss in the center of my palm. “There is no better girl for me.Youare the only one I want.”
My eyes swim with tears, and I blink them away.
He loves me. He doesn’t have to say it. I see it. I feel it.
His feelings make me feel brave enough to say, “I think I want you to kiss me.”
I swear he stops breathing for two seconds.
“Think?”
“Not think. I know I do. I thought that if I pushed you away, you’d eventually see me as I really am and find a girl you deserve.”
He laces our fingers together and presses our hands against his racing heart. He never looks away from me when he says, “Thisis yours. I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen lying in my bed, looking up at me like she wants me to kiss her.”
“Then maybe don’t keep her waiting.” I tease.
His cheek dimples in a smile, and he dips his head. His breath is warm on my lips as he murmurs, “Yes, ma’am.”
It’s gentle and slightly teasing. The kiss of a man afraid he might hurt a woman. I slide my arms around the back of his neck and tug him down so he knows I want him to deepen it. I won’t break, and I know he won’t hurt me. Not Vonn.
He deepens it, and a sudden, alarming thought shoves itself into my mind.
I break the kiss.
“Byrdie?” Amber eyes crease with concern, and he starts to get up.
