"I won't regret it." She pulls back to look at me, and her eyes are clear. Clearer than they've been in years. "I could never regret you, Garrett. You're the only thing in my life I've never regretted."
My name on her lips undoes me.
I kiss her again, harder this time, and she melts into me like she's been waiting for this just as long as I have.
My hands find the hem of the hoodie she's wearing—my hoodie—and I pull it over her head, revealing the thin tank top underneath.
She's so small now.
So fragile.
I can see the outline of her ribs, the sharp jut of her collarbones, and it breaks my heart even as it makes me want to wrap her up and protect her from everything that's hurt her.
Including herself.
"Garrett," she murmurs against my lips, her fingers working at the buttons of my flannel. "I need you. Please."
I help her with the buttons, shrugging out of the shirt and the t-shirt beneath it.
Her hands trace over my chest, my shoulders, my arms, like she's relearning the map of my body.
Like she's trying to memorize me.
"I've missed you," she whispers. "God, I've missed you so much."
"I'm right here." I guide her back onto the bed, hovering over her, drinking in the sight of her beneath me. "I've always been right here."
"I know." Tears slip down her temples and into her hair. "I know, and I'm so sorry I made you wait. I'm so sorry I?—"
I silence her with a kiss, swallowing her apologies, her guilt, her shame. I don't want any of that tonight.
Tonight, I just want her.
I take my time undressing her, peeling away each layer like I'm unwrapping something precious.
The tank top goes first, then the worn jeans that hang loose on her hips.
She's not wearing a bra—she's too thin for one to fit right anymore—and her underwear is plain white cotton, the kind she used to wear when we first got together.
She looks up at me, vulnerable in a way she hasn't let herself be in years. "I know I don't look the same. I know I'm?—"
"You're beautiful." I mean it. I've never meant anything more. "You've always been beautiful to me, Vanna. That's never going to change."
I kiss my way down her body, my lips tracing paths I know by heart even after all this time.
The curve of her neck.
The hollow of her throat.
The space between her breasts where her heart beats steady and strong, defying all the damage she's done to it.
She gasps when I reach her stomach, her muscles tensing beneath my mouth.
I hook my fingers in the waistband of her underwear and look up at her, asking permission with my eyes.
She nods, lifting her hips to help me pull them off.
And then she's bare beneath me, and I have to stop for a moment just to look at her.
