That was permanent…which was nuts, right? That the man had permanently inked her words to his flesh because the letter had become ratty and old?
His heart beat into her ear as she lay sprawled over his chest, his breathing even and deep while he slept. She’d woken a while ago but hadn’t been able to get back to sleep. She also hadn’t been able to get up, not while cocooned in his arms.
She’d hadsexwith Jace. A year ago, she would have laughed in someone’s face if they told her this is where she’d be right now. She’d loved him for so long, but she’d always told herself that he would never be hers, not in the way she wanted him to be. So she’d forced herself to move on.
But this tattoo, like the candy, was another sign that he hadn’t forgotten her. He’d carried her with him, even when he’d cut off contact.
Unable to keep her hand to herself any longer, she traced the letters with a finger. She could still remember writing thosewords. The tears that had filled her eyes. The heartache that had seized her lungs. Because she’d been on the precipice of losing her best friend. Something inside her had known that once he was gone, nothing would ever be the same.
When the hand on her hip smoothed up her back, her gaze shot up to see Jace’s blue stare boring into her, his lopsided grin hitting her in the chest.
“Morning, Tink.”
God, even the rasp of his voice made the fine hairs on her arms stand on end. “Hey.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Honestly? No.”
The smile dropped. “Why not?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Because I’d wake up, feel you around me, remember what we did, and then I had to remind myself I wasn’t dreaming. That we’ve finally found our way to each other.”
If possible, his frown deepened. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”
“I’m the one who’s been fighting it since you got back.” She looked at his tattoo, once again running her finger over the letters. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Why did you lose contact with me? Why did you stop replying to my messages and visiting me when you were back in town?”
His intake of breath was loud, and when she looked up, there was pain woven through the depths of his eyes. “There were a few reasons. I told myself I had to let you go, otherwise I’d never give myself fully to the Air Force. And so that you could find someone better. Find a better man, even while I was trying to become a better manforyou.” His fingers tightened on her waist. “But really, I think it just became too hard to have you inmy life while not having you the way I wanted. So I tried to let you go.”
“Yet here you are.”
“Yet here I am.” His hand began to caress her back again, moving from her hip bone right up to between her shoulder blades. “I think we both know we were always going to find our way back to each other.”
She snorted. “Youmay have known. I certainly didn’t. I always felt…less thanaround you.”
His brows knitted together. “What are you talking about?”
“Jace…you were the best-looking guy in our class. Heck, maybe even the whole school. And you were funny and smart, and you had these dimples that made people stop and stare. Whereas I…I was so ordinary.”
For a moment, he was silent. Then he shook his head. “It’s wild to me that you don’t see it.”
“See what?”
“How beautiful you are, inside and out. How beautiful you’ve always been.”
Her pulse sped up, but she shook her head. “People reminded me every day that you were out of my league. They didn’t even know why you were friends with me.”
At the flash of anger on his face, she almost wanted to take the words back.
“I didn’t know,” he growled. “If I had, I would have kicked their asses.”
Exactly why she’d never told him what anyone had said. “We should get up. We both have work.”
He groaned and rolled them over until he caged her body to the bed. She laughed as he nuzzled her neck.
