He looked up, eyes red, face wet, and completely undone. “Chess…” His voice cracked. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
I sat beside Bryce and pulled him into me. His head fell against my chest like he’d been waiting all night for permission.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there,” he choked out. “I hate myself for that shit.”
I shook my head. “Webothsuffered, Bryce. We both lost her… and we both lost each other trying to survive it.”
He held up the sonogram between us. “I can’t stop thinking about what she would’ve looked like now. I wish she was here. I wish we could hear her cry… see her smile… complain about not getting sleep. I miss her, Chess. I miss our baby.”
My lips trembled. “I do too… every day.”
His shoulders shook harder. “Why God had to take our baby, man? What did we do wrong? We would’ve loved her so damn much.”
“I don’t know,” I cried. “I ask that all the time.”
“This shit hurts. I ain’t even know I could feel pain like this,” he admitted.
“I know. I feel it too,” I voiced, tears sliding down my own cheeks as I wrapped my arms around him. “We didn’t deserve this kind of loss, but she knew love while she was in the womb. That wasus.”
He pulled me closer, burying his face in my neck like he needed to breathe me in just to survive.
Silence sat between us, heavy but honest.
Byrce finally pulled back, cupping my face, eyes searching mine like he needed to see that he wasn’t alone in this pain.
“I never stopped loving you,” I confessed, tears still sliding.
His thumb brushed my cheek, wiping a tear. “I never stopped lovingus.I just didn’t know how to fix what I broke.”
The air shifted. Grief and love tangled together so tight I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.
Bryce leaned in, hesitating just a second. Then he kissed me hard and possessive, as if it was the only way he knew how to say he missed me. And I kissed him back like I was tired of pretending I didn’t stillbelongto him. It was slow, trembling, and wet with tears. I felt him pull me closer, like he was afraid that if he let go, I’d disappear. My hands slid up his back, holding him just as tight. Somewhere between broken breaths and whispered sobs, the kisses deepened. The pain didn’t vanish, but it softened, wrapped in warmth and familiarity.
Bryce pulled me into his lap, lifted me, and we stumbled toward the massive window overlooking the snow-dusted trees. Steam fogged the glass. My robe slipped from my shoulders and pooled silently at my feet. The cool air kissed my skin, butI didn’t shiver—not with the way he was looking at me. Bryce stared like I was art he hadn’t seen in years. Admiration wasn’t a strong enough word; it was reverence. His gaze held love, longing, hunger, andguilt, like he couldn’t believe I was really standing there… choosing him again.
“You sure ‘bout this?” he asked in a low voice with his forehead pressed to mine.
I nodded without a second thought. “Yes.”
Bryce turned me gently, his hands running down the curve of my back and gripping my waist. I placed my palms flat against the cold window pane, its chill biting into my skin just enough to remind me that it wasn’t a dream. Behind me, I heard the soft rustle of clothes being shed. The sound alone had my body reacting, arching and waiting… then I felt him.
“You still remember how this feels, don’t you?” he murmured in my ear, his voice thick with knowing. “You ain’t forgot me.”
I shook my head, already undone. “Never.”
Bryce eased into me from behind, slow and deep, like he was reclaiming something he thought he’d lost forever. Our bodies molded together like puzzle pieces that finally made sense.
“Mmm,” I cooed, forehead touching the glass as my breath left delicate trails of fog across it. The contrast of the cold window and his heat was almost unbearable.
The rhythm started slow. Every stroke was soaked in emotion, like he was saying all the things he couldn’t say out loud. And I felt every word… in my bones.
Then suddenly, something shifted.
I blinked, eyes wide. “Bryce… you didn’t put on a condom.”
He grabbed my waist tighter, his voice gravelly. “I ain’t thinking ‘bout no damn condom. You feel too good raw.” His thrust didn’t falter. “You gon’ carry me inside you again… one way or another.”
A moan broke from my lips.
