My chest cracked under the pressure, except there was an opening there. Light streamed in. Rainbows. Warmth. That was love. I could feel it. Love in a place I didn’t think I ever deserved to feel before. I was feeling it now. I whispered, “I believe you.”
“Do you?”
I nodded, pressing my fingers to his wrist again, moving so I could feel his pulse. It was skyrocketing.
“I’m not worth this, though.”
He leaned close again. His other hand went to my hip. “You are what’s invisible to the eye.Yougive me a glimpse of what a normal person thinks and feels. You are that window for me. You are the bridge that helps me understand what makes someone love another person where they would give them the world if they asked. All just to make the other person smile. That’s what you give me. If that’s love, yes. I love you, Blake. When you entered my life, your soul was so big that it filled me as well. You share it with me. I’m just the selfish prick that takes it when I can.” He kissed me, long and slow and cherishing. “You are wortheverythingto me.”
Was I?
I didn’t think I was, but good came from Creighton’s destruction too.
I would remember that.
I had no words after that. He’d taken them from me, and left all these emotions in their place. Except four little ones.
My voice broke. “I love you too.”
Epilogue
Creighton
A month later
Blake was upstairs getting ready for this event. Since she’d been invited, she began talking more about how she hadn’t been able to experience the city. Hence, she now wanted to do the tourist experiences so she could say she’d done them. And I knew she was loving this “normal” way of life, so I had no problem doing my part for her, being the normal boyfriend.
That meant dates. Lots of dates.
We went to Broadway one night. Then we went to Ellis Island. Saw the Statue of Liberty another day. We took a trip to Times Square. Walked through Central Park. Passed through Canal Street. Chinatown. Little Italy. Toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Saw a show at Café Carlyle. Got cheese at Zabar’s. Did a culinary tour at the Chelsea Market.
I was tourist-ed out.
Blake was in heaven.
“Boss, my man.” Levi came over, thumping me on the arm before he poured himself a drink. “You ready for this?”
I eyed him, waited until he settled with his drink in hand before I reached up and tipped the drink out of his hands. It fell to the ground, and he glared at me. “Asshole.”
“I won’t repeat myself about you calling me Boss.”
“But you are my boss—” He’d begun to bend down to pick up his now-emptied glass when a burst of feminine laughter came from the top of the stairs. He paused for a second before grabbing the glass, or he would’ve.
My foot kicked it away from him, and he glared at me again.
“Such a dick.” Levi picked up his glass, tossed a towel on the floor where the liquid spilled, and filled another drink. He came back to settle beside me but had moved out of my immediate reach. He only got one sip before the girls came down the stairs. “Whoa.”
He straightened upright, a dumbstruck expression coming to his face, and when I looked, air left my lungs. I only had eyes for Blake.
She was beautiful every day, but this, how her silk cream dress molded over her body, with a slit up one leg—she wasstunning. Her brown skin shimmered, and her hair was sleek, falling down past her shoulders.
Blake was everything.
She bit her bottom lip at my approach. A shy and self-conscious look hinted in her depths, but I cupped the side of her face and whispered over her lips, “Beautiful. Absolutely magnificent.”
Her hands went to my arms. She squeezed them lightly. “Really?”
I nodded, knowing she could see how serious I was. “You are a gift that I will never deserve, but too selfish to give back.”
