Mine.
I look down at the box, and it solidifies my decision to give it to her. Even if it backfires, if she hates it or freaks out. I have to throw caution to the wind for once, and just do it.
Her hair is damp, falling around her shoulders as she narrows her eyes at me, probably seeing my internal battle even as I try to mask it. Her eyes drop to my hands. “What’s that?”
I look at the box, stepping closer to her. “It’s your Christmas present.”
“I really wish you wouldn’t have gotten me anything. I already feel bad enough that I didn’t bring presents for anyone else.”
“You don’t need to get me anything,” I insist, leading her to the bed and sitting next to her on the foot of it.
Handing over the box as soon as her fingers graze mine, I know there’s no going back. She hesitates opening it, and I just watch, waiting to see how she’s going to react.
I’m watching her face as she lifts the lid to reveal the thin chain necklace with a circle in the middle that has beads on it that represent a message in morse code. The gold represents the dashes, and the black represents the dots.
The colors of a sunflower.
-- .. -. .
Mine.
I gauge her reaction, waiting to see if this was a bad idea, or too far. Her mouth is open slightly, but she hasn’t looked at me yet. Her fingers trace the tiny beads along the circle, and she finally speaks. “This is beautiful.”
“Remind you of anything?”
She nods, turning toward me. “I don’t want to say what because you told me if I say it, this stops.”
The side of my lips quirk in a small smile. She doesn’t want to say the safe word because she doesn’t want this to stop. That thought alone makes me happier than it probably should.
“It’s a message in morse code.”
“What is it?
“It says ‘mine.’”
She lunges at me, wrapping her arms around my neck, crashing her mouth onto mine. I wrap my arms around her back, pulling her to straddle my lap. I groan against her mouth, pushing my tongue in roughly, wanting to taste her, feel her. Love her.
I freeze for a second at the realization, but quickly pull her tighter against me and kiss her even harder. She moans, rubbing herself against me. I’m already hard for her and I know she can feel it.
When she whispers two words against my mouth, I lose all sense of myself because I’ve already lost myself to her, but her whispered words make it official.
“I’m yours.”
CHAPTER 42
Bailey
I’ve been going backand forth about staying through New Years. But after talking to Sutton, who said Sadie and Bruno are having the time of their lives and that she really doesn’t mind, I decide to stay.
I try to tell Wes he can go back early if he doesn’t want to stay, but he insists that he wants to be where I am. The shift between us is evident and it only seems to solidify each day that we’re here. I always thought I’d get tired of someone being around me all the time if we were together. I’ve yet to become sick of Wes, even after spending so much time together and sleeping in the same bed.
Who would’ve thought?
Everything’s been fun and easy going, just spending time with everyone, but I know I need to talk to Brent and Brynn. I need to apologize for the distance I put between us and work on trying to rebuild our family. We’re all we have and I don’t want to lose them. I want to know my future nieces and nephews. I want to continue to know my siblings. Bryson is another story, but maybe one day he’ll come around too.
We’ve been here for a few days now, and I sneak downstairs for some water after thinking everyone is in bed, but find my brother sitting in a recliner in front of the fire. For some reason it makes him look more mature. I’ve always looked at Brent like he was so much older than he is. Probably because he’s basically had a parental role in my life since I was born. Even right now, he seems much older than thirty-six.
After I get my glass of water, I sit on the couch next to him. Neither of us say anything, and I’m sure he’s waiting for me to speak first. That’s something about my brother; he’ll sit in silence as long as it takes to get the other person to speak.
