Sobbing, she fists my hoodie and presses her soft curves against mine. “I love you too, Nathan. Every part of you, even the ones you haven’t shown me yet. I was wasting my time with the wrong man. It’s you I’m meant to be with. And I’ll endure all the pain and go through all of it again just to find you.”
“So would I, angel,” I brokenly murmur. “So would I.”
The smile she gives me sends me to the fucking moon. Unable to resist, I bend and kiss her inviting lips.
“Let’s go to bed,” I say, rubbing a hand down her back. “Which side is yours?”
“The left.”
I glance at the bed, noticing the bottom left corner is preoccupied by Pihu lying curled up in a ball. Of course she prefers the same side as her momma, who I carry to the left side and lay down. When the mattress dips, Pihu’s head pops up.
Noticing me, she smoothly jumps down the bed and lands near my feet. Tapping my ankle, she goes, “Meoww.”
As if demanding why I haven’t been around. Or why I disturbed her sleep.
Arya chuckles. “She missed you.”
To prove her right, Pihu climbs up my leg. I grab her around the middle, lifting to my chest and tickle her behind the ear. She purrs, leaning into my palm. “Hii, little thief.”
Arya rolls her eyes, amusement alight on her face.
Placing Pihu by her side, I remove my hoodie and shirt, sensing Arya’s heated eyes tracing over my abs. Climbing on the mattress, I slide in behind her and pull both her and Pihu against my front.
Curling an arm around Arya’s waist with my palm underneath her thin cami, I trail kisses up her collarbone till my lips brush her ear. “Sleep, angel.”
“Goodnight, Nathan.”
I rub light circles on her stomach, listening to her breathing slowly turn even. I am certain there will be no sleep for me without alcohol in my bloodstream. I dauntingly wait for the chaos to ignite in my brain.
However, when Arya twists around and wraps herself around my body, the feel of her steady heartbeat and her scent filling my lungs, casts a spell around me.
Before I know, my eyes flutter shut and I fall asleep.
No chaos.
No void.
Just peace.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Arya
A tickling sensation around my leg wakes me up at the crack of dawn. Blinking sleep away from my eyes, I open them in search of the culprit. That’s when I also feel the heavy arm curled underneath my breasts and a thick thigh pressed between my legs, pushing against my heated core.
Nathan.
We’re tangled together, the blanket up to our waist. Though I don’t remember draping it over us. He must’ve done it somewhere during the night. Even in sleep, he holds me tightly, like he wishes to burrow himself inside me.
It makes my heart pitter-patter behind my ribs. It beats significantly harder as his confession that he loves me plays inside my head. A surreal feeling rushes up and down my body.
I never imagined in my wildest dreams that he’ll ever say those three little words, much less say it first. It may seem we’re moving too fast, considering we only got back together yesterday. But our connection has been culminating since we met. It went from being lust to love during all the times he protected and cared for me.
I believe when he says it’s fate that brought us back together.
He healed my broken heart, and I intend to heal his.
He’s deep in sleep from the way his breath ruffles the hair on the back of my neck. Safe in the cocoon of his arms, I don’t want to move. However, the pressure in my bladder leaves me no choice.
