“But if you don’t want me, I promise to respect that. I’ll never bring it up again. It’s enough for you to know how I feel. And if you change your mind. Next week. Next year. Even twenty years from now, you’ll know that my door is always unlocked, waiting for you to show up.”
She wobbled her way back into my arms as a flood of sobs escaped from her lungs.
And then I was holding her, my precious Marissa, as she cried in my arms.
I could only hope it meant she loved me too. Ithadto mean she loved me too.
Why else would she be crying right now? Then she punched me lightly on the arm. “Sawyer Reed, we wasted so much time because of you!”
I let out a husky laugh as she sank against my chest.
We stayed that way for the longest time. Long enough for Josie to find a quiet spot on the porch and lie down.
After our hearts were synchronized and beating as one, she whispered, “I love you, too, you big goof.”
And that’s wheneverythingin my world finally settled into place.
Chapter 9
Marissa
Sawyer was made of hard lines and unyielding strength. But right now there was a softness in his touch as he held me close.
His eyes… those intense, piercing eyes, swept over me with a possessiveness that made my breath catch.
“Come back inside with me,” he finally growled after we’d held each other on his front porch so long the sun had moved partway across the sky. The morning was over and a new afternoon was opening up for both of us.
He loves me. He really loves me.
It felt like all my dreams had come true as he guided me back to his bedroom again.
But I shook my head. “No. I’m a hot mess. I want to feel clean for you. Let me take a shower first.”
Sawyer groaned in disappointment, his hunger getting the best of him, but then he nodded.
He showed me where the bathroom was, laid out a fresh towel and toothbrush for me, then gave me some privacy.
I needed these ten minutes alone to try to calm my racing heart.
He loves me. Sawyer loves me.
As I lathered his manly-smelling shampoo through my hair and soaped my body with the bar that had glided across his skin previously, I thought about what this meant.
Could he really be telling the truth? Had he wanted me this entire time and only held back because of my brother?
Matt had a volatile temper at times. And if he didn’t want Sawyer dating me, I was nervous about what would happen when he found out.
But it didn’t matter what Matt thought. If Sawyer wanted me, I washis. I’d always been his, even when I’d been a girl, too young and stuck in some serious puppy love.
A few minutes later I emerged from the bathroom, surprised to find a freshly washed Sawyer greeting me.
“I slipped into the other bathroom. It seemed like you wanted a moment to yourself, otherwise I would have joined you in there,” he said as he led me back to his bedroom.
“Next time youshouldjoin me.”
His lips quirked up in a devilish grin as he grabbed a soft towel from his closet and gently began to dry me. He started with my hair, carefully drying my wet strands before moving down my neck and shoulders. He was tender, his touch almost reverent as he rubbed the towel across my breasts, my stomach, my thighs. His delicate attention was a delicious contrast to his roughness from last night.
Then he slipped the towel between my thighs, rubbing me through the cloth until I thought I was going to have another orgasm. Two more minutes of that and Iwouldhave.
