I look at Declan now, smiling sadly from his spot against the wall.He’s still the same guy he was back then.He’s still big and strong but gentle all the same.His eyes still make me do a double take sometimes.He’s still my best friend.
I feel it out of nowhere.Fear tears into my gut, cold and sharp.I gasp for breath and fight back another round of tears.
“What if the doctor says I can never make love again?”I ask him.
Declan frowns.
“What if they tell me that it will never be safe for me to have sex again, no matter how long I survive?”
“Then we don’t have sex.”
“But I want to have sex.”
“Not as much as I want to have sex.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”Declan pushes off the wall and comes toward me, his arms open.I fall against him.And without thinking, without any kind of intention or grand plan, we’re gently kicking off our shoes.I remove his sweater and his jeans, my fingertips gliding on his hard flesh.He removes my sweatshirt and sweatpants, touching me with care.And we fall together into my bed.
Declan shoves the duffel bag onto the floor and covers me with his heat and strength.His mouth is all over mine, then leaves trails of kisses along my neck and throat, my shoulders and arms, my breasts and belly.Intense pleasure races through me.
Then he’s cupping my ass with his hands and feasting on me, kissing and licking and sucking at me like I’m some kind of delicacy.
Like the oysters on the half shell Kirk wasn’t allowed to order for me.
I start laughing.
Declan pops up and gives me a curious look, one eyebrow arched.“Some husbands might feel insecure after that reaction.”
“C’mere.”I pull him up on top of me.I settle beneath him and stroke his face.“You’re not just any husband, you know.”
“Oh, I know.”
“You’re my husband, Declan.And I want you to make love to me.Please.”
I soften under him and open myself, willing and hungry for him.I have a desperate need for him to devour me, take me, and remind me that at this moment, I’m still alive and still in love.
As always, the man does not disappoint.
CHAPTER 51
Declan
I don’t even ask for her preference.I just sit Summer up in the cockpit with me for the flight to New York.I want her close all the time now.I can’t even think about what life would be like without her, and every moment we’re together brings me happiness.
Don’t waste a second, as Dad says.
No matter what the future holds.
“This isn’t so bad,” she says an hour into the trip.“But it’s a lot longer than the flight from Las Vegas to Sweetbriar.”
“About ten times longer.How’s the view over there?”
“Great.”
“You mean the view of the top of your boots?The ones you’ve been staring at for the last hour?”
“Not just my boots.I’ve stared at my hands, too.”
