More than I probably ever will be able to.
Maisie’s love saved me, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life, every second of it, giving her everything I have.
Showingher how much I love her back, even when I can’t find words.
I’ve spent the last year and a half working on healing the broken, splintered parts inside me so I can be the kind of man that Maisie deserves.
A better man. Awholeone.
Not only for her, but for myself.
It’s taken a lot of fucking therapy. A lot of days where it felt like I was taking three steps forward, just to take five steps back. Where I had to gather my pride while I fucking sobbed because I couldn’t stop, and Maisie only held on tighter, giving me strength when I had none.
I’m not sure I’ll ever fully heal from decades of trauma.
But I’ll never stop trying to be better than I was.
I made myself that promise, but I also promised it to Maisie.
And one thing I’ll never do is break my promises to her.
“Wilder?” Her soft voice comes from beside me, a little husky from sleep as she turns over and blinks up at me groggily. “Are you okay?”
A small smile pulls at my lip. “Yeah, baby, I’m okay.”
Maisie sighs sleepily, her eyes fluttering shut again as she nuzzles her face into the inside of my arm she’s lying on.
Christ, she’s so fucking beautiful that it steals my breath.
I reach out and run my thumb along her cheek, curling my fingers into her hair and watching her breathe. The moonlight streaming through the window dances along her smooth skin, illuminating her thick lashes and the smatter of freckles alongthe bridge of her nose and cheeks, the curve of her full, sensual lips, which are still slightly swollen and flushed from my mouth.
Sometimes I can’t even believe that she’s mine. That out of her choice of anyone, she choseme.
I feel like the luckiest motherfucker on the planet.
“Why are you staring at me?” she murmurs with her eyes still shut, a sleepy little smile beginning to form, her fingers sliding up my chest.
I love her this way.
Safe and happy in my arms, but even half-asleep, she’s trying to get closer to me, touch me everywhere she can reach.
I can’t get enough of her.
Even though we’ve been living together for over a year, I still have the same overwhelming need for her that I did back when she was sleeping next to me on a mattress on the floor, in my shitty apartment that she never should’ve stepped foot in.
If anything, it’s worse now. It’s not just her body that I’m obsessed with, but also her heart and her mind. Every fucking thing about her makes me a little more unhinged.
“Staring at you because you’re beautiful, Sunshine,” I say, sweeping my thumb along her cheekbone. “Because you’re mine, and I love watching you sleep. It’s my favorite thing to do.”
She giggles quietly. “That sounds like something a stalker who breaks into a girl’s apartment and sniffs her bedsheets would say.”
Fucking hell.
“So, that’s what you’ve been over there reading and giggling before bed, huh? Probably why you climbed on top of me and rode my cock until you were screaming.” I drag my fingers along the bare skin of her arm, watching goose bumps trail behind them.
Her eyes snap open, and they’re bright, shining with heat as she pulls her lip between her teeth.
I had her only hours ago, but I already want her again. To slide into her warm, wet heat and fuck her until we’re both exhausted enough for sleep to finally take me.
