Moving, breathing, fucking thinking.
Sounds familiar? Good, because the girl standing in the middle of the room looks familiar, too.
Her skin has a ghastly ashen tint, dark shadows under her beautiful eyes rimmed pink from crying. Her hair is a mess, tangling down around her face, and her shoulders are hunched forward as if she’s shielding herself from harm. She looks up at me, pinching the fabric of the hoodie she’s wearing.
Myhoodie.
My heart somersaults back in time with my stomach, and a wave of relief knocks out my breath. Jesus... she’shere. Tears well in her eyes. Some spill while I stand frozen in place. Her usually bright, lively aura seems dimmed, replaced by an air of sadness and defeat.
How did she get here?
When?
Who let her in here?
Ana. It had to be.
The silence between us is suffocating, the tension palpable.
“I hate you more,” she half whispers, half wails. “So much more, Cody. I’m sorry.”
That’s when I start moving. The key card slips from my grasp. I’m three steps away, already charging at her, the emotional turmoil I’ve been wrestling since she left me at the airport evaporates in an instant.
She’s here. She came back.
Whatever pushed her away didn’t win the battle.
I crash into her, gripping her by the waist and hauling her into my arms. Our lips meet in a frenzy, hers salty from tears, mine urgent, determined, demanding. The mere sensation of her this close again is enough to make me feel I might burst at any moment. She parts her lips, opening up to me and I delve deeper as her fingers lace through my hair, tugging me closer.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers every time we come up for air, her voice shaking. “I hate you so much.”
“Shh, it’s okay, B. It’s okay. You’re here now. Just... give me a minute.” With that, I take her mouth again with the same desperation that’s consumed me for the last twenty hours.
“What happened? How did you get here?” I ask, scanning her face for clues, as I set her on the bed.
“It’s a long story,” she murmurs softly, cradling my face in her hands as I shift her higher onto the bed, my knees sinking into the mattress. “We don’t have time for that right now. I promise to tell you everything tomorrow, or even tonight if you’re not too exhausted after the wedding.”
I kiss her again, savoring the taste of her lips as my hands explore her body. My fingers skim her legs, caress her waist, cup her breasts, and trail down to her hips. I’m fucking drunk on having her back in my arms. Every inch of her missed me as much as I missed every inch of her. It’s clear in how she reacts, arching into my touch.
“Cody, we’re wrinkling your tux,” she mutters, gently pushing me away. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
Talking isn’t exactly what I have in mind, but she’s right, we don’t have time.
“Tell me you love me,” I whisper, closing my teeth on her bottom lip and pulling until a soft moan escapes her.
“I hate you.”
I shake my head, looking down into her deep blue eyes. “No, baby. Tell me you love me. Tell me you’ll never leave me. Convince me I’m all you want, and maybe...maybeI’ll agree to wait for your story.”
More tears brim in her eyes, threatening to spill, but she swats them away, then gently cradles my face. “I gave up everything for a chance to get you back. You showed me I’m worth more than I thought possible. You showed me I deserve love and happiness. For those things alone, I will always love you, Cody.” She lifts her head, catching my lips with hers, the kiss slow, soothing, delicate. “But there is so much more there. Things I can’t name, and probably won’t ever be able to.”
She pauses, wiping her eyes again before inhaling a deep, sharp breath, and when she speaks again, her soft voice is full of conviction. “I love you. I hate you. I feel everything for you. I feel alive, happy. I’m yours as long as you want me. I won’t leave.”
It’s that one line,‘I feel everything for you,’that shatters all the doubts I’ve had since I read that damn napkin.
I love that line because it’s real.
It’s not a fairy tale, not a happy-for-now situation. No, this is more. It’severything. She’s mine, she’ll be mine through the good and the bad because life isn’t just the good moments.
