Possessive.
Starved.
It isn’t gentle anymore.
It’s everything we didn’t survive together while we were apart.
Fear. Rage. Relief. Love.
All of it colliding.
I melt into him, fingers gripping his shoulders, feeling every bruise beneath my touch like evidence he made it back.
When we break apart, we’re both breathing hard.
Foreheads pressed together.
His thumb strokes my jaw—too gentle for how violently he just kissed me.
“I’ll kill anyone who touches you,” he murmurs. “Even looks at you wrong.”
My breath shakes.
His gaze softens just slightly at the edges.
Tears spill before I can stop them.
“You’re really here,” I whisper.
His hand tightens around my waist.
“I never left you,” he says quietly. “Even when you couldn’t see me.”
That’s what breaks me.
I fold into him completely.
His arms wrap around me instantly, pulling me down with him, holding me like I’m something he refuses to ever lose again.
“You’re not leaving,” I murmur into his neck.
“Not ever,” he says.
And I believe him.
For the first time in too long… I breathe without breaking.
Chapter Ten
Trey
Beautiful Things – Benson Boone
Ifeel her shift against me under the covers, the heat of her body pressed close, her hair brushing my cheek, her breath warm against my neck.
My hands rest lightly at her waist.
Too lightly.
