Page 69 of Proof Of Life
“Yeah, I get it. I think it will be good for you. Anything I can do to support you, I’m there.”
West glances at me with a soft smile. “I know you are. But this is something I’ve got to do on my own.” His smile grows silly. “You can help me with everything else, though.” He limps along, and I can tell he’s hurting. West swallows his pain and grimaces as he steps over a large rock on the path. “I had a good session today with Brewer. It was hard, and it hurt, but it was good. Therapeutic, even. You know, I wouldn’t be here if not for you.”
“Don’t start this bullshit again.”
“I mean it. I would have given up long ago if not for you. You saved me. I don’t know why, and I don’t know for what purpose, but you saved me. You’re the reason.”
Because I can’t live without you. I refuse to even try.
“Yeah, well, it was completely selfish of me. Why should I have to go on all alone and suffer without you? I said fuck it, if I have to live, I’m dragging your ass with me.” West scoffs, rolling his eyes. “I reached down into the darkest pit of hell and snatched your ass out of there. Now you’re stuck with me.”
Without warning, West turns and grabs my hips, pulling me to him roughly. His lips smash against mine in a possessive, claiming kiss that leaves me panting for more.
“I’m glad you did,” he breathes over my wet lips. “I want to live. For us, for me, for our future plans, and the business. I want to see what tomorrow has in store.”
West devours the pork chops I make for dinner, and we grab two beers and step out onto the deck. He sits on the edge of the tub, removing his prosthetic before sliding under the water. When I see him hesitate, I smile, realizing he’s waiting for me to take my usual seat on the lounger so he can sit between my legs.
God, little things like that make me want to kiss him senseless. Drag him inside and get him underneath me. Ask him to promise me forever.
Instead, I pull him onto my lap and press a kiss behind his ear. He leans back against my chest and sighs, and I feel his entire body relax and go liquid in my arms.
I clasp my hands around his stomach, and he covers them with his. The tranquil night is beautiful. A soothing balm on a tattered soul. The sky is littered with twinkling stars. Crickets and frogs are the only soundtrack playing. It’s beautiful—a moment I wish could last forever.
West sighs, rubbing his thumb back-and-forth over my hand. “Do you remember our last night in the desert? We were laid out on the hood of the Humvee, and we gazed up at the stars. We pointed out all the constellations we could find. The sky looks so different from the other side of the world than it does here.”
His head must be in the same place as mine. “I remember the sandstorm that kicked up and blew dust in my eyes, and I remember the ensuing rain.”
“Oh,” he says, sounding disappointed. “I guess I remember that night differently than you do.”
Our last night of normalcy before our world imploded. The night I admitted to myself that I was attracted to my best friend. “No, you remember that night perfectly. I’m just being an ass.” I squeeze his midsection and plant another kiss on his head. “Actually, I remember seeing you differently that night,” I admit.
“Different how?”
“I don’t know, just different. I was more aware of you, and I felt a little uncomfortable, which is crazy, because how could I feel uncomfortable around you? But I remember looking at your lips, and I thought the stars had nothing on your eyes.”
“Get out! That’s so fucking cheesy,” he chuckles.
I bury my smile in his steam-dampened hair. “It might have been the beginning of the end for me.”
“What do you mean, the end? We’re just getting started,” he insists.
“What I mean is, you’re my best friend, my brother in arms, my teammate. I’ve bled for you. I would take a bullet for you. Hell, I took a bomb for you! I would die in order to save your life. In a fucking heartbeat, I would die for you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, and now that we’ve added this to our relationship, what more do I need? We’re compatible in every way. There’s no one I trust more than you, but now that we have sexual chemistry and love, my heart feels so full. Why would I need to look elsewhere? You’re it for me. This is the end of the road. You’re everything I need and want, and I’ll never doubt that again.”
“How did I get so lucky twice? First with the bomb, we lived. We both lived. And now this. I wasn’t supposed to be this lucky.”
“Who says?”
“I don’t know, Reaper, but it feels like too much goodness. I definitely need to help someone at BALLS to balance out my abundance of blessings.”
His gratitude for his life fills my heart to bursting. It’s about fucking time he realizes he’s blessed. My hand drops lower, brushing over the soft bulge in his briefs. “How about we go inside and you can begin to show your gratitude?”
He chuckles, cupping my hand and squeezing. I can feel him growing hard in my grip. It still amazes me that I can affect him like this.
“I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t eat that third pork chop,” he jokes.
“Actually, I thought we could switch things up tonight.” My fingers steal inside his underwear to cup him in my palm. His skin feels warm and velvety, and he purrs when I stroke him.
“What did you have in mind?”