Page 142 of Breakaway Hearts
I kiss her, pressing my forehead against hers. “Say it again,” I demand in a low voice.
“I love you.”
Groaning, I kiss her again.
“I love you,” she murmurs, feeding my addiction.
I kiss from her lips to just behind her left ear.
She sighs softly, leaning into me. “I love you.”
I nip at her earlobe and then work my way down to her neck and exposed collarbone. She laughs at the sensation as I scrape my teeth over the sensitive skin there, squirming beneath me.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” she repeats breathlessly, her words ending in a laugh. “Ah! Your scruff tickles.”
“Hang on, let me go shave then.” I make a move to get up, but she grabs me before I can get far and pulls me back down next to her. We both chuckle, and I press my forehead against hers again.
“I was so afraid I’d lost you,” I whisper. I close my eyes and run my fingers through her hair, basking in the simple sensations that I didn’t know were essential to living until I no longer had them. “So fucking scared.”
“You could never lose me.” She wraps her arm around my waist and tangles her legs with mine. “Never fully, at least. I’ll always care about you. I couldn’t stop myself. Even if it wasn’t this, even if we were just frie—”
I kiss her before she can finish saying that god-awful word.
“Friends?” I murmur when we break apart, gazing into her wide green eyes. “No. That’s not enough. That’llneverbe enough, and if I have to spend the rest of my life fucking that word out of your vocabulary, I will. I’m yours.” I punctuate the declaration with a kiss. “And you’remine.”
She grins against my mouth, obviously pleased with that sentiment.
Good. Because I don’t think I can tame my possessiveness when it comes to her. I’ll always feel this way.
Our lips move together in a languorous, hungry way. Fuck, I could kiss her all day. I could kiss her and stop breathing and still be happy. There’s nothing as good as her lips on mine, our bodies pulled toward each other as if bound together by something we can’t even see.
“I love you, Firefly,” I murmur, my breath mingling with hers. “I love you so fucking much.”
“This is just like one of my books,” she says with a laugh when we briefly come up for air. “I never thought my life would be like anything out of a romance novel.”
“Oh!” I stiffen suddenly and then sit up. “Shit. I totally forgot.”
“Forgot what?” Callie asks, but I’m already out of bed, walking naked into her kitchen to grab my hastily discarded bag. I’m surprised I forgot it, but also not surprised, given how desperate I was to have her in my arms again. The second I kissed her, I forgot about everything else.
“I got you something,” I tell her as I return to the bedroom. “I hope you like it.”
She sits up and takes the bag when I hand it to her. She pulls out one of her favorite romance novels and glances at me quizzically. I motion for her to open it, and when she does, her jaw drops.
“How did you…?”
She touches the first page as if to make sure that the author’s signature is real, that the ink is dry, that it actually ishername written with a special note thanking her for being an avid reader.
“I called in a favor.” I run my hand through my hair, and I can’t keep the grin off my face as she continues to stare at the page in stunned disbelief. “I read alotof books in the time we were apart. It was one of the only things that made me feel a little better. And when I read that one, it reminded me the most of us. To think that two people could go through so much together, have so many obstacles in their way, and still find their way back to each other? Well, it gave me hope that we still had a chance too.”
Callie looks up at me, and I’m shocked to see tears in her eyes. I immediately rush to the bed, climbing onto the mattress beside her. She closes the book and puts it on her nightstand before wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me into a tight hug.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “For not giving up on us.”
“I never will,” I promise her. “Ever.”
“I’m sorry I let my insecurities push us apart.” A look of sadness flashes over her face as she draws back. “I just got so overwhelmed when that tabloid article came out. I wasn’t sure I could handle being scrutinized and judged by people like that.”
“It’s not your fault,” I tell her firmly, linking my fingers with hers. “You didn’t ask for that shitty, salacious article to be written, and I get why it hurt. I found out who leaked the story, by the way. It was fucking Sienna. She’s no longer employed by the Aces.”