Page 71 of Keep Healing

“If they do catch him, we can go home, right?” I asked.

“Home?”

“To your place. It feels like home now. I want to go back there with you guys, if that’s okay?”

“Of course that’s okay, Ev. It’s perfect. It’s all any of us wanted to hear you say. You want to settle there with us?”

“I do,” I nodded.

“You know we’ll move if that’s what you need? We’ll go anywhere you want to go. I can move my business and Nick has already said he’s wiling to transfer, if he chooses to stay with the police.”

“I know, and I love you all so much for that, but I love your place. I have good memories there, even though I wasn’t there for long, and I want that back. I want that to be our home, where we raise Zack and maybe give him a sibling, or two,” I admitted.

“I want that too. We all do, but what about your job? Your career?”

“I’ll find something,” I shrugged. “It just doesn’t feel as important as it was before. I still want to be a lawyer and help the victims of crimes, but I can do that anywhere. Plus, it’s gonna be a while before I’m ready to stand up in a court room. I need some time and a ton of therapy.”

“I think we could all use some therapy. Nick and I already talked about it, and we’re going to find someone to help us with our nightmares. Kailan too. We don’t want to be terrified every time we fall asleep beside you.”

“We all have a lot to work through, huh?”

“We do, but we’ll get there. It might be a tough journey, but at least we’ll have each other to rely on. I feel like I can overcome anything as long as I have you at my side.”

“I feel the same. You guys make me feel stronger,” I told him.

“We’re all gonna be okay, sweetheart. We’re going to find our way through all of this and come out of the darkness stronger and so fucking happy.”

“I love you, Harris. I’ve always loved you,” I admitted.

“I love you too. I was such an idiot when I let you go. I will never make that mistake again.”

“Make sure you don’t,” I teased with a smirk. He lifted me, rearranging me until I was straddling his thighs, then his lips were on mine, the kiss passionate and desperate – so different to the gentle, languid kisses we used to share when we were just kids.

I looped my arms around his neck and pulled myself up to deepen the kiss. At the same time his hands smoothed down my back and over my ass. His touch was slow and searching, in contrast to the kiss, which was wild and desperate.

“Ev…” he gasped as he pulled back.

“Don’t stop, Harris. I’ve waited years for this,” I panted. I clung to him and slammed my lips down over his again. His hands moved up to my shoulders, then he pushed off my cardigan, leaving me in the tiny shorts and cami set I had gone to bed in.

“I’ve dreamt about this so many times. I can’t believe you’re really here,” he told me as he picked me up and lowered me to the middle of the bed, then he was over me, just staring at me with so much heat and need. I saw it because I was feeling exactly the same things.

“Show me what you dreamt of,” I whispered as I reached a hand up and stroked it down his bare chest. He hardly ever took off his shirt and never when anyone was around, so it was a true treat for me to see his perfect body. His muscles looked like they had been carved from stone, and I loved the trail of hair that led down his chest, over his stomach and lower still. I could see the scars of his burns all down one side of his body and up the side of his neck, but they were just a part of him. They were a badge of all he had survived and to me, they were beautiful for that very reason.

“Well, we were naked in my dreams,” he told me with a smirk.

“Easy,” I shrugged as I made short work of whipping my cami over my head and shimmying my shorts off. “Your turn,” I added when I was done.

He didn’t take his eyes from my body as he got to his feet and shucked off the soft shorts he was wearing. Stood before me, completely naked, he was even more perfect. His legs were wide and just as muscled as the rest of him. He had the ‘v’ that led down from his abdomen to the goods below. And ‘goods’ was an accurate description for the huge erection he was sporting at that moment. I couldn’t take my eyes from him as he slammed his laptop closed and shoved it onto the floor.

“How did you get even fucking sexier?” he asked huskily as he returned his gaze to me.

“Says you!” I laughed. “Look at you, Harris. You’re like a Greek God or something. I can’t stop staring.”

“You shouldn’t look too closely. My scars…” He reached for his side, but I stopped him, grabbing his hand and bringing it to the scars on my abdomen instead.

“We both have scars,” I told him as he ran his hand over the jagged lines on my stomach. “We’ve both lived a life since we were last together like this, but we’re here. We survived and we found each other again. That’s what matters. These scars, yours and mine, they’re just proof of how hard we fought to get back to each other.”

“God, I love you so much, Ev,” he growled and before I could utter a reply he was kissing me with so much fervor and need. I grabbed his shoulders and clung to him as the kiss went on and on. His hand snaked down, finding my breasts and toying with my hard and aching nipples until I was crying out around his kisses, desperate for more.

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