Page 69 of It's Always Us

My entire body warms at her faith in me. There was a time when I deserved it. That time isn’t now, but I’ll do anything to earn it back, which begins with never making her question it.

“Mark.” She says my name softly, tentatively.

“Hmmm.”

“I know I lost yours when I disappeared.” She links her fingers through mine and pulls them into her chest. “I’m not going anywhere this time. I won’t ever leave like that again. I promise.”

I inhale a long, deep breath and let it out, needing those words probably more than any other. I press my lips to her forehead. “Good. I’m not about to let you go. Ever.” She tips her chin up and places a gentle kiss on my neck. Heat radiates through my body, but I push it aside for tonight. Lying here with her is all I want.

“Lex, I’m a little worried about your grandpa kicking my ass.”

She laughs, and it’s the cure for my weary soul. “You should be more worried about not signing his posters that night you showed up. I haven’t heard the end of it.”

“What?” I laugh. “You told him I was there?”

“Yeah, I was kind of a mess, but he was worried about his posters.”

“I’ll make sure I sign them this time. Maybe even throw in a football if he doesn’t kill me for making him a great-grandpa.”

Lex reaches up to push my hair out of my eyes, which is way past needing to be cut. “Thank you for going back with me.”

“I want to do all of this with you.”

She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, making me want to kiss her, but I can tell she’s thinking. We agreed to take things slow, and there’s nothing slow about what’s going through my head at the moment.

“What happens then?” she asks.

“Babe, I don’t know.” I stare at the sky, hoping it will give us answers. She rests her head next to mine, her hand flat on my chest.

“One step at a time. Your grandpa might chop my balls off and leave me to bleed to death. Then we won’t have anything left to discuss.”

She buries her face in my neck, suppressing her laugh. “Well, you might be right.”

Chapter 22

LEX

I turn the key in the ignition, and my truck rumbles to life. I yawn, buckling my seat belt. I huddle close to the steering wheel, bracing myself from the cold. The winter sky is black, and I already miss the warm, dry air we left behind.

“If it weren’t yours, I wouldn’t believe this old girl still runs.”

I turn and smile at Mark. “I told you she’s got good bones.”

“Babe, that was, what, ten years ago?”

I grin, surveying my restored F-150. Her crisp black lines are everything my teenage heart longed for, and the woman in me still loves. “I’m good at what I do.”

I throw cockiness back at him, and a smoldering, sly smile spreads wide across his too handsome face. After these past few days with him, playing it cool is becoming increasingly difficult.

He pulls my hand to his lips and kisses the back of it. “That you are.”

“I’d restore trucks every day if I could.” His eyes stay locked on mine in deep thought, and I have to look away, or I might do something in the airport parking lot that I’m pretty sure isn’t allowed. “You ready?” I ask, linking my fingers with his as he continues to study my face.

He tries to smile, but I see through it. “As I’ll ever be.”

His unusual nerves make me smile. I lean over to press my lips to the edge of his jaw, purposefully avoiding his lips.

I reign in my hormones with some kind of superhuman, pregnancy strength and put the truck in drive. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Mark nervous, but his quietness makes me wonder. I’m not worried abouttelling Grandpa. Mark shouldn’t be, either. The old man loves him. In high school, Mark practically lived at our house when he wasn’t at practice or making curfew at the group home.

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