Page 114 of Worth the Fall

“Thank you,” I said once we broke apart.

“For what?” His blue eyes shone with so much love when he looked at me that I wondered how I could ever question anything this man felt for me.

“For being patient with me. For not getting angry. For understanding that, sometimes, I run, but I promise, I’ll always come back.”

He tugged at me, and I stood there, pressed against his chest. “I know you will. But you’re done running, baby. There’s no point anymore. If you want to run anywhere, it’s straight into my arms.”

How had I ever lived without this man by my side?

HAPPY ENDINGS

BROOKLYN

I’d been living with Thomas and Clara for two weeks now. It was total freaking bliss. We decorated the house for Christmas and even chopped down our own tree, which was something I hadn’t done since I was a little kid. I’d forgotten how much I loved the way Christmas trees smelled.

Clara loved every single thing that we did in the home. Her joy was so pure that it filled me with my own happiness. I was grateful that what she’d gone through hadn’t ruined the holiday for her completely. If anything, it held no bearing on the way she felt at all. She never even brought it up.

Me, on the other hand? I was a work in progress. It sounded dramatic, but trauma had a way of searing itself in your body, whether you wanted it to or not. I couldn’t help but associate the decorations with what had happened that night. Each day was a little better than the last, but I knew that there would never come a time when I didn’t remember what we’d gone through or the sheer terror I’d experienced.

“Almost ready to go, baby?” Thomas walked into our bedroom, where I was putting the finishing touches on my makeup.

I spun around to face him. “Yep. Is Clara dressed?”

“I’ll go check on her.”

He gave me a kiss, his tongue sweeping inside, making me moan into him. My fingers dug into his neck. His pressed against my lower back and dipped toward my ass, squeezing and kneading. I felt him get hard, and I fought the urge to drop to my knees. Our bodies moved together, our mouths in perfect rhythm. Kissing Thomas was erotic and a total turn-on. When he broke the kiss and took a step back, I lost my balance. My body always seemed to cave into his, but he caught me easily, making sure I was upright as he adjusted the issue in his pants.

“You know I’m going to marry you, right?” he said out of nowhere, and I started coughing.

“Thomas.” I hit my chest with my palm.

“I’m not asking you to marry me right now. But I’m going to. One day down the road. So, you’d better start mentally preparing to say yes.” He grinned, those blue eyes shining as he looked at me.

“I don’t need to mentally prepare.” I pursed my lips together defiantly, mimicking his words.

“You trying to get me to propose to you already, Little Runner?” The nickname had somehow stuck, and I couldn’t even complain about it because I kind of thought it was cute.

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