Page 86 of All Along

She motions to my leg. “You’ve been secretive about your injury since you came home.”

“Hell yeah, I have. Look at it. You’re gorgeous and I’m a certified freak.”

“You’re lucky I don’t believe in violence,” she grumbles. “Or I’d slap you.”

I rear back. “Slap me? You’d slap me?”

“Slap some sense into you. How dare you call yourself a freak! You’re not a freak. You’re a hero. You’re my hero.”

I’m not a hero. If she knew what really happened, she’d realize the truth. And then she’d dump my ass. Which is why she’s never finding out the truth.

“I’m nobody’s hero.”

“Agree to disagree. Now, do you want a massage or do you want to continue to be a big baby?”

“Are you saying I’m a baby?”

“I didn’t stutter, did I?”

“What happened to my shy, sweet Maya?”

She purses her lips. “Why does everyone think being shy means I’m meek? There’s a difference between the two, you know.”

I hold up my hands. “Sorry, I questioned you.”

She pokes me in the chest. “You should be sorry. You know better than to think I’m meek. And I’m not shy when I’m with you. You make me feel safe. Safe enough to be myself without worrying about what other people think.”

Warmth spreads through my chest at her words. Despite everything – how I pushed her away for a decade, how I treated her when I first came home – she feels safe with me.

I hope I can live up to her expectations. I’ve failed my friends before. I can’t fail Maya. I can’t live without her. She’s the one person I need to breathe.

I palm her neck and lay my forehead against hers. “I love you, Bunny.”

“And I love you, soldier. But sometimes I want to kick you when you get all stubborn.”

I chuckle. “I know another person who’s extremely stubborn.”

“It’s not stubborn when I’m always right.”

I rub my thumb over her pouty lips. “Always?” She nods. “Even when you got detention from the principal for setting off glitter bombs in the vice principal’s office?”

She rolls her eyes. “It was a misunderstanding.”

I cock an eyebrow. “You didn’t set off glitter bombs in the vice principal’s office?”

“I plead the fifth.”

Pain shoots through my thigh and I grunt.

Maya frowns. “What is it? More pain? The ice isn’t working. Shall I try to massage the area?”

I open my mouth to tell her fuck no but she holds up a hand. “Sorry. That sounded like a question. It wasn’t.”

She stands before dropping to her knees between my legs. My cock twitches with such vehemence it nearly escapes my underwear.

“First, let’s get rid of any impediments.” She shimmies my jeans down my legs until the material is pooled around my boots.

“I’m beginning to think romance books are big, fat liars,” she mutters as she unties my boots. “I swear no one ever has problems with shoes or boots in the sexy scenes. What happens to their footwear? Does it magically disappear?”

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