Page 176 of Altered

Being in his arms again.

The feel of him.

His smell.

Everything.

The way he made my heart jackknife in my chest with just a smile.

Rolling onto my side to face him, I threw my leg over his jean clad thighs, and stretched my arm over his frighteningly thin body.

"Hunter," I whispered, more to myself than him.

He was so thin now.

Reaching under the navy hoodie he was wearing, I slowly trailed my fingertips over his stomach, pausing each time I felt a circular indent.

I found three of them, and countless welts and ridges.

"We need to enforce a new rule," I announced quietly as I craned my head up to look at him. "No more guns. You have enough holes in your body."

His blue eyes scorched me when he said, "You won't hear me arguing, sweetheart." He tightened his hold on my body with one arm and used his free hand to cup my face, his thumb trailing soft circles over my scarred cheek. "I won't let you down, Hope – you, or our daughter."

"I know," I began to say, but he cut me off.

"I mean it." Twisting onto his side, he lay facing me, our faces just inches apart. "You and her? You're my world now." He cupped my face again. "Nothing bad willeverhappen to you again, sweetheart. Not while I've got life in my body."

My heart exploded at his words.

I knew he meant them.

He had proved it many times.

We had found a love in each other that healed all the broken pieces.

A love that scorched and burned, soothed and comforted.

A love that would last forever.

"Where do we go from here?" I asked, knotting my fingers in the fabric of his hoodie. "When we're discharged, I mean."

"We go home," Hunter replied in that confident, self-assured tone I loved so much. "We stick together and figure everything else out as we go." A slow smile grew across his face and he said, "And we start working on giving that daughter of ours a little brother."

I shook my head, unable to stop the laugh that spilled out. "If you think I'm going throughthatagain, then you are crazy."

"You love my crazy," Hunter teased before kissing me deeply.

Yeah, I did love his crazy.

I loved every part of this beautifully complicated man.

And I planned on showing him how much.

For the rest of our lives.

The End

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