Page 48 of No More Love Songs

“Sure, you do.” His hand reached across the space between us to slide down my lower back and drag me toward him. “Whatever train of thought is spiraling as we speak, vowing to go round and round for hours to come, spit it out.” He leans in until our foreheads touch.

“You said I had to cut out the overthinking,” I remind him of the speech he gave me not three minutes ago.

“Yeah, but I’m not crazy enough to think you can quit that shit cold turkey. So, go ahead. Get it out of your system.”

I swallow. It’s an eerie feeling lying inches from a man I seem to be unable to hide from. “It’s not a bad thought,” I assure him.

“I know.” He smiles softly.

“I’m just thinking how much I wish I hadn’t left my notepad in your kitchen.” When I took it down there, it seemed wise. We were on a roll, the muse was lively, my mind fancying new words, new feelings to explore every other minute. I needed that notepad. Then we had coffee. And that sunrise. And the notepad faded to the background. Until now.

“Have another word you need to put on that list?”

“Yeah.” I close the short distance left between us and kiss him. Even after all the times he’s already kissed me, I find I’m nervous to make that move. But only for a second.

His lips receive mine and instantly reciprocate the gesture.

“What’s the word,” he murmurs.

I fight the urge to drop my gaze and instead force my eyes to meet his. “Vulnerable.”

He just stares back at me for a while. No hint of a smile. Just a sadness rising to the surface in his blue eyes, like an old hurt that healed, but left a scar. “Me too.”

Then he slides his arm under me, curling it around me and drawing me in, until my body is flush with his. He rolls onto his back, taking parts of me with him, leaving my head to rest on his chest when we settle.

His heart pounds fast in my ear, and the truth of it finally sinks in on a physical level. He’s just as scared as I am.

And suddenly, quietly, but truly, the words just...come out:

No one in this world

Can make me believe like you do

I’m just a simple girl

But not when I see myself though you

I could move mountains and walk across water

Would travel the world, no place too far

Anything, baby

To be where you are

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I stop when I feelhis heartrate steady and his breathing slow. He’s still holding me close, but his muscles relax enough to let me know he’s fallen asleep. And then, somehow, despite what I thought possible, so do I.

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KIT

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The alarm I set onmy watch to ensure I’m up before the girls, rips me from what may well have been the best sleep of my life. A wave of memories rushes through me, so fast I can barely form thoughts around it. For a moment, I think maybe everything that happened between me and Sky was just a dream, but even as it runs through me, I can feel her head still resting on my chest, her body still wrapped in my arms. And it’s the best goddamn thing I’ve felt in a long, long time.

Watching her lying here so peacefully, so content, I’m tempted to let her sleep while I head downstairs to get the day started, but it’s Sky, and she’d hate that, so I don’t.

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