Page 54 of Make Your Save

After talking to Hadley about my brother, she advised me to take a few days before deciding what I wanted to do. I took a week instead and still don’t know what I’m going to do. A part of me feels like I should call him, but there’s a hesitancy. A lack of belief that he could be on a better path.

Hadley walks over to me, her footsteps light as she hands me a mug filled with what looks like tea and milk.

A soft smile dances across her lips. “Without any issues, like normal.” She laughs quietly, her face lighting up. “She’s predictable, just like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I question her, tilting my head to the side as I take a sip of the steaming liquid and set it down on my workbench.

Amusement passes through her expression. “There are certain things you do that I’ve noticed.”

“Like what?”

“Well,” she starts, setting her mug down next tomine as she begins to walk between the two shelving units, inspecting the pieces I have sitting for another day. As she begins, I follow after her, trailing behind until we’re both between the shelves. “You always drink a glass of water with salt in the morning. You are ritualistic with most things. You blow inside of cups before you use them, just in case there’s dust in them. And when you need a moment of quiet, I know I can either find you out here or on the ice.”

My breathing ceases and my heart promptly crawls into my throat as I hang on to every last one of her words. I move closer to her with everything she said floating around in my head. She turns to look at me, her back to the wall of the shed. I’m transfixed on her, completely swept away in her undertow. Hadley’s been slowly slipping under my skin, and fuck me, she’s there.

My hand finds the underside of her jaw and I tip it back, those hazel eyes immediately colliding with my own. Her lips part and my fingertips dance along her skin, memorizing the way she feels.

This entire time, she’s been watching and observing, taking notes on every single thing that makes me tick. Maybe I’m under her skin, just as much as she’s under mine. I don’t know what to say, but I know exactly what I want to do.

Every thought melts from my brain and our surroundings vanish as my eyelids flutter shut and my mouth crashes into hers. The sharp intake of her breath surrounds me, consuming me as I let myself feel the cascade of emotions that hit me at once.

Her lips are soft beneath my own and she doesn’t move away. Her delicate hands find my sides, gripping my shirt as I slide my hands along the side of her face, pushing my fingers through her hair as I cradle the back of her head. I’m swept away in a whirlwind of her, her mouth moving with my lips as she kisses me back with a tenderness that seeps into the marrow of my bones.

I feel her everywhere. Under my skin, creeping into my heart, permeating my bones, slipping into the fibers of my soul.

She holds on to me, her lips parting as her tongue darts out and tangles with mine. She tastes like chocolate and whipped cream and I savor the overload to my senses, cataloguing every piece of her. Her body shifts, pressing into me, vibrating through every layer of my flesh, melting into me. My heart is on a journey of its own, thrumming to her melody as it threatens to break free from its cage.

I breathe her in, our tongues tangled, lips melting. Time is suspended, hanging precariously in the air, and everything around us ceases to exist. The only thing I know—the only thing that matters—is her. The way she feels pressed against my body, her mouth moving with me.

In the past two months, she’s opened my heart to possibilities that I never thought would happen. She came barreling into my life with a baby I had no idea about and now I can’t imagine what my life would look like without either of them.

Hadley just feels right. Like this is exactly whereshe’s supposed to be, right here with me, even if it’s only for this short amount of time.

I’m done wasting it.

I’m done denying myself of her.

My lips move slowly against hers, drinking her in before I break apart from her, both of us coming up for air. Her eyelids lift, the swirling hues of brown and green searching mine as she sucks in an uneven breath. My chest rises and falls in rapid succession, my heart pounding away inside my chest, but I ignore it all as I stare down at her, utterly lost in the depths of her eyes.

Utterly lost in her.

“That was...” Her words trail off as she lifts her fingers to her mouth, tenderly touching her swollen, bruised lips. A pink tint creeps across her cheeks. “Unexpected.”

“Just like you,” I murmur, my eyes falling shut as I press my forehead to hers. “Just like you,” I repeat, the words falling from my lips like a prayer.

As I pull away from her, I open my eyes, my gaze colliding with hers once more. Hadley glances to her right, releasing my shirt as she picks up a vase. A smile dances across her face as she holds it up to show me. “How about we finish this, just like you said we would.” She lifts her eyebrows, releasing me fully as she saunters past.

My body involuntarily turns, watching her as she walks over to the table, inspecting the various glazes I have. Her hair is slightly tangled from my hands, her lips still swollen, and her cheeks flushed. Blood rushes directly to my cock as I wonder how she might lookafter she’s been thoroughly fucked instead of just kissed.

“What color should we make it?”

I stalk over to her, not really caring about the vase, but only caring about what she wants and what her thoughts are. “What color do you want it to be?”

She turns to look at me, her eyes slowly drifting back and forth between both of mine. Her expression is warm, yet there’s something unreadable dancing in her stare as she looks back at the glazes. “This one,” she tells me, plucking a small bucket of glaze. I read the color, immediately looking at her as she stares back at me. “It reminds me of your eyes.”

I cannot formulate a single coherent thought and words completely fail me as she fucks up my feelings with more force than I’ve ever experienced before. Wordlessly, I take it from her, unscrewing the top, and set it back down. I find two pairs of gloves, handing one to her before pulling my own over my hands.

She’s quiet as she watches me pull out a drill and slide it into the liquid, effectively stirring it before I begin to pour a small amount inside the vase. “It’s easier if you do the inside first like this,” I murmur, swirling it around so the entirety of the interior is coated.

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