Page 30 of Saving Grace
“We really gonna do this right now?”
“Do what right now?”
He sighs. “You know what.”
“I don’t have the energy for this right now,” I say as I try to step out of his arms.
“Too bad.” He turns me to face the mirror, one arm still holding me steady while the other glides over my oversize Steele Valley Voltage hockey shirt, both of us ignoring the fact that it belonged to Drew at some point. When he grazes my stomach, I can’t help but flinch at the mental flood.
“I’m not the same girl from that night in your hotel room,” I whisper, the words barely audible.
He slides both arms around me. One rests between my aching breasts, his hand settling on my throat. Not squeezing, but comforting, just how I need. It isn’t fair that this man knows all the right buttons. The other arm settles around my waist, calloused hand splayed across my stomach in such a possessive move that my head goes fuzzy.
Drew presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Damn straight, you aren’t.” He lifts the edge of my shirt, and my breath catches but I don’t stop him. “Arms up,” he whispers.
He slips the shirt over my head as I follow his gentle demand, baring all of me since I’d stripped my panties and bra before crawling into bed. His hands never stop stroking my skin—stomach, arms, shoulders—as he continues in that soft, rumbly voice that belongs in a sexy audiobook. “Maybe it won’t happen today, tomorrow, or next week. But at some point, you’ll look in the mirror and see how badass you are. How amazing this body is for creating and carrying life.”
I suck a breath at the sincerity reflected back to me in the steamed mirror. I bite my lower lip as I gather the courage to turn and face the man of my dreams.
I thought these feelings only existed in fairytales.
Instead of admitting to the thoughts in my head, I peek up through my lashes to find Drew watching me closely. “I made a promise to myself before coming back. That I was done hiding and wanted to live my life brighter and braver than I have over the last decade. My innocence may have been stripped away, but they aren’t here anymore. I am.”
Drew drops a kiss to my forehead and whispers, “I’m proud of you, Leila Grace.”
That does it. Right there. I knew coming back would open me up to old wounds, but I didn’t consider how my heart might crack open again. Or maybe I did. I don’t know. But the fact that the man I love, the only man I’ve ever loved, is proud of me? The tears start, and I don’t even try to hide them. I know who I am. I know what I’ve survived. But having my struggles be validated by someone as special as Drew Flynn hits differently. Before I can question myself, I turn in his arms and ghost my fingers over his injured collarbone, the thin scar peeking through the black ink that lines that shoulder and bicep.
“Stay,” I whisper.
He does his best to remain unaffected by such a small plea, but I still notice the way he tenses for a split second.
“Stay, please.” My voice is stronger, more determined when I ask again.
“Anything for you, sunshine.”
Chapter 15
Drew
Did I intend on stepping into the shower with the love of my life today? Hell, no. I’m lucky she hasn’t realized how much of a lovesick puppy I am. She could kick me to the curb every day for the rest of my life, and I’d still come crawling back, tail wagging and ready to try again.
The first time she whispers for me to stay, I can’t stop the way my body freezes for a moment. No way did I hear her correctly. A figment of my imagination, surely.
But, no. When she says it again, it’s damn near a command, one I’d be stupid to ignore.
As she backs her way to the shower, she slinks her hands under my shirt and pushes up. “I’d take it off, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
I help her slip it over my head and gingerly slide it off my injured side. Whether it’s the shot from Doc Lindsey or the close proximity to a very naked Leila, I don’t know, but the constant pulsing heat I usually feel is down to a low simmer. I’ll take it.
Leila’s eyes rake over me, her gaze burning a trail from abs to ink as her pointer finger instinctively traces the black lines.I know immediately when she spots the addition, hand freezing and breath sucking in.
I drop another kiss to her head before tuning her around. “Let’s get in before all the hot water is gone.”
“But your shorts.”
“Don’t matter.”
“But you don’t have clothes here.” She tries to turn again as I step under the stream with her, the water at skin-melting temps. Leila melts as I pull her back to my chest, her mind and body finally giving in to the comfort I long to provide.
