Page 131 of Braving the Storm
Our mouths move together in a slow, exploring connection, and right here feels like the type of first kiss we maybe should have had. The kind of romantic, gentle glide of wet, pillowy, soft lips of two lovers finally getting to close that distance and feel the electricity crackle in the space between our bodies. Except, I wouldn’t change a thing from any of the moments I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to taste this girl’s sweetness before now.
She hums against my mouth, and I drink down the utter miracle that this moment feels like.
Now that I’ve had the chance to kiss her, to properlyshowher what this moment means to me, it’s like the words finally slot into place, and they’re right there, ready to tumble out.
Drawing back a fraction, I let our eyes reconnect and tilt her chin ever so slightly with my forefinger. Therich brown of her irises has cleared from the weight of emotion moments ago. Now they’re shining and brilliant, and her pupils dilate a little more as my thumb brushes over her lips again because I’m fucking addicted to touching her, feeling her warmth, having that sensation of Briar Lane being back in my arms.
“This is the first time I’ve fallen, truly fallen,” I murmur. “I’ve been thrown from the back of a bull and tossed into the dirt countless times, but this right here is where I’ve crash-landed. This will be the only time I’ll ever fall in love, darlin’.It’s you. You’re it for me. Most likely, it has always been you, and I never truly knew who I was looking for in the stands all that time.”
Her chest rises and falls as her lips hang parted, staring back at me.
“Can I say something now?” Her whisper is matched with the tiniest curve of a smile, and that look fucking seals my fate because if I didn’t already want to give her the entire world, I’d do anything to have her smile like that at me every single day for eternity.
“Depends.” I’m grumbling, but not really at her, more at the agony of not knowing how these next few moments are going to go. “Maybe, but then again, I’m just an idiot who’s standing here terrified you’re gonna break my heart, little thorn. So be gentle with me, ok?”
I slide my hand down to take hers beneath my palm, tucking it against my chest.
“Storm…” Her face softens as she meets my gaze, and just before she goes to say whatever it was that she had planned, I see it.
There’s a flicker of her eyes down to where I’m clutching her fist inside mine, clinging to her like I’m about to drown at sea. Briar does a double-take, and her eyebrows scrunch together.
“Wait—what is this?” Her hand wrestles free from my own, despite my grunt of protest, and she twists her head to one side, reading the evidence laid out for the world to see.
“It’s you, darlin’.” The words rumble out of me as her eyes dartacross my knuckles, back and forth with disbelief at what she’s seeing inked there.
The letters that I’ve had set there, indelibly so, just for her, to keep her close.
Even if my girl never came back to me.
B.R.I.A.R.
“When did you do this?” Her wide eyes flick back up to mine, and she twists my hand back around to face me so that I can see the tattooed letters that I know fully well are there.
“About five minutes after you left.” Shrugging, I steal her hand back so that I can clasp it to my chest again, the one enclosed beneath her name that now rests right above my thudding heart. “Little did I know why I’d always kept that space free. I didn’t know it was meant to bear your name, but now I know the exact reason there was never anything that felt right to be permanently marked there. I’d do anything you ask me to, darlin’... I’d give you the entire fucking world if I could… and even if you never came back to me, at least I’d always be able to keep you close.” My other hand, the one tattooed with my own name, comes up to cup her jaw.
“I love you.” Briar lets the words drift between us, that she can’t possibly know how much they mean, coming from her.
“This right here… this cabin, this life, it’s all I’ve got to give you, Briar.” My throat works as I focus on detecting any flicker of indication she might regret any of this. “You know I can’t offer you a family of your own if that’s what you were wanting…”
Her lips curve and she’s already shaking her head before I finish speaking.
“None of that matters. I’d never wanted anything but happiness, andthis right hereis exactly that for me. It’s so much more than I ever dreamed might be possible.”
Lifting her hand to my mouth, I kiss her fingertips. “No one’s ever said those words to me before,” I admit.
“Good. Wait—” Her eyes widen a little as if she’s startled herself with the force of her own admission. “Sorry, is that messedup? Is that weird for me to say out loud? I fucking love you, so much, and I don’t know if I could handle knowing there had been someone who got that part of your heart before I did.” The brightest damn smile eases across her face like a beam of early morning sunlight.
“Be selfish all you like… we both know I am when it comes to you.” My mouth twitches at the corners as I watch her tongue poke out and wet her bottom lip.
We both linger there, staring at each other as the crackle of the fire and my thudding pulse punctuate the quiet. I know for me, this certainly feels like a dream that I’m hoping like hell isn’t going to disappear in a cloud of smoke.
“The cuff is on,” she says it so quietly, almost hesitantly, while biting down on that plump curve. Those beautiful dark eyes stray to my own mouth. It’s as if she doesn’t think I’ve been about two seconds from losing the battle with my self-restraint this entire time.
“You look beautiful in anything, Briar.” I hum, letting my hand slip down to sit over her throat. “But you look especially gorgeous wearing my cuff and my ink.”
“Can we add the hat?” Her eyes flash as I squeeze ever so gently.
“You want to wear my hat?”
