Page 116 of The Space Between
We makeit out to her porch and sit on the steps. We stay there for hours.
She leans back against the railing, and I sit beside her. We don’t say much.
We just sit, watching the trees shift in the warm wind, listening to the buzz of bugs and the soft trickle of the river carving its way around the bend.
Every so often, she leans into my shoulder. I let her stay because I want her there… because it feels…right.
And I don’t remember the last time anything did.
“Do you want to stay?”she asks when the sky goes full black and the only light is from the stars. She moves to face me and her motion detector—that I installed—kicks on.
I nod as I stare back at her.
She stands first and offers me her hand. I take it and stand with her. She leads me inside like I’m not the man who’s built walls ten feet high to keep people like her out… like I’m not the one who ran the moment my world collapsed.
She never acts like I’m broken. She accepts it and justlets me be broken.
Maybe that’s why I can finallybreathearound her.
The sex is different.It’s slower. Deeper. Not rushed or messy or fueled by whatever hell’s chasing me.
Her hands are on my chest. My mouth is on her neck. I move languidly, not frenzied. She gasps my name like it’s a promise and not a plea. I move inside her and she wraps around me like she’salwaysbeen meant to hold me together. And for once, I let her.
Ilet her.
We come together and it’s beautiful, right. when she falls asleep against my chest, I don’t think about leaving. I don’t think about what this means or what comes next. I just hold her close and let her be here… here with me.
Her breath is the last thing I hear before I fall asleep.
Morning light filtersin through the curtains.
Her breathing is peaceful and even.
I watch her for a long time, my hand resting on the curve of her hip, my thumb brushing against skin I never want to forget the feel of.
And I know…
It’s too late.
I’m in. I’mfucking in.
I’m in love with her and there’s no undoing it now.
CHAPTER 20
Blakelyn
I feelit before I even open my eyes.
Something in the air has shifted. The skin of the world is tighter than it was yesterday.. like everything’s just waiting to snap.
The sheet is tangled around my legs. Gruene’s arm is heavy across my waist. His breath is warm against the back of my neck, steady and real.
For a second, I pretend nothing’s changed. I don’t want to move for fear that that I’ll break the spell we’re under.
Things are different.
Hestayed.
