Page 181 of The Casualty of Us
Which I mean…between the scythe spanning the length of the muscles on his back and the sculpted ass below it, there’s really nothing to be ashamed about there. It’s fucking perfection.
“Close your mouth, Freckles.”
“I hate you.”
“No.” He laughs loudly. “You don’t.”
The words are so sure they have a scowl and a grin fighting for equal space on my face before I blow out a deep breath. Settling for lifting my hands to cover my face and hearing the sink turn on a second later as I try to sort myself out. Knowing that something has shifted inside of me, not only in the physical sense but on an emotional level too. That the soreness between my legs is nothing compared to how my heart is turning itself inside out as everything moves around, resituating to accommodate this person who’s as essential to me as only one other human being now.
The bed dips beside me a moment later, fingers wrapping around my knee to squeeze gently. “Open your legs for me, baby.”
I drop my hands, parting my legs without hesitation, and my eyes find him as he brings a warm washcloth between them. Immediately spotting the little dip to his brows as he holds it against me for a second before starting to clean me up, each move painstakingly gentle and making me have to blink rapidly to keep the tears in check again. Stretching my hands above my head instead and feeling an ache in places that I didn’t even know I had muscles.
His eyes sweep up my body to meet mine with a spark of frustration. “You’ve lost weight.”
“Probably,” I sigh, surprising myself with the easy admission but not finding any fight left in me currently. “I’ve been distracted since coming home and haven’t really left my room for a couple of days, so that makes sense.”
“Hmm.” His eyes narrow with the unhappy noise, not giving me anything else as he looks back down and finishes cleaning me up.
He stands from the bed a second later and goes straight for the bathroom again, leaving me continuing the stretch while closing my eyes and rolling onto my stomach. A happy sigh leaves me and I hear the sound of his footsteps, the rhythm steady until it stops before he’s suddenly right next to me again.
“What the fuck is that?”
His fingers feather over my skin with a barely there touch, reminding me of the bruise and making me turn my head. Cracking my eyes to find him stretched out beside me now, face all kinds of pissed as he props it up in his hand and stares down at my back.
“I got it playing Alice.” His gaze snaps to mine at the admission, and I quickly clarify. “Visiting Wonderland, you know. I fell when I was getting the last note and—”
“You should’ve told me,” he interrupts moodily. “I never would have been so rough if I’d known you were hurt already.”
“I’m fine,” I snort softly, a grin pulling at my lips as I lift a hand to play with his hair. “More than fine, actually.”
His dimples twitch before he can hide it, but his eyes are all dark possession behind the lit-up gold still. “You want to talk about it now or later?”
The drop in his voice leaves no doubt in my mind what exactlyitis.
“Later,” I breathe, not willing to let any part of it intrude on this and possibly taint it. Guarding it and him like it’s precious because he is—as precious to me as I am to him. “Please.”
Suddenly exhausted from the past couple of days, not to mention my time with him.
“Okay, baby.” His brows drop a little, gaze running over me. “When’s the last time you slept?”
“Technically?” I quip, my own eyes going to the cut on his brow before dropping my fingers down to his cheek with a frown. “We should take care of this.”
“Later,” he echoes, shaking his head and lifting up to grab one of the blankets at the end of my bed before pulling it up over us. Turning to hit the light switch that sits on the wall beside the headboard and plunging us into darkness, he snags me around the waist next and slides his other hand under my head. Situating us both down into the bed as my eyes adjust to the dim light until he’s all wrapped around me. One leg thrown over mine, and his whole body pressed against me with my head tucked under his chin.
“Mine.” His chest moves against my back with the word before he presses his lips to the top of my head. “Sleep now, I’ve got you.”
And that’s what it is, the shift inside of me, it’s the acceptance of that.
How much we belong to each other.
It has a small smile pulling at my lips even as I whisper back, “Yours,” knowing it’s true. “Love you.”
He squeezes me tight. “Love you always.”
Everything about it all completely right as his body slowly relaxes against mine and his breathing evens out. Knocking out like a light and making me nuzzle back against him like a freaking cat. My heart so incredibly happy that he feels safe enough to do so after the day he had.
Although the sex probably helped. It’s definitely pulling me toward sleep quickly, leaving me dozing while processing, fully appreciating the way how, for those precious few seconds, it’s really like two halves become one—
