Page 112 of It's Always Been You
“Oh, baby,” Gabe murmurs, pressing a kiss to my forehead, his eyes clouding with emotion. “I love you so goddamn much, and there is nowhere in the world I would rather be than here with you. There is no universe where we wouldn’t have found each other again. It’s always been you and me. No matter what, we would have found our way back to each other.”
“You think so?”
Gabe’s arms tighten around me. “I know so.”
“I like that.”
“Me too, Rory baby. Me too.”
I relax back against Gabe in the steaming water and, with his arms around me, I sink into the feel of him and the soul deep knowledge that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
Chapter Forty-Four
Gabe
Light filters in through the blinds when I open my eyes. I can tell it’s early. Too early to be awake, probably, but my brain has a habit of waking me up before the sun when Molly is in my bed next to me. Like it’s trying to make sure I get as much time to look at her as possible, to make up for all the years when I didn’t get to look at her at all.
I’m sure there will come a day when I don’t feel the need to stare at her like she’s going to disappear on me, but today is not that day.
Today, my eyes drink her in. The smooth skin of her back, bared by the blankets pooling around her waist. Her curls spread wildly over the pillowcase. Her perfect pink lips, curved in a small smile even in sleep. The long, dark lashes feathered over her cheeks. The most beautiful girl in the world, and she’s lying in my bed. Our bed.
No one gets this lucky, but now I have, twice in one lifetime.
Unable to help myself, I lean down and press a kiss to Molly’s shoulder. Her cheek. Her forehead. I run a light hand over her hair. Not wanting to wake her but also not able to lay here and not have my hands on her.
“I can feel you doing that weird early morning staring at me thing,” Molly mumbles, her face half buried in the pillow.
I chuckle and stroke a hand down her back. “I can’t help it. You’re right here, and I just love looking at you.”
“Look with your eyes, not with your hands. When you look with your hands, you wake me up, and when you wake me up, I get grumpy. I hate mornings. Nothing reasonable happens before eight AM. We’re night people, Gabe. Night people are not up before sunrise.”
I laugh, laying back down and snaking an arm around Molly’s waist, pulling her to me. Settling her head on my shoulder, I tug her as close as I can, so our bodies are intertwined. She lays a hand on my chest, right on my heart, and I cover it with my own.
“If it means I get to look at you, I’ll be up with the sun every morning.”
“God, I hope not. Getting up that early indefinitely sounds terrible.” Molly finally opens her eyes, turning her head to peer up at me. “Anyway, one of these days you’ll get used to having me around. The newness will wear off, and it’ll be normal that we’re together instead of something we waited years for.”
“Like hell it will.” I roll Molly onto her back, hovering over her, looking into her eyes, more green then blue this morning and still heavy with sleep. Cupping her cheek with one hand, I run my thumb along her bottom lip before leaning down and kissing her, slow and deep. Slipping my tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers, she tastes like mine. Like the promise of a new day and this brand-new life we get to live together. I break the kiss and lift my head, stroking her cheek with my thumb.
“There will never come a day when I’m not in awe of waking up next to you in our bed. And not because I waited ten years to have you again. Because you are magnificent, Rory, and you chose me. Chose us. We get to love each other for the rest of forever, and that’s something to celebrate, every damn day.”
Molly smiles and lifts her head, kissing me again. “You’re really good with words first thing in the morning.”
I lay back down, rolling onto my side so we’re face to face, sharing a pillow. “I’m good at a lot of things when it comes to you.”
Molly laughs and runs a hand through my hair, settling it on my cheek. “Are you talking about sex stuff? Because, can confirm. Last night was…wow.”
I wink at her. “Fuck yeah, it was. We are fire, Rory. We almost burned down the damn house. Are you sore?” I run a hand down her side, stopping to stroke a hand over her hip, around to her ass, dancing my fingers over her silky skin.
She shakes her head. “Not really. I mean, the normal amount. The amount that reminds me I came harder last night than I ever have in my life, and I really would like to do that again, as soon as humanly possible.”
Molly yawns then, rolling onto her back and stretching her hands over her head. “But I think I’ll need caffeine first, before we attempt any kind of sexual acrobatics.”
I grin, enjoying the hell out of her. Kissing her again, I get up and pick up my sweatpants from the floor, tugging them on. “I’ll make the coffee and bring it back up here.”
She stretches again. “I mean, since you’re the one who woke me up at this ungodly hour, it’s only fair that you make the coffee, but don’t bring it up; I’ll come down. I like sitting at the table and drinking coffee together. It’s a really good way to start the morning.”
I study her and make a split-second decision. Coffee isn’t the only thing she’s getting this morning. “It really is. Take your time, baby. I’ll get the coffee going.” Leaning down to kiss her one more time, I stroll out of the room, already in love with this day.
