Page 81 of Somebody to Save
“It’s a good thing,” she said, her voice dropping lower and her words coming out a touch slower. “I’m more…comfortable with you. In every way. If that makes sense.”
She yawned, and I could tell she was fighting sleep, so I didn’t push her farther. I knew what she meant.
I tucked her closer to my chest, and she was asleep by the time the back porch light came into view.
The heat and warmth of the house was glorious against my chilled skin. Addison barely stirred as I closed and locked the back door or as I ascended the stairs. I didn’t dare turn on the light when I stepped into the shower, instead letting the dim light I’d left on in the closet illuminate my way. When I turned the water on, Addison finally lifted her head and scrubbed her eyes.
I closed the glass door behind us and stepped under the water with her still in my arms. She tilted her head back under the warm spray and sighed.
“You can put me down now,” she said, and I kissed her forehead before I reluctantly sat her back down on tentative feet.
“I like having you close,” I whispered against her temple as I slid my sweatpants down her hips.
She hummed and planted her hands on my chest. I tossed the sweatpants onto the shower bench and covered her hands with my own. Pressing up onto her tiptoes, she pressed a chaste, soft kiss against my lips.
“I’ll still stay close,” she said. “Promise.”
I kissed her back, harder, but not expecting it to go anywhere. I just truly enjoyed that connection with her. She let me guide her back under the water and stayed close just as she’d promised.
We de-thawed under the water, washing away only the most shallow evidence of our primal night together. I washed her hair and the dirt from the rest of her body. There were a few bruises and scrapes, especially on her arms and legs, and I kissed each one of them that had already appeared. Including the bite mark on her shoulder.
Even with her eyelids drooping, Addison was determined to return the favor. She washed my body as I rinsed my hair under the water. Lost in the way her hands felt against me and the fresh scent of the soap, I didn’t realize she’d stopped.
I peered down to find my wrist in her hand, her fingers playing with the blue and white sparkly beads of the bracelet I’d made. The one I seldom removed.
“You know,” she said. “Grams always told me to put my name on my belongings. That way everyone knew they were mine.”
I let out a surprised chuckle and shook my head. Hooking a finger under her chin, tired, green eyes met mine, and I loved the way her mischievous smile tilted her kissable lips.
“I like that, belonging to you.”
“You do?”
“Of course, because I do. I’m yours, baby girl. With or without the bracelet.”
Her smile grew, and she wrapped her arms around my middle. Both of us clean and sufficiently warm, I reached behind me and shut the water off. I grabbed one of the fluffy white towels and wrapped it around Addison’s shoulders before I retrieved mine.
“I feel like I need one, too,” she said, running the towel over her arms and down her legs. “A bracelet or a necklace with your name on it. Or rather than ‘Beckett,’ it could say ‘Daddy.’”
Her tired smile warmed my heart.
“I’d love for you to wear my name. Whichever version and by whatever means.”
Or I could just give you my last name.The thought startled me. Even though I’d considered it, honestly, since I met her, it was firmly held at the back of my mind. But it was the first time it had plowed its way to the front with all the grace of a newborn giraffe.
It was a possibility, a hope. One that I was careful not to consider too closely to get my hopes up.
I wanted Addison forever, and as much as I longed to tell her that, I kept the thought to myself. Because this was still all so new, and I didn’t want to scare her off. I also wasn’t under the impression that she had to take my name if my dream was to one day come true.
Maybe one day.
FORTY
FUCKING BILL
Beckett
“There’s my lovesick brother,”Andrew exclaimed as I logged into the video call.
