Page 100 of Chosen Road

She cupped my face between her soft palms and snickered, her heel still resting on my ass. “You still have your shirt on!”

I grinned. “That’s nothing. My pants are still wrapped around one leg.”

She ran her foot down my leg, encountered my pants, and laughed again.

Stroking my face with her thumbs, she smiled. “I love you, Gus.”

“I love you, sweet baby,” I murmured back, almost not believing my good fortune to be back inside her. “Should we clean up?”

“Yes, but where is your tattoo? I’ve kind of been wanting to see it.”

“Do you like tattoos?”

Her pretty mouth twisted to the side. “If you’ve been following my Instagram, you’re aware we have a thing for tattoos. What did you get?”

I dropped a kiss on her mouth, then another just because I could, and eased away from her body, noting the look of sadness that crossed her face.

“Why do you look so sad?”

“I hate it when you pull out. I hate it when your body leaves mine.”

I kissed her again, gently, slowly, memorizing her mouth once again, then pulled her to her feet. “Come into the bathroom. We’ll clean up, I’ll show you my ink, and we’ll see about me getting back inside you.”

She padded, naked, into the bathroom ahead of me, while I disentangled myself from my jeans and pulled my shirt over my head before joining her.

“Gus,” she whispered in surprise, staring at me under the harsh lighting of her tiny ensuite. “How many do you have?”

“Thirteen,” I replied gruffly, feeling blessed beyond measure because once upon a time I doubted I’d ever be able to show her. “One for every month we were apart.”

Her mouth dropped open in surprise and then she turned her attention to my chest.

I stood still as she traced the designs, one-by-one that covered my left pectoral and ribs leading down to my hip. She traced her finger over the looping lines of her name across my heart, rubbed her thumb over the dates of our wedding, my parents’ wedding, and Alex’s birth. She leaned closer to examine the anatomical heart trapped in amber and lay a kiss over the cross. She smiled at the olive branch, though I believe she mistook it’s meaning.

She traced the Celtic knot, and asked, “What does this one mean?”

“It’s a love knot, two hearts joined for eternity.”

She read ‘agapimeno’ written in Greek, as well as the word ‘hers’.

“What do these triangles mean?”

“They represent me, you, and Alex.”

“What does ‘One Choice’ mean?”

"That I was made for one thing and one thing only, and that is to love you. And I’m choosing to do that for the rest of my life.”

She leaned closer and wrapped both her small hands around my large one. “Which one did you get first?”

I pointed to her name over my heart.

“Why did you get an olive branch?”

I pointed to the tiny letter interwoven into the stem. “It’s for Yiayia. She was my peace during this time.”

She swallowed and blinked rapidly before asking, “Which is the most recent?”

I pointed to the anchor. It was not yet completely healed, but considering I’d gotten it less than two weeks ago, it looked good.

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