Page 76 of Unravel Me

“If this is paradise, could we stay here forever?”

“I’d happily stay anywhere you were.” He dips his hand beneath the T-shirt I wear, trailing the tip of his finger over my stomach. “What I wouldn’t give to have seen you when you were pregnant. Bet you were a goddamn masterpiece.”

“I ate a lot of hot fudge sundaes, extra hot fudge. It was an addiction.”

“I’d have happily fed that addiction.”

“You would’ve contributed to the number of stretch marks, huh?”

“Tiger stripes,” he murmurs against my shoulder, my neck. “And I would’ve spent each night kissing them too.” He sets our glasses down and spins me around, wrapping my legs around him before he stands and carries me through the French doors, past Bear snoozing on a cushion in the corner of the room. Laying me down on his bed, he lifts his T-shirt off me and crawls overtop of me. “I could spend all night kissing them now.”

“I think you’ve done that already.” The words leave me a whimper as his mouth moves up my thighs, over my hips, across my stomach, covering my imperfections with tenderness.

“Just want to make sure you know how much I appreciate this body and everything it’s done and continues to do.”

“You make me feel very appreciated,” I promise quietly. “More appreciated than I’ve ever felt.”

The soft words bring Adam’s eyes to mine, and I look away.

“Hey,” he whispers, angling my face to him. “I wish you wouldn’t feel like you need to hide away with me. We’re partners now, Rosie. You and me. And I can’t be the best partner I can if you don’t feel safe with me.”

“It’s just…a little embarrassing.”

His gaze softens, and he moves to the pillows, sitting me against his chest. He tips my chin, bringing my eyes to his. “I like you for everything you are, all the pieces you’ve shown me, and the ones you try to hide too. I know our insecurities exist for a reason, but there’s nothing you need to hide from me.”

I sink into the safety of his words and give him mine. “Brandon said I needed to lose weight. That I needed to take better care of myself, because I was setting a bad example for Connor.”

“Fuck off.” Adam buries his face in my hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I just—no, I’m not sorry. That guy needs to fuck right off. Is he for fucking real?”

Laughter bubbles and tension eases. “I love when you sayfuck.”

“Good, because I’m really fucking mad right now.”

“Don’t be mad for me.”

“Too late. Nobody has any right to talk about someone else’s body.”

“He said having a c-section was the easy way out, that I couldn’t use theI had a babyexcuse anymore.”

Adam grumbles a string of curses under his breath, and something that sounds a whole lot like, “Gives him the greatest gift of his life just to throw it back in her face,” before he squeezes me tighter, covers my shoulder in kisses. “I’m sorry somebody said something so hurtful and careless. You’re beautiful, inside and out, and you don’t need to change a thing.”

I sweep his curls off his forehead, feeling the rough stubble along his jaw before I press my lips to his. “Everything is easier when you’re around. It’s easier to love myself exactly where I’m at, because you appreciate all of me.”

“You are the strongest, kindest, most beautiful person I’ve ever known. How could I not appreciate you?” He lies down, pulling me against him, his face in my neck. “I’ve been dying to do this since our first kiss. Think it’s gonna be the best sleep I’ve ever had, and I’ll never let you go again.”

I don’t think I want him to, because as sleep threatens to pull me under, lulling me toward a peace I haven’t known in ages, there’s one thing I know with certainty.

This is how you fall in love.

CHAPTER17

BANANA-FLAVORED DICKS

ADAM

It’shard to stop looking at her.

This morning, when she was snuggled beneath the mess we made well into the night. Pillowy lips that begged for kisses beneath the rising sun, honey freckles I could wake up to for the rest of my life. Bear tucked behind her knees, refusing to leave her side. The tiny boy who joined us in bed once our clothes made it back on, snuggled between us and, like me, couldn’t tear his eyes off his mama while she read him his favorite book.

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