Falling for my boyfriend’s Navy brotherÂ
Chapter 293Â
1 carry her inside like I might lose her if I let go. Her arms draped around my neck, face tucked into my shoulder, legsÂ
curled around my waist like she belongs there–and she does. She does.Â
The door shuts behind us with a quiet click, and the apartment is dark except for the low kitchen light I always leave on. IÂ
don’t turn on any others. I don’t need to see her. I already know her by heart.Â
I don’t head straight to the bedroom. Instead, I stop in the hallway and press her back to the wall, just for a second, because I need to kiss her again. Not frantic this time–just full. Deep. Like an apology and a promise all wrapped intoÂ
one.Â
She sighs into my mouth and lets me take her weight, lets me ground her. I think she knows I need it more than she does.Â
By the time we finally reach the bedroom, I’ve already peeled off her jacket, her sweater, and that stupid pair of leggingsÂ
she said were “too comfy to retire.” They hit the floor one piece at time, soft thuds trailing behind us like evidence. ByÂ
the time I lower her onto the bed, she’s bare, glowing in the dim light.Â
She stretches out, long and lazy, her hair a halo of ink on my pillow, eyes half–lidded and lips kiss–swollen.Â
“Staring,” she whispers, a tiny grin playing at the corners of her mouth.Â
“Can you blame me?” I sit on the edge of the bed and run the back of my knuckles down the slope of her thigh. “You’reÂ
unreal.”Â
She shifts closer, tugging at the hem of my shirt. “Then get up here.”Â
I don’t need to be asked twice.Â
I strip fast, throw on a pair of sweatpants just to feel semi–human, and climb in beside her. She curls into me instantly, warm and soft and still faintly flushed from earlier. My arm wraps around her like instinct, her leg hooking over mine, skinÂ
to skin.Â
Her fingers trace lazy patterns on my chest. I can feel her slowing, grounding, her breath evening out with each exhale.Â
We don’t talk much. We don’t need to.Â
We already did all the talking. Hours of it. Lying tangled in blankets and candlelight, her head on my chest, my fingers brushing her arm, both of us catching up on everything we missed. Not just about the Vultures. Not just the pain and the fear and the shit we survived. Everything. Her dreams. My regrets. Her favorite books. The stupid way I like my eggs.Â
Talking to her doesn’t feel like talking. It feels like breathing.Â
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20:16 Thu, Dec 110Â
Chapter 293Â
ས ༣༠༠Â
Now, with her tucked under my arm, limbs tangled up like thread, I feel her sigh. It’s the kind of sound she only makesÂ
when she’s safe. The kind of sound that makes me feel like I did something right for once.Â
I brush her hair back. “You okay?”Â
She hums. “Better than okay.”Â
We’re quiet for a long time after that, just breathing in sync. Her hand rests over my heart, thumb moving in slow,Â
rhythmic circles. She feels like home.Â
I press a kiss to her forehead and close my eyes, but I don’t fall asleep.Â
Not yet.Â
Because there’s still that part of me–the one that’s always been wired for war, for consequence, for worst–case scenarios-Â
that can’t believe she’s really here. After all of it. After the lies, the danger, the miles I put between us thinking it wouldÂ
protect her. She still came back.Â
I shift slightly, pulling her tighter, burying my nose in her hair.Â
I know she’s asleep when her hand goes still, her breath deep and steady, lips parted slightly against my chest.Â
And I lie there, holding the girl I never thought I deserved, wondering what the hell I did right to have her here.Â
She’s it for me.Â
She’s the end of the world and the beginning of something I never knew I was allowed to have.Â
CommentsÂ
M Monene MathibaÂ
will there be more chapters?Â
7 days agoÂ
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