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Now, I was a mere mile from home, and my dogs had given up on waiting for me—they took off running. I wasn’t too far behind when I finally crested my drive, and sure enough, her car was parked in front of the house.
She was home.
Home.
Here. Waiting.
I briskly covered the rest of the space between the driveway and the house but stopped dead when I realized who was curled into a ball under the blanket on the porch. Her dark hair curly from the rain, her face was clear of any makeup, and she slept, likely through my dogs trying to wake her, and now the gravel crunched under my boots, and she didn’t stir.
Was she alive?
Fuck. That thought punched through me on a new level after hearing about my brother. Shit, if I lost her…I couldn’t—
Shaking my head, I pushed the thought away and dropped all my gear on the porch, crouching down and scooping her into my arms.
She still slept as I walked with her into the house and shut the door. Little lamps were on, warming up the space, along with a fire that was getting low, and it smelled like she had been cooking something.
Walking up the stairs with Rae in my arms, I clutched her tightly to my chest and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. She stirred a moment later, right as I walked into our room. Bypassing the bed that looked freshly made, I carried her to the counter in the bathroom.
Tender fingers moved up my chest, over my clothes, until she was cupping my jaw.
Pinning my forehead to hers, I just breathed her in. A burning sensation threatened to rip me open as I realized she was here, in my arms. For just a brief moment, all was right in the world again.
“You came back,” I murmured into the minuscule space between our faces.
Her fingers moved up, over my ears and to my neck.
“So did you.”
The sound of the pounding rain echoed around us as we stayed connected. Her on the counter, in my arms, my forehead pinned to hers. I knew the words would come, eventually, but she seemed to realize it would take time.
So, I moved. Lifting the shirt I recognized as mine over her head, leaving her naked save for her tall socks and underwear.
She began unbuttoning my flannel, starting at my throat and working her way down, until she was pushing it off my shoulders.
I skimmed the skin along her rib cage, letting my fingers greedily graze. A whooshing seemed to fill my head as I began to trace patterns into her skin, marking it. Memorizing it. It was the dull silence that filled me ever since she left, and then my brother—he’d been gone, out of my life, but there was always this lingering hope that he’d come back. That we’d fix our broken mess and be together again, if I could just fucking speak to him.
Now, he was gone, but Rae—she was here. She was back, and she…a lump caught in my throat as I thought about losing her.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered between us as she pulled my shirt up and over my head. “But you’re mine.” I shivered as her fingers twisted the copper button of my jeans, loosening them and pushing them down my hips. “Always, forever”—I kissed her neck as she pushed my boxers down next—“mine.”
Grabbing her left foot, I peeled the sock off, and then the right. My dirty fingers reached for her underwear, tugging it gently down her legs. Then she gathered her hands once again at the base of my neck as I pulled her to my chest.
Walking us into the shower, I turned the hot water on and let it fill with steam before pressing her back into the cold tile wall. Her lips found the space next to my eye first, then my ear, and slowly along my jaw, until she captured my lips in a kiss made up of a wild hope that seemed to tear through her as she moved her body against mine.
Starved and rough, she rocked her hips against mine, tugging my hair back and kissing along my neck.
I allowed her to, because I couldn’t fathom that she was here, in my arms again. I didn’t deserve her; fuck, she’d probably only came back because her parents guilted her into it. But I was too selfish to care at the moment.
Letting her down, she grabbed a bottle of shampoo and tugged on my hand.
“Sit.”
I did as she said, trying to relax into the hot spray.
Her fingers were in my hair as she poured shampoo into it, lathering and scraping my scalp clean. Closing my eyes, I let her work and tried to let the last week slip away.
Most of it went. The stress from losing her, the hole in the center of my chest, the fear that I’d never hold her again or kiss her lips. It all melted away, until only the crack of pain regarding my brother was left.
