A list I was sure would be never-ending.
“I forgot to tell you something… when I dropped you off earlier.” My voice sounded hoarse in my own ears.
My hands clenched at my sides. They ached to feel her. Fuck, I wanted to touch her. Hold her. Kiss her.
“Oh?” Her eyes widened, and I watched, completely captivated by the way the tip of her pretty tongue poked out and licked her top lip. “What?” Her chocolatey gaze was weary as she stared up at me. My girl. So damn brave and giving. I stepped forward, relaxing my hands as they found their way to her hips. “Linc?” she whispered softly.
My hands felt good on her, and by the way she blushed and her eyes dilated, I knew she thought so, too. Right. Like two pieces coming together and fitting the way they had always meant to be. Together.
“Your first letter made me mad,” I blurted out, and she blinked. It hadn’t been what I’d meant to say; it had just come out. “You were so happy, bubbly, full of life, it fucking jumped off the pages and made me… not feel so mad. I hated that. So, I ignored it. Then I got more. Each damn day. But by the third letter, Joy, I was hooked. That’s when you sent the one with—"
“Confetti,” she whispered, and I nodded.
“I took a picture of the mess. I took a picture of each and every mess you made me make. I don’t know why, but I did. And while I waited for your next letter, I would look at them and feel… happy. Connected. Like you’d done this little thing for me to add color and light to my life. Me. A grumpy son of a bitch who had pushed everyone away because he was pissed at life for giving him one pile of bullshit after another.”
“Linc, I don’t know what—"
“I wrote to you after I had a nightmare,” I confessed, feeling like a bigger asshole. “Everything.” I swallowed hard as the nightmare flashed in the back of my head. My eyes clenched shut before I forced them to open and lock onto hers, so all I could see was her. “From my best friend to my parents to my brother getting stuck having to raise me, becoming a Seal to getting hurt. To seeing friends of mine…” I shook my head. “I was an ass and shouldn’t have written that shit to you.”
“Linc—" she started to say, but I pulled her in closer. She gasped, and we both knew why.
She’d felt it.
There was no hiding the effect she had one me. Fuck, just thinking about something as simple as her name had the blood in my body rushing south.
“I knew I liked you before that picture, but after… you fucking killed me. Your curves and smile. These eyes.” My left hand moved up to gently cup her face. “Jesus, Joy, you obliterated my heart.”
“I don’t, I mean I’m sorry, Linc, I’m not following.”
“You’re fucking gorgeous,” I cleared up, and there was no missing the surprise on her face. “And I looked like… like a patched-up GI Joe doll,” I clipped.
“Lincoln, don’t you know? You’re easily the most handsome man I’ve ever seen,” she said as her hands rested on my chest, one hand right below my heart. A heart that was ready to jump out as it tried to reach out and hand itself over to her.
“Under my clothes, my skin…” I hesitated, not knowing exactly how to tell her about the mess that lay beneath my shirt.
“I have stretch marks,” she blurted and then winced. “I know they don’t compare to your scars and what you went through, not even close. I just mean… I get self-conscious of them. We’re not perfect.”
“You are,” I gritted through my teeth before resting my forehead down on hers, hunching my back to reach her as I stared at her. “To me, Joy Espinoza, you’re the most perfect ray of sunshine to ever cast its way on me. And like a greedy fucking vine, I’m greedy for you, Joy.”
“Lincoln.”
“I’m not perfect. I’m broken inside and out. I’m a grumpy son of a bitch, but I can try. You make me want to be better. I just need a chance—" I couldn’t say another word when the tips of her fingers moved to my lips.
“I’m not perfect. I’m pretty messed up, too,” she whispered, dropping her hand and letting it skate down my arm until our fingers touched and I took her hand in mine. “Maybe, I don’t know...”
“What?” My Adam’s apple bobbed as my chest rose and fell. My body tingled with anticipation. Looking down at her and the way her lips moved to the sweetest, shyest little smile, I knew. I knew life would never be the same again.
“Maybe together, we could try and be a little less…chipped,” she suggested, and hope bloomed like a rose in spring. Bright and full.
“Together,” I repeated, and she nodded. “You saying you’ll give me a chance, Joy?”
“I didn’t know you wanted one.”
“I do. Fuck me,” I groaned, resting my forehead against hers again. “All I need is one. Please. I won’t let you regret it,” I vowed. Looking in, I could see someone thinking I was fucking crazy. Insane. Making those kinds of statements to a woman I had virtually just met, but what I felt for Joy was the real deal. I knew it in the depths of my soul.
“Promise?” she asked so softly I almost wondered if I had imagined it. But I knew with the way she was looking at me she’d said it.
“I promise you, Joy. I’m yours until you don’t want me anymore.”