Hold on to Hope

Their hold fierce and secure.

It seemed almost unreal. Hard to believe.

This man my haven.

A sanctuary.

Evan peppered a line of kisses along the length of my shoulder. Chills spreading across my flesh while he was makin’ all these grumbly, sexy, sleepy sounds that I felt way down deep into my soul. He slipped his palm all the way down my arm until he was threading his fingers through mine where they rested on the bed.

The ring he’d put on my finger yesterday glinted in the morning light.

Surreal.

I guessed that’s what this felt. A dream that I’d had for all my life that was finally coming true.

“Mornin’,” he rumbled up toward my ear. He gave the lobe a gentle nip.

Tingles spread in a slow slide of warmth.

I rolled over so I could see him, talk to him, struck again by his face and that mouth and those eyes.

I couldn’t do anything but reach out to trace across every line.

Mesmerized.

Belly shaking with the need that he instantly stirred up in me.

“I don’t think there’s anything better than wakin’ up next to you,” I murmured, teeth raking my bottom lip as my fingertips danced across the plush line of his, his mouth so perfect and pretty and hitting my head with a wave of dizziness.

He snuggled me closer until I was flush with every line of his naked body. “I was just getting ready to say the exact same thing.”

“Then I guess we really better do this together forever.” Softness came out with my words.

Amazement that we had made it to this place. Racing for the finish line. My spirit shivered, wishin’ we could just dodge the obstacles that still remained in our course.

Evan kissed across my fingertips that were busy running the edges of his lips. “Why do you think I put that ring on your finger? That way I get to get lost in this sweet body every single night.”

A giggle rippled free.

“Oh, you think that’s the way it’s gonna work, do you?”

He gave a little rock against me. “I didn’t hear you complaining last night.”

He gave me this wicked grin. My insides twisted up in glee. Heat skating my flesh as my mind went back to last night.

You could say we’d done a bang-up job of christening this room.

I burrowed my face in his throat to hide my smile.

Evan rolled me onto my back. Gathering me up in those strong arms, he stared down at me like I was the falling star he had wished upon. “You are so beautiful, Frankie Leigh. Do you know what you mean to me? Fact you let me put that ring on your finger? After everything? For your forgiveness? For your belief?”

Apprehension pooled in my stomach. Guilt for the unspoken words I’d yet to confess.

Uncle Kale was right. The longer I’d held onto them, the harder it was to find the right time to release them. The more it felt as if I’d been keeping a secret. The more my silence had begun to feel like I was doing nothin’ but telling a lie.

I wasn’t to blame. Of course, I knew that. But that didn’t mean I didn’t owe him the truth.

I reached up and played with the flop of hair that had fallen over his eye. “I think I’m gettin’ the idea,” I whispered, searching for the right way to open up. My chest tightened. I didn’t know how to steal this joy from him when we finally were feeling it. When we finally had it.

I didn’t want to let it go.

He brushed his fingers through my hair, his smile turning into something wistful and sweet. “I can’t wait to spend my life with you.”

“We’re already doing it,” I told him because we didn’t need a wedding day to tell us we were forever.

His eyes dropped closed for a beat, and he leaned down and pressed the softest kiss to my lips. “Every day.”

“Every day,” I whispered back.

His phone buzzed from the nightstand. I didn’t think he noticed, so I nudged him a little. “Your phone is going off.”

He dipped down and pecked me on the lips before he sat up on the edge of the bed and put on his glasses.

He looked so damn good in them they should be illegal in all fifty states. A crime for him to wear them any time he wasn’t looking at me.

He swiped into his phone. Could feel the mood shift. Tension ridged his back.

Worry slammed me. I couldn’t help it. Couldn’t help that I was immediately on edge.

Everett’s mother was still out there, at large. No word in days. Seth hadn’t been able to get in touch with her brother, either.

All of it sat so wrong that it left a bubble of dread sitting permanently right at the center of me.

I climbed onto my knees so I could move over and wrap myself around Evan’s back. I angled around enough so that he could see me. “What is it?”