Page 16

“It’s still okay that I sleep with you, right?”

He swallows then nods before turning to secure the door.

When he gets to the bathroom doorway I close my book. “I’ll probably be asleep when you’re done. Don’t worry about waking me, after living in a college dorm I can sleep through anything. In the morning I want you to teach me how to make coffee the way you like it.”

Once he shuts the bathroom door, I relax. I love him so much and have for so long, I just want to jump him. Technically, I don’t know how. I’ve read a million romances and experimented with a couple toys but he’s the only man I’ve ever wanted. No one else has ever done anything for me. The few dates I had through high school and college were friend dates.

I can’t screw this up. I need to relax and just be patient. We have time. I’m here now. We’re living and working together. Take it slow. I roll to my side with my back to the bathroom door and tuck my hand under my pillow. Just relax and breath, counting to one hundred, I tell myself. It’s all working out just fine. I close my eyes just till he comes to bed....

He drops over the edge and I can’t see him. Micha! Micha! Are you okay? Micha answer me! Micha! “Micha!”

“Shush... It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m here.”

Something warm is pressed against my back. Something else is stroking up and down my arm.”

“Micha?”

“You’re okay, babe. It’s all okay, babe. I’m here. We’re safe in bed. You must have had a bad dream. You cried out.”

“Oh, Micha, you were on the edge of the mountain and then you just disappeared. When I tried to get close enough to look it was just empty space and you were nowhere.”

I push the blankets aside so I can roll into his arms. “Hold me. Please hold me. I need to know you’re here. That you’re real. I can’t lose you again. Please. Hold me.”

“I’m here, sweetheart. I’m here. I’ve got you and I won’t let go.”

I grip the front of his T-shirt as tightly as I can and press my face to his chest. Taking deep breaths, I inhale his scent and luxuriate in the heat of his body. He’s here. He’s holding me. I’m home. I’m safe.

My body relaxes into his heat. My heartbeat calms to match his. The whisper of his breath against my hair soothes me. The warmth of his hand stroking my back settles my racing heartbeat and gradually I sink into the safety of his embrace. Home. I let sleep claim me.

When I next wake, I’m alone in bed, but the pillow is still warm from where he lay. I hear the water in the bathroom shut off then the door open. I rise up on one elbow and he glances toward me.

“You okay?” he asks.

“I—I think so. What time is it?”

“Seven in the morning. They’re talking more snow late this afternoon. If we’re going to try to make it to town we should get going. Or I can go by myself, and you can get some more rest.”

“No. I want to be with you. Just give me a couple minutes. Can we get breakfast in town? Pancakes?”

“Sure.”

Grabbing clothes I rush to the bathroom. When I come out, he’s got his jacket on and hands me a to-go cup that matches his.

“Let me know if I got the cream to coffee ration right this time.” He winks.

CHAPTER 12

Micha

While I’m driving to town, she’s busy making lists on her phone. I’m still struggling with last night.

Once she fell asleep, I was able to relax and just hold her. Hold her like she was mine. Like I’ve dreamed about for years. I spent the rest of the night storing up memories of her heat, the softness of her cheek on my shoulder, the scent of her hair, the warmth of her hand on my chest, the weight of her leg over mine.

I’ve loved her since the first time I held her as a baby and she looked up at me with her big, brown, trusting eyes and clutched my finger. When she came to me to teach her to ride her bike because her dad was afraid she’d hurt herself, I swore to always protect her.

Then high school graduation day came. I’d been deployed too long and hadn’t seen her in months. Her letters were cute, sassy and outspoken. The woman who gave me a hug and kissed my cheek that day was no longer a little girl. Something inside me shifted. I spent all her college years staying away and those same years trying to deny and bury my feelings.

She’s everything soft, sweet and kind. A people person. Young.