Page 109 of Wicked & Wildflower

I brush my thumb across his jaw, savoring the way his stubbled skin feels beneath my hand—rough and soft, like him. I study all his perfect features, knowing I’m so far gone, I’ll never come back.

“Why did you do all this for me, Everett?” I ask again, knowing he understands the question hidden beneath my words.

I watch him slowly lick his lips, buying himself time before taking a deep breath and pulling up, taking me with him so we’re both sitting now, facing each other with our limbs entwined.

“I know you said you can’t give me anything more than your body. I understand why that is. I don’t expect anything more.” He looks down at where my hand is pressed against the blanket, and he slowly places his over it. “But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to give you everything. All of me.” He slowly drags his eyes from our joined hands to my face, meeting my own. “You deserved to know that you’re loved, Dahlia. Loved by me.”

“I’m not easy to love,” I find myself saying.

“Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. The hard part is that you won’tletme.” Reaching up to softly cup my face, he continues, “My love isn’t fickle, Dahlia. I’m not afraid to fight for you. For us. Every second of every day, if that’s what it takes. I’m not afraid of imperfection or reality. I’m not afraid of your broken pieces.” He runs his thumb along my cheek. “I’m broken too, but together, we can be whole.” Everett smiles, emotion glistening behind his amber eyes. “You’re everything I’ve been searching for my entire life and never believed I’d find. I know you think you’re not worth fighting for, baby, but just give me the chance to show you you're wrong.”

My eyes fall closed, soaking in his words as I nuzzle my face into the palm of his hand, allowing myself to absorb everything he just said, every emotion in his gaze, the power of his presence.

I feel all the same things he does—maybe even more—but I don’t know how to make myself say the words. “I don’t know how to be selfless with my love,” I admit quietly. “When I was a child, that word was never used, I was never taught how to express that feeling, or what it even was.”

Everett’s brows knit together at his forehead, concern and confusion etched into his beautiful face, but he nods for me to continue.

“When I got older and began to understand what love is—the weight of loving someone and all that meant—I quickly realized I was not loved the way a daughter should be by her parents, and I think that’s why they never used it.” I pause, biting back the trembling in my jaw, the rising emotion. “When I fell for Jason, I finally realized what it meant to be in love and how heavy that could be. I trusted him. I gave him what I had been told my whole life was the most valuable part of me—my body. I gave him all that pent-up love I never got to express.” A tear I failed to hold back spills over, cascading slowly down my cheek. Everett immediately stops it with his thumb, swiping it away. “It waslike…once he had it, it lost its value. He didn’t want it anymore, and he certainly didn’t want to give me his. I chased and chased him, desperate to get back all that love I gave away.”

I take a breath, swallowing the sob that wants to claw its way out of my chest. “Then, I had Lou, and I realized what the true value of love is, how what I thought I’d experienced before hardly scratched the surface of the depths I feel for her. All she simply had to do was exist, and she already received everything I had left to give.”

I close my eyes, knowing I’ll crumble beneath the weight of Everett’s stare. My eyes well with tears, and I let them fall this time. I allow myself to weep as he pulls me into his chest, wrapping his arms around my back, attempting to quell the trembling in my limbs.

“What was wrong with me that my parents had never done the same? What was wrong with me, and the half of me in her, that made her father unable to give either of us a drop of love?”

Everett doesn’t respond, because answers to questions like that can’t be found.

He runs his hand down the back of my head, hushing my cries and rocking me in his arms. I take a moment to compose myself, letting out all the emotion I’ve held back my entire life—things I’ve never shared with another soul because I’ve always been so afraid they’d see whatever my parents had in me, that they’d realize I’m not worth loving.

Finally pulling out of his embrace, I’m the one cupping his face in my hands now, ensuring he’s looking directly at me as I say, “I’ve been left to ponder that my whole life. I’ve been drained of it, and there is hardly enough left for myself most days. I don’t know how to give any more. I don’t know how to say the words. I’m afraid if I do, I’ll lose myself.”

He drops his head so our noses brush together, and I feel him smiling against my lips. “You don’t have to say them to me,Wildflower, but I’ll give you all of mine just the same.” Bringing his hand to the back of my neck, he brushes his fingers along my skin. “I’ll show you that love is endless. It’s infinite. I’ll show you that you’re worthy of it. I’ll love you enough for the both of us until your well is overflowing.”

Warm air rushes from his lips, sending shivers across my flesh. I shudder beneath the weight of his emotion—of his love.

“What if that takes a while?” I ask.

“You’re my wildflower.” He lets out a breathless laugh. “You blew into town one day on a whim and planted yourself right inside my soul. You’re rooted in me now, baby. I don’t mind waiting to watch you bloom.”

I sigh against his lips, feeling him smile as he closes that sliver of a gap between us and takes my breath away with his kiss.

“I’ve been waiting my whole life to love you, Dahlia. We’ve got nothing but time.”

37

Wildflower

My Compass, Wildflower.

Hours later, we remainsprawled out on the blanket, watching the sky fade from bright blue to softening shades of pastel as the sun lowers on the horizon.

We talk, but not much, instead soaking in each other’s skin and breath.

One rogue thought enters my mind, and I find myself voicing it out loud. “What if my dad wins in the end? What if he somehow gets me back to Kansas? Makes me take Lou back there?”

“He won’t,” Everett answers firmly, turning to face me. “But if he did, I’d go with you.”

I lift my head, gazing down at him.There is no way I heard that correctly. “You’d move to Kansas? For me?”

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