Page 38 of Mending Me

Before Bailey, everything I did was for the Army.

Now I was ready to flip my entire life upside down just to make sure she was okay.

After thirty minutes in the car, I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment. I looked at her and pulled our hands towards my lips, kissing the back of hers before getting out of the car. I walked around the car and opened her door, extending my hand for her to take. She took it with a look of admiration in her eyes and hopped out, never letting go of me.

Once we reached my door, I unlocked it and let her go in ahead of me. I was suddenly nervous to have her in my place but I wasn’t sure why. I had cleaned up before I left and my bed was made because a soldier never left his bed unmade.

“This is nice,” she commented with a polite smile, turning in a circle as she stood in what was both my kitchen and my living room. My apartment was fine but I definitely wouldn’t constitute it as ‘nice’. It’s what I had the money for when I came home earlier in the summer and it was the closest place to the gym, so I signed the lease. Now that I had more money thanks to my job, I planned on moving to something nicer downtown as soon as I could.

“You don’t have to lie,” I chuckled. “I know it’s not much. It’s definitely not as nice as your place.”

“Please, ‘my place’ isn’t even my place. I don’t know if I told you, but Ophelia owns the condo. She’s just nice enough to let me live with her while I figure my shit out…” Her voice trailed off at the end and I could tell she was embarrassed. She was playing with the hem of her dress again, something I noticed she did when she was nervous. Not wanting her to feel uncomfortable, I pulled her into a hug and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

“Let’s get you something to wear,” I said close to her ear. She slipped from my embrace and took my hand into hers again. As we walked through my apartment, she swung our hands backand forth until we reached my bedroom. The small room was just off of the kitchen and only held my bed, a small desk I had found on the side of the road, and my closet. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. I had learned to live with so little that the thought of having anything above the bare minimum felt unnecessary. Now that I had a beautiful woman in my room, I wished I had done something a little more with the space.

She sat down on the foot of the bed and watched me as I pilfered through my closet, trying to find her something clean to wear. After a little digging, I found an old pair of sweats and a T-shirt with the word ARMY written across the front that I somehow still had from my first few years in the service. I turned around to find her watching me with reverence.

“What are you lookin’ at, blondie?” I asked with a side smile, walking towards her with the clothes.

“Just you. I like seeing you in your space, it’s nice seeing you here.” She took the clothes I handed to her and looked around. Assuming she was looking for a place to change, I pointed to the bathroom door on the opposite side of the room. There was nothing I wanted to see more than her stripped down to nothing but her underwear, but after what she shared with me earlier, I wasn’t going to push for anything she didn’t first ask for herself. I sat on the bed and waited for her, playing with my hands and trying to stay busy.I can’t believe she’s in my place right now. Changing into my clothes. I wonder what she looks like as she slips off her dress…

“What do you think? Am I ready for duty?” I spun my head towards her voice which she had deepened and when our eyes connected, she gave me the worst salute I’d ever seen. I couldn’t help but laugh at her. She had her face screwed up as if she was trying to look tough and the clothes I had lent her were comically oversized. They literally looked like they could swallow herwhole. But damn did she look hot as fuck wearing my clothes.Breathe dude, just breathe.

I stood from the bed and walked towards her. Once in front of her, I placed my hand over hers, stretching out her fingers so they were flat and bending her elbow so that her salute was now proper. Her eyes watched me with so much attention you would have thought I was doing something far more entertaining than I was. Once her form was fixed, I took a step back and returned the gesture.

“You look like you wouldn’t last a day,” I deadpanned before bursting into a fit of laughter.

“Hey!” She playfully punched my arm, offended. “I think I would make for a fine soldier with proper training.” We were both laughing at this point. I reached for the arm she used to punch me with and pulled her into my chest.

“I think you would, too, with proper training of course.” The way she looked up at me, her eyes locked on mine, almost brought me to my knees. It wouldn’t take much for me to close the space between us and press my lips to hers. I missed the feeling of them and wanted nothing more than to pick her up, wrap her legs around my torso, and officially make her mine.

“Hank?” I watched her perfectly curved lips say my name, still holding her against my chest. I held her wrist in one hand and had my other arm wrapped around her lower back. If I pressed hard enough, she would definitely feel the hard-on I was trying to conceal.

“Yeah, blondie?” I hummed.

“Thanks for the clothes,” she nearly whispered. Her eyes were fluttering between mine and my lips, like a silent invitation for me to lean in and close the gap between us. I took a step away from her instead but held onto her hand.

“You’re welcome. Let’s go watch a movie or something.” I pulled her hand behind me and tried to pretend that I hadn’tseen her face fall for half a second. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to kiss her, it’s that I didn’t want her to think I was taking advantage of her. She had shared something so personal with me that I wasn’t sure where to go from here. I wanted her. Badly. But I wasn’t going to push her into doing something she wasn’t ready to do.

Walking out to the living room, I took a seat on the couch and watched as she sat on the opposite side and tucked her legs under herself. We argued for twenty minutes about what movie to watch and after three rounds of rock, paper, scissors, I lost and had to watch13 Going on 30. Over the next hour and a half, I learned that Jennifer Garner is one of her favorite actresses, Mark Ruffalo is considered a ‘daddy’, and that she had once dressed up as Jenna Rink for Halloween. By the end of the movie, Bailey had made her way over from the opposite side of the couch and was lying on her side with her head on my lap. At one point she had mentioned she was cold so I went and grabbed her a blanket. As she watched the movie, covered up and with her feet on the couch, I looked at her. I saw her quote parts of the movie word for word and laughed at bits I wouldn’t find funny if she weren’t around. I think I watched her more than the movie, but I was okay with that.

I could watch her like this every day and be perfectly fine with it.

I’m so fucked.

“Mmmm, that feels nice,” she cooed, pressing her cheek into my thigh.

“What does?” I asked, watching her and loving how she nuzzled her cheek into my leg.

“You playing with my hair like that.” Looking at my hand, I realized what I had been doing. I had a long blonde tendril wrapped around my finger, and was twisting and twirling itbetween my index finger and my thumb. “My mom used to play with my hair when I was little and it always relaxed me.”

“Then I will keep doing it.” I smiled down at her as she looked up at me.

“Let’s play a game,” she said suddenly, twisting herself so she was on her back and looking up at me.

“Okay, what game do you wanna play? Keep in mind, it’s almost ten so starting a rousing game of Monopoly probably isn’t the best idea.”

“You got a bedtime or something?” she teased, giggling to herself, “Plus, do you even own Monopoly?” She looked around my place and we both took in the sheer lack of stuff it had.

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