Page 116 of Let Me In

From trust.

From finally knowing I don’t have to hold all of it on my own anymore.

I walk straight into him.

Don’t say a word.

Just bury my face in his chest and let my arms circle his waist.

His shirt is soft beneath my cheek. His scent—warm, steady, unmistakably him—fills my lungs like breath itself.

And his arms come around me instantly.

No hesitation.

One wraps around my shoulders.

The other presses firm and low against my back.

Like he’s sealing something in.

Or maybe holding something safe. His chest is broad and solid beneath me, his breath slow and deep. I feel small here—folded in, surrounded, like I’ve been fitted back into the space I never knew I’d been missing. Safe doesn’t even cover it. It feels like being kept.

I sink into him.

Completely.

Let the weight melt into the quiet power of his hold.

And he doesn’t let me go.

Not for a long, long moment.

Then I feel it—

The subtle shift.

His breath low at my temple.

And then—his hands moving lower.

One beneath my thighs.

The other under my knees.

He lifts me like I’m nothing more than air and intention.

My legs wrap around his waist without thinking.

And still—his hold is solid.

Unshakable.

Like carrying me is the most natural thing in the world.

Like it’s what he was built to do.

He walks slow down the hall.

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