Page 176 of The Fine Line
“Life. Any of it.” He cups my face in his hands. “So I’ll ask you one more time. Do you mean it?”
His eyes dart between mine.
I wrap my hand around his wrist. “I mean it. Let’s do this, Sutton?—”
The words barely leave my mouth before he’s kissing me again—deeper this time, with reverence. Like I’m the air he breathes.
He lifts me. My legs wrap around his waist.
We’re moving.
He lays me on the bed like I’m something precious.
It’s so different from the first time.
Clothes come off slowly. Like we’re memorizing. Learning each other all over again.
He sinks into me like it’s something he never wants to forget.Kisses me like I’m his reason for breathing. Moves over me like he’s worshipping every inch of me. His forehead pressed to mine. His mouth brushing my shoulder, my jaw, my lips again.
I pull him closer. Skin to skin. Heart to heart.
His touch is gentle. Like he’s afraid he might break me.
Maybe he will.
But I suppose that’s where the trust comes in.
This is never a position I saw myself in. At the mercy of Rhett Sutton—in more ways than one.
I don’t know what it means. Where it will take me. What it will do to me.
But for the first time, I don’t think I care.
Actually, I don’t think anything.
I just feel. So much.
More than I ever have.
And even if it scares me half to death, I’m going to let it.
Because I don’t know that I’ve ever felt this alive.
forty-three
CAROLINE
Austin, TX, USA
I’ve never experienced two months like this.
Both a whirlwind ride and a slow-motion music montage. Like a ripple in time set aside just for us.
It’s been two whole months of me and Rhett—for real.
Long enough for it to still feel brand new, yet also like something that’s always been. Long enough for the winter holidays to pass in a blur of flights, rinkside grins, and quiet mornings tangled up in each other. Long enough that I can say Rhett’s kept true to his word. Long enough that I’ve gotten used to having my walls down and my heart open. Long enough that I like it—and don’t want it to stop. Maybe ever.
It’s been good. Really good.
