Page 82 of Anything for You
“Wait, wait a second,” I said, breathless as Dorian’s lips kissed a trail along my neck and his hands gripped my hips with what could only be described as possessive intent.
He stopped though, instantly pulling back with adeliciously hazy expression that made me second-guess halting his progress.
“Because I love you, I need you to understand.”
His eyes cleared, and he waited.
“I love my friends. I’m a social creature. But I’m also exhausted. I’m working a ton, visiting Nan, and I have regular times I get to see my friends. What I have always wanted was to know I had someone who wasmine, and who would love me for the weirdo I am.”
His hands flexed on my hips and his expression softened. “God help me, I do.”
Utter elation exploded in my chest at the grin on his face that was no doubt matched by the one on mine.
“Good. In that same way, I love you. Not some version of you I’ve made up that hinges on you tolerating social gatherings in some new, magical way thanks to the power of my love or something. I’m not loving you with the intent to fix you. I love you like you are, right now, and I don’t want you to worry that being with you will change me, because it will.”
His thick brows dropped low. “Why are you saying that like it’s a good thing? I don’t want you to have to change for me.”
“But that’s the thing. People do change for their person, at least a little. I am a thirty-year-old woman who’s been living with my grandmother since I was fifteen. I just moved out not six full months ago and I am changing. Partly because of that, but also because of you. Because I’m factoring you in, thinking about what you’d want, and that is naturally a change.”
“That’s not what I mean. I don’t want you becoming less social or saying no to things because you know I won’t like them. What about travel? What about your dreams?”
I shook my head, willing him to get me as I tried again. “I hate to break this to you, but I have never particularly wanted to travel. I’d love to go a few places, but if you don’t, maybe that’s a girls’ trip situation. And my dreams?” Oh, boy, here came the tears. “Maybe this makes me the lamest, but I think you might be it for me. I think you are quite possibly the embodiment of what I’ve dreamed of.”
He still didn’t get what a miracle he was.
Yes, I wanted someone who loved me. But I’d wanted a man who was honorable and gentle. A man who could love me and who I could respect. I didn’t need him to be a big personality like Kenny or a charming businessman like Bruce. I didn’t need him to be wealthy or impressive on paper. More than anything I’d longed for in this life, I’d wanted someone to be kind and gentle, and to especially, particularly love me.
He'd shown me his devotion and love for weeks, if not months, now, and he simply didn’t realize he really was a wonder.
His expression shuttered and he shook his head. “How can that be possible, Dove?”
“Why can’t it be?”
He swallowed hard and looked around, eyes searching, before they came back to mine.
“Because you are absolutely mine.” He cleared his throat and exhaled roughly before continuing. “I keep feeling like you’re better than anything I could’ve imagined. Not perfect, but so beautiful and full of life and light, it almost hurts to be with you because I love you so much.”
He wiped my tears yet again, his expression impossibly soft. “Please don’t cry. I’m… I’m not saying this right.”
“Maybe you are, though.” My voice came out watery, but I sniffled and got it together. “Maybe we are eachother’s dreams. Maybe the hard things we’ve both been through… maybe they’ve led us to each other, and they’ve made us right for each other. They’ve made us choose each other.”
He brushed the hair that’d fallen into my eyes back and tucked it behind my ear.
“Promise me you’ll tell me what you need, okay? I’ll do anything I can to make you happy, but I need you to know some things about me aren’t changing.”
I gripped his shirt and shook. “I don’t want them to. I don’t need them to. I’m sure we’ll have challenges. We’re both humans with traumatic garbage in our pasts. I have a brother involved in what is looking more like a cult, and you’re finding your way through what you want with work… We’ve both got stuff. But I want to believe that we can help each other, especially if we can trust ourselves to be honest when things aren’t going well.”
“I trust you. I’ve never trusted anyone like I trust you.”
His earnest, vulnerable response had me marveling at my matching one. “I feel the same.”
Someone on the outside of all this might’ve been shocked by the conversation if they’d wandered by and overheard somehow. I’d moved in here a little over five months ago. How could I feel so strongly, so certain of this man?
In my heart, I could only hear,how could I not?From our very first interaction where I’d screamed at him inside his own house to each instance following it, he’d proven himself to be a man of character. He’d shown his capacity for friendship and then, for love. And as if that weren’t enough, he’d fed me incessantly and plied me with pie.
His brown eyes held mine, and a pathway opened wide ahead of me. I would never claim to be clairvoyant oranything like that, but I could practically see us down the line, hand in hand, at the end of our lives.
“Tell me what you need.”
