Page 112 of Can't Get Over You
“That’s probably a better way to spin it.” Cupping his hands, he doused water on his chest and arms.
As it coursed over his skin, she realized this was the first time she could see his tattoos in the light. “I remember these.” She sat up to run her fingers around the tribal ink circling his left biceps and covering his right shoulder. “But you’ve got a lot of new ones.” Her fingertips traced down his chest. “Is this a chevron?’
“Yeah. My rank.” Goose bumps pebbled his skin. “Sergeant.”
“And this one?” It was an upside-down triangle. At the top, it said “First.” In the center, a sword drove through the number seven.
“Battalion and regiment.”
Almost all his ink was black except for one block divided into four squares. “Oh, I like this. Tell me about it.”
“My brothers and I have nicknames. I’m Grizz.” He tapped the bear. “Wyatt’s Honey Badger.” He moved onto the bottom row and touched the football. “Decker’s Clutch, and Boone’s?—”
“Hotshot?” She rubbed the flames.
“Good guess.” One corner of his mouth hitched into a grin.
The rush of water when they shifted, the flickering candles, and his big body taking up so much space lit a fuse in her core.Boy, she’d had it all wrong, hadn’t she? Thinking shared goals meant true love.
No, it was wanting someone so badly you’d climb out of your comfort zone to make them happy. Loving them so much you’d work hard to heal your broken bits for them.
Her gaze landed on a design that didn’t fit. “Wait, what’s that one?” Her brain tried to make sense of it within the context of his other tattoos. She lifted his arm to get a better look at his rib cage. “Is that a moose?” It made no sense. Every tattoo was serious, meaningful. This was a goofy moose with antlers. “That’s so funny because it looks just like a pair of?—”
“Slippers. The ones you had when you were eighteen and ran out of your apartment.”
“You remember—”Oh.It took her a moment, but it all clicked into place. “Jude.”
She’d always known there was more to him than the inked, dark, and broody badass, but she’d only seen glimmers. Tonight, he’d given her a glimpse into his soul.
And it was beautiful.
No one had seen this side of him, and he’d chosen to share it with her. “I’m the luckiest woman in the world.” She surged forward and plastered herself across his chest.
He caught her and held on tightly. With a hand cupping the back of her head, he whispered in her ear, “So the bath was a good idea?”
She turned her face into his neck and laughed. “Very good.” But this position wasn’t comfortable for either of them, so she kissed his cheek and returned to her side of the tub. “I had no idea you felt this way about me.” But she couldn’t waste time wondering how it would’ve changed her life if she’d known. Everything had led to this moment. “Any others I should know about?”
“Well, there’s this one.” He twisted around to show a realistic tattoo of a compass and a map. “It’s Calamity. See? This is Wild Wolff Village.”
“I love that. It’s gorgeous.” But she caught something else. “Wait, what’s this one? Awhale?”
“Yeah, that was Decker’s stuffed animal when he was a kid.”
“Why did you get that inked on your skin?”
“Just a memory. Of the night we left.” He grew contemplative, lifting his hand and watching water spill out of it. “I’ve never told anyone about it.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” He shifted, causing a ruckus with the ducks. “It always felt like something secretive, the way we left. There was an urgency.”
“What do you remember?”
“I guess my memories are more feelings than pictures. I knew my mom was in labor. She was having Boone, and there was excitement around that. A lot of movement. Later, though, it changed to something scary. Terrifying. Mom was gone. She wasn’t coming back.”
“And no one ever sat you down and explained what happened?”
“Not really, no.”
