Page 127 of Stroked Hard
Mirth dances in her eyes, giving me so much hope I might combust. “Don’t fucking call me that.”
“Make me.” I pull on her arm, forcing her closer, only for her to palm my face keeping me at arm’s length. Talking through her hand, my voice muffled, I say, “I love it when you fight dirty, Hot Sex.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Right about now, I would take any kind of attention from you. Kill away, baby.”
Her face softens and right then and there, I know I have her.
Not letting her get the upper hand, I push her toward the end of the pool that curves around the hot tub, giving us a little privacy. I pin her against the side and straddle her body with my arms.
“I’ve missed you.”
“Yeah?” she asks, swallowing hard.
“Yeah.”
“Then why didn’t you come to visit if you missed me so much?”
“I was afraid you were going to throat punch me if I did.”
“Throat punch? Never. Knife hand, possibility.”
Fuck if I don’t want to kiss her right now. This is the Melony I’ve missed. The teasing Melony, full of light in her eyes. This is the Melony I fell in love with so easily.
“I was smart then, avoiding the knife hand.”
“If you’re so smart, what are you doing now?”
I push in closer and say, “Winning you back.” She smiles sheepishly at me. Fuck, she’s adorable. “How am I doing?”
“I still think Noah has the edge on you.”
I shake my head. “That romantic bastard. What do I have to do to top him?”
She shrugs. “Something extreme.”
“I might have something extreme up my sleeve, but first, I have to know, do you love me?”
“What?” she asks, off guard.
“It’s a simple question, Melony. Do you love me?” Growing serious, I add, “Because I sure as fuck love you. I think I’ve loved you from the moment you told me to get lost. And when you told me about your dad, that just made me love you even more, because it showed me who you really are.”
“And who is that?” she asks, her eyes cast down at the water.
I lift her chin so she’s forced to look at me. I speak with all my heart. “You’re a beautifully scarred and imperfect woman. Imperfect in the way that you don’t see yourself as everyone else does, and it’s your biggest flaw. You refuse to notice how you light up the room when you walk in it, how you can easily make someone smile with just your sassy words, how you hold so much love inside of you but are scared to let people see it. You’re scarred in the best way possible, which means you have a hole in your heart.”
“How is that a good thing?” she asks, tears starting to form in her eyes.
“Because, I don’t like sharing. If you had a perfectly filled heart, then I would have to share you with another man. But you are special, and your heart is reserved for me and me alone. I get to fill it, a challenge I’ve come to love. I knew growing up, I want what my parents have, a loving relationship, a committed relationship, one that exists only in fairy tales, and I won’t settle for anything less. You are my fairy tale, baby, nobody else. So tell me, do you love me?”
Tears fall from her eyes as she nods her head, my heart swelling to maximum capacity in my chest.
“Let me hear those words, baby.”
Gazing into my eyes, she says, “I love you, Hollis.”
As much as I want to grab her and kiss the fuck out of her, I need to know if she wantsus.
