Page 103 of Forever Fighting
“Half of one. Today I plan to get the other half.”
Jesus. Way to knock the wind out of me.
“It’s on your left ring finger.”
His fingers trickle along my cheek. “Brae, you’re my forever. How I feel about you is infinite. After the morning we had together, it’s even more important that I prove that to you. My words only go so far. My actions are what you need.”
“Wow. I don’t even know what to say.”
He studies me. “Are you against it?”
“No. It’s not that.” I hug him, pressing my cheek to his chest over his heart. “All this time you felt like this, and I didn’t know.”
“Baby, I don’t just love you one way. I love you all the ways there are. It’s my certainty. The one thing I’m always sure of and have never wavered on. Not once. No matter how difficult or painful it got. You said we’re each other’s forever, and that’s unchanged. It’s why I had half of it done. But the other half is for all the things we’ll be and what our future will look like together.”
“God, Roman. How do you have a heart like this, and how am I the one who gets to own it?”
“You’re just lucky, I guess.”
I laugh lightly. “Always so humble, Chef Fritz.”
He is actually. That’s kind of what makes him even better.
I look up at him, studying the too-handsome-to-be-real lines of him. “My kids are going to have your face one day, aren’t they?”
“If I’m lucky, they’ll have yours.”
“I want them to be lovers, not fighters.”
“I want them to be both, but how they choose to fight can be up to them.”
I guess I can live with that.
My nose scrunches. “You know we’re already married, right? Like how weird is that? We’re dating and married and you’re moving to Europe and we’re talking about babies. We skipped a million steps.”
“I don’t think best friends can ever simply date. They know the other person inside and out, so it’s not trying something on to see if it fits. It already fits or we wouldn’t be here and have risked everything for it.”
“Wow. I seriously love that. Kind of like how I love you.”
A smile splits his lips and makes the corners of his eyes crinkle. “Come on. Let’s go get inked.”
I give him a cheeky smirk. “Yes, sir. Incidentally, I’m going to need you to hold my hand because I may be a nurse, but needles aren’t my favorites when they’re aimed at me.”
“I got you, kid.” He kisses my forehead and leads me inside where it’s warm and very cool. There are awesome photographs on the walls, but not of tattoos. Lenox Moore is sitting behind a long counter, his face on a tablet that he sets down when we enter.
“Hey, man,” he says to Roman as he gets up. The two shake hands.
“Lenox, this is Braelyn. I’m not sure if you’ve met before.”
“I don’t think we have. Nice to meet you.” He shakes my hand.
“You too. Your shop is amazing.”
“Thanks. Roman told me what you’re interested in. How about you go over it more with me before we get started?”
I launch into exactly what I picture in my head, and he listens as he sketches stuff on a piece of paper. He doesn’t talk or input opinions. He just draws, and when he’s done, I squeal in delight at what he’s come up with.
I’m led down the hall to a room with a movable bed and given a gown that’s open in the back, and I remove my shirt and bra and put it on. Roman is quiet and it’s making me more nervous than I was before, but I know that when this is done, I’ll be so happy I did it.
