Page 58 of Hold Me Tight

This thing between us isn’t about lust.

It’s not about the high of the moment.

It’s about her.

It’s about showing up and being the kind of man she and Nora can count on.

Every damn day.

So I stay exactly where I am as the silence wraps around us. And in the dark, I make a promise I don’t need to speak out loud to mean.

I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. When you’re ready for more—when you’re ready for me—I’ll be here waiting.

23

Callie

I wake gradually from the kind of deep, consuming sleep that seeps into your bones and lingers in your muscles long after your eyes have fluttered open. The room is quiet, the light subdued, and my body feels boneless, wrapped in warmth and something even rarer.

Security.

It takes a second to register it. A beat longer to realize how foreign this complete sense of safety is. Like I’ve finally stopped bracing for the next hit. It’s been so long since I’ve let myself relax. Since I’ve allowed myself to sink into the comfort of it.

The reason for that hits me.

River.

The thought spreads through me like a ripple across still water. Gentle but impossible to ignore.

I’m curled into him, my cheek pressed against his hard chest, where the steady thump of his heart drums against my ear. One of my legs is tangled with his, my knee slung over his thigh. His skin is warm and firm beneath mine. His body is all strength and quiet steadiness.

How did I not notice the effortless way he makes me feel small and protected all at once?

As if nothing outside this bed could harm me.

And, God, the man smells delicious. Like soap and something I can’t name but instantly recognize as him. I should move before he wakes up and realizes I’ve practically crawled on top of him.

Before I forget that this isn’t real.

Instead, I remain motionless. The heat radiating off him feels way too good.

He feels way too good.

And even more than that, I don’t want to.

After years of keeping my guard up, I’m not seconds away from falling apart. I feel safe.

The kind of safe I didn’t even know I’d been craving. The kind that makes me ache because I’d forgotten it was even possible.

Zane never made me feel like this.

Not even when things were good.

Or when I tried to convince myself he loved me.

And now River is doing it without even trying. He calms the storm that rages inside me just by being himself. There haven’t been any grand gestures or sweeping declarations. There’s just been this quiet, unshakable presence that makes everything in me loosen.

I shift slightly, attempting to untangle the mess of thoughts crowding my head, all the while trying to convince myself I’m not already too far gone. That’s the moment I feel his thick erection beneath the covers, straining against the thin cotton of his boxer briefs.