Page 86 of Perfect Assumption

Thirty-Three

Angela

Conversation starter: What is the one thing you never gave up on? And you can’t say the power coming back on.

— Viego Martinez, Celebrity Blogger

“Will you turn around?”Is it possible my heart understands his question before my mind catches up? Because one moment I’m facing him, and the next, I’m facing the big window that overlooks the lake. Anxiety makes my body shudder, wondering what’s going to happen next when I mentally give myself a shake.

It’s Ward. He’s not Mike or Steve. He’s not going to hurt me.My lips part, and the cool air, along with any lingering fear, is visible as it leaves me. I stand taller as I wait. When I feel him come up behind me, I feel…complete. While I wait, I cleave to the perfect rightness of it. Like everything has come full circle. Before I searched for fear in every direction, now I seek out Ward.

“Ask me a question,” I tell him, my voice strong and true.

“Are you scared?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s you.”

“What does that mean?” he demands.

“It’s my turn for a question,” I say, with my back still to him. His rough expulsion of breath is my only acknowledgement. “We’ve been in each other’s pockets the last few weeks. Between that and this snowstorm, it isn’t normal circumstances.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Is what you’re feeling due to that?” My head twists around, and he’s closer than I thought.

His hands come to rest upon my shoulders. His thumbs move back and forth slowly. My breath hitches every time it brushes where there were once bruises. “No. It never has been.” He draws his fingers down, scraping them along the center of my back, sending chills racing along my skin. “Now, what did you mean because it’s me?”

“Because I wouldn’t trust anyone else to touch me like this,” I inform him proudly.

Ward nods before he steps away. For a moment I feel the loss so great, my heart feels like it’s being ripped from my chest while it’s still beating. But then he blows out the first candle, then the other. He quickly shoves the coffee table aside and reassembles our bed of cushions in front of the fire. After spreading a blanket on top of them, he steps until all I can see are his dark eyes.

“Do you know who I am?” He strokes a finger down my cheek.

I lay my hands on his chest. “Yes.”

He captures my hand and brings me closer to the fire. I’m just not certain if he’s leading me closer to the one we need to stay warm or the one we started together.

For long moments, all Ward does is look at me while he combs his fingers through my hair. His large hands don’t try to touch my skin in any way, and I’m confused. So much so, I blurt out, “Are we going to have sex?”

A wry smile touches his lips. He steps forward and places his full lips against my forehead. “No.”

Now, I’m really confused. “We’re not?”

“Nothing we do will ever be as baseless as sex, Angie. For us, each time, every time, it will be making love. And I plan on making you burn for it long before we take that final step.”

Oh.My insides melt. I raise my hands to brace against his flat stomach for purchase as I sway.

“Is that okay?” Now, his thumb sweeps beneath my chin to raise my face up so he can study my features.

The little tugs of passion I’ve felt for Ward start licking at my heels as I raise my arms to wrap around his neck. Even as I’m nodding, I still give him the words. I suspect he needs them. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I want to be yours.”

His head lowers, and his hands gently tug my hair to position my mouth. Drawing my lips beneath his, he still hesitates, doing nothing more than holding me close enough to let me get accustomed to him, the weight of what we’re about to do.

Together.