Page 21 of Possessed By You

“This place is amazing.”

The shower water washes the suds of fragrant shampoo from my hair. “No. I mean, yes, it is, but I meant us. I’m happy we’re here…together.”

His eyes swim with warmth when I tilt my cheek into his outstretched hand. “We always will be.”

“And you’re so sure of this how?” I grab the loofa, squirt a healthy amount of body wash onto it, and drag the small, foamy bundle of material over his shoulders, moving along the curve of his collar bone.

“Because I love you,” he says, his voice echoing against the glass. “We always come back to each other, Darce. There’s no staying apart. I’ve come to that realization by now.”

His words ignite something deep inside of me, something pushed into a forbidden crevasse. The past year without him, the past month with him…we haven’t been the same. Part of me wasn’t sure we’d be able to recover what we’d lost in our time apart. When he notices how my eyes are shiny with water that isn’t a result of stinging soap, his face etches with concern. I’m more fragile than I’ve ever been. I thought jail would make me harder, make things seem uncomplicated in comparison, but I’m disoriented. My whole life seems disoriented.

Benjamin gathers me in his arms. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been so scared that we…that we wouldn’t be able to get past what happened.”

He pulls back, taking hold of my face. “You’re not going to lose me. You never did, even when you were gone.”

An overwhelming rush of solace drapes over me.

You’re not going to lose me.

Already surrounded in his grip, I lift myself, circling my legs around his hips.

“Never.” I shake my head, my lips to his lips, his cheeks, his forehead, his jaw. “Never.”

He plants a steady hand to the wall of the shower, and my back feels the chill of the tile.

His face is buried in my neck, his breath short. “Jesus Christ. Darcy.”

We caress each other with longing, our movements searching. His eyes twinkle when our noses, pressed so close, nuzzle, his breath sweet and hot against my lips.

“Marry me.”

I freeze against him instantly, positive I heard him wrong. “What?”

He meets my gaze of shock with a serious swallow, and I stop breathing altogether.

“Marry me, Darcy. I…I want to. I want this, more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”

I open my mouth hesitantly. “You want to marry me?”

“Yes.”

“Really?” I say, completely disbelieving.

“Say yes,” he orders with a nervous smile.

“Yes!” I respond, the word slipping through my lips at lightning speed. “Fuck yes.”

Blissful by my reply, he crushes his mouth to mine with a low moan, reminding me of his fear of commitment that has miraculously disappeared with those words. I want to be all over him, all at once. We scratch and claw, soaking in the surprise. His hands travel over my flesh, and yet I can hardly feel it. My skin seems unattached to my skeleton, my nerves and veins conjoining together to blow me apart.

“Tomorrow, Darcy,” he mumbles into my mouth. “I want to marry you tomorrow, here.”

I nod, hardly listening to him. I’d do anything right now.

“Yes?”he gasps, eyes wide.

Marry him. Here. Tomorrow.