Page 109 of Protective Love

"We can stay in bed, but we have to get up. Otherwise our sleeping schedule is gonna be shot to shit."

She huffs and shakes her head, slinging her leg over mine.

"Fine." She draws her head away from me, squinting up at my face. "Why do you look so happy?"

"Because I have you in my arms," I tell her honestly, swooping down to kiss her. "Life is good right now."

She hums in response, closing her eyes again.

Staring down at her, warmth spreads through my chest, my heart thumping wildly as my eyes scan across every inch of her, admiring how naturally beautiful she looks.

My stomach twists as I think about the events of last night, and my arms tighten around her as a slight hint of worry shoots through me when I think about what might happen now that Danny's gone.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks, peering up at me with a frown.

"Just wondering what happens now," I tell her, shrugging.

My hand finds hers and I intertwine our fingers together, stroking my thumb along hers.

"Well, I can finally go back to work, I guess, and go back to my apartment."

Dread fills my stomach.

"That's not exactly what I was getting at."

Her brows furrow and she looks up at me with curious eyes.

"You're not running from him anymore. You don't have any reason to hide. So, I'm just wondering if that mean you'll be going back to Ireland soon, back to the life that you had before here."

"Honestly, I haven't really thought about it," she mutters, her gaze dropping from mine.

My chest tightens as silence descends upon us, and I watch her as she lies there thinking, biting on the inside of her cheek.

Fuck. I never should've mentioned anything.

"Thinking about it, I don't want to go back."

My heart stops and my brows raise in surprise.

"Really?"

She nods, smiling up at me and pressing a gentle kiss against the tip of my nose.

"Yeah. I'm happy here, and I wouldn't want to leave you. We've built something together, and I feel at home when I'm with you. The onlyreason I'd want to go back there is for Chrissie, but now that there's nothing in my way, and nothing holding me back, I can go and visit her all the time."

"So, you want to stay here with me?" I ask, needing to hear her say it one more time.

"Yes, Jaylen. I love you, and I want to stay here with you."

She shrieks when I jump up, standing on the bed with my arms thrown up in the air.

"Fuck yes!" I shout, diving back down and wrapping my arms around her. "You don't realise how happy I am to hear that!"

"I can tell how happy you are," she says, giggling at me.

"The happiest I've ever been," I whisper.

Epilogue