How Much I Love by Marie Force
Chapter 11
DEE
I’m so going to hover. How can I not? I’ll want to know all the time that he’s okay, that he’s healthy, that he’s taking his meds, that…
Oh my God, he’ll hate that, and I need to get it under control quickly. I take a deep breath and blow it out as it occurs to me that anxiety over his health will be my constant companion, the way it’s been since my mom’s diagnosis.
“You don’t need to do that,” he says.
“What am I doing?”
“Realizing that worrying about me is going to be a full-time job. I don’t need you to do that. I promise you I’m on it every single day. I don’t want you to worry.”
“That’s easier said than done, but I’ll do my best not to make you feel like you’ve gone all-in with your mother.” Those words are no sooner out of my mouth when we’re crippled with laughter. “That came out wrong.”
“Ya think?”
“Blame it on exhaustion. I’m not firing on all cylinders.”
“You’re adorable when you’re exhausted—and even when you’re not. You’re adorable all the time.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“I do. I also think you’re sexy, beautiful, funny, smart, and did I mention sexy?”
“I think you did, but a girl can never have too much sexy.” Did I really say that, too? “I need to shut up until I sleep.”
“Oh please, keep talking. I can’t wait to hear what’s next.”
I direct him through the neighborhood to my apartment over the garage.
“If I get the job, we’re going to need a bigger place.”
“I’m going to require sleep before I have that conversation. Probably caffeine, too.”
“Got it. We’ll table that until tomorrow, then.”
Inside, I head right for the shower. “Care to join me?” I ask him.
“Hell yes.”
When we’re standing face-to-face in the shower, I take the time to study the tattoo that spans his chest. Now that I know it’s there, I see the faint scar that runs vertically between his pectorals. I trace it with my fingertip. “Was it painful?”
“Pretty brutal at first, but I healed quickly.”
I kiss the faint scar from top to bottom. “I wish I could’ve been there to help nurse you back to health.”
“Would you have worn a sexy-nurse costume?”
“No, because everyone knows it’s not good to mess with the patient’s blood pressure after major surgery.”
His low laughter makes me smile. “Everyone knows that, do they?”
“Uh-huh. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“Yep, and having you around would’ve seriously tested my fragile cardiovascular system.” He takes my hand and wraps it around his thick erection. “Case in point.”
“This feels like a critical cardiovascular concern.”
“It’s very critical.” He puts his arms around me and kisses me until I’m clinging to him, all thoughts of exhaustion and sleep forgotten in a wave of desire so intense, it requires my full attention.
He lifts me and presses my back against the cool tile. “Is this okay?”
“So okay.”
All the air leaves my body in a long gasp when he slides into me in one deep thrust. God, nothing has ever been like it is with him. When I think about how close I came to never knowing this existed… He knows just where to touch me to make me scream from the release that rips through me almost without warning. It’s too much and not enough at the same time. We’re still panting in the aftermath, and I’m already wondering when we can do it again.
After our shower, Wyatt towels me off, giving special attention to my breasts.
“I’m becoming obsessed,” he whispers, kissing each of them. “I can’t get enough of you.”
At least once in every lifetime, a girl should have a boy look at her the way he looks at me right then. In that single second, he proves to me that he’s worth any risk I might be taking to have whatever I can with him. I place my hands on his chest and place a kiss on his breastbone. When I look up at him, his eyes are heated and glassy with unshed tears.
“You’re beautiful, strong, sweet and sexy. And the only reason I had any interest in coming to Miami to interview for that job was so I’d have the chance to see you again.” He kisses me, and I cling to him as our previously sizzling connection becomes positively incendiary in light of his confession.
With my arms around his neck, I cling to him as his tongue tangles with mine. We kiss for what feels like hours before he hooks an arm around my waist and lifts me right off my feet. I want to tell him not to do that, not to strain himself or take risks, but I’m already sure that wouldn’t be something he’d want to hear.
Wyatt puts me on the bed and comes down on top of me, all without missing a beat in the kiss to end all kisses. He breaks the kiss only long enough to remove both our towels before recapturing my lips in another tongue-twisting duel for the ages. No one has ever kissed me this way, as if my life and his depend upon it. We hold each other so tightly that it’s a wonder either of us can breathe. There’s needy desperation to this kiss that hasn’t been there before he told me his truth.
In the throes of life-changing desire, it occurs to me that shortly after finding out he could die young, I feel more than I ever have in my life. I want to give him everything I can for whatever time he has left, even if I’m well aware that road may lead to ruin for me. I can’t find it in me to care about what might happen to me.
All I want is to give him everything I’ve got for as long as I possibly can.
