Page 72 of Protecting Josie
“You want three kids?” Blink asked.
“Uh-huh. I just said that.”
Blink wanted to stop the truck right there and get to work on giving her exactly what she wanted. But he controlled himself. Barely.
“Nate?”
“Right here, Josie,” he said with a small smile. She really was an adorable drunk.
“Your people are awesome.”
“They’re your people now too.”
When she didn’t respond, he looked over at her, and he couldn’t interpret the look on her face. “What?”
“I have people,” she whispered, sounding awed. “I’ve never had people before. Wanted them. Thought something was wrong with me when it didn’t happen.”
“Nothing’s wrong with you, Josie,” Blink said, a little harsher than he intended.
She snorted. “There’s lots wrong with me. But when I’m with you, I forget all those things. Did you see tonight?”
Blink’s heart felt as if it was going to beat out of his chest. This woman. She made him feel ten feet tall. He wanted to always be her safe place. “Did I see what?”
“My voice. It didn’t go away,” she said matter-of-factly. “It went away when I was in that cell, and you brought it back. It still feels rusty sometimes. But tonight, it was totally back.”
Blink definitely noticed that she hadn’t had any trouble speaking with others. “I saw,” he told her.
“Nate?”
Lord, she was so damn cute. “Still right here, Josie.”
“I think I only had a week or so left before I died, when you showed up.”
Any warm feelings inside Blink dissipated in an explosion of a thousand stars. It was his turn to have no voice. He had no idea what to say to that.
“I was bad off. So hungry. So skinny. But then you came…and I couldn’t give up.”
Thankfully, Blink turned into the parking lot of his apartment complex. He pulled into a spot, turned off the engine, then looked at Josie. He undid her seat belt and said, “Come here.”
She didn’t even hesitate, crawling over to him and straddling his lap. It wasn’t even a tight fit. The feel of her tiny body against his own made Blink feel the size of a mountain. She snuggled into him as if she’d done it every day of her life. She fit perfectly.
Blink held her to him with one hand on the back of her head and the other wrapped around her waist. “You were meant to be mine,” he told her softly. “From the moment I saw you in that cell, I knew you’d change my life. And you have. For the better.”
“Mmmmmmm,” she hummed against his neck.
Blink shifted, wanting to get her inside. He opened his door and without effort, stepped out with Josie still clinging to him. She giggled a little but didn’t drop her legs. In fact, she tightened them around him.
“What about my presents?” she asked as he shut the door and headed for his apartment.
“I’ll get them tomorrow.”
“M’kay.”
Blink carried Josie inside, toward his bedroom, then straight into his bathroom. She finally lowered her legs and stood, looking up at him.
“Do your thing in here, then come to bed.”
She gave him a satisfied smile. “Okay.”
