Page 80 of Never Forget
"You're not going to leave me, right?"
Rosie yawned. She was curled between us under the blankets. Her eyes started to droop. She tried to fight it but she was losing.
Jamie pulled her closer. "I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart. I promise."
Rosie turned her head and looked at me.
"Me neither," I said.
She nodded. Satisfied. Her eyes closed, and within minutes she was asleep.
I carried Rosie to her room. She was heavier asleep than awake, her body slack against my chest, her breath warm on my neck.
Her new room. Her new bed. The sheets were the ones Megan had donated, still stiff from the packaging. The stuffed dog I'd bought her at the hospital sat on the pillow, waiting.
I set her down gently. Pulled the covers up to her chin. Tucked the dog under her arm, and she curled around it without waking.
She murmured something, already deep under. I brushed the hair from her face and whispered goodnight.
When I stood and turned, Jamie was in the doorway.
The hallway was dark. The only light came from Rosie's nightlight, spilling out around Jamie's silhouette, catching the edges of her hair.
"Thank you," she whispered. "For everything."
I shook my head. "You don't have to thank me."
She stepped close enough that I drowned in her blue eyes the way I had a thousand times before, only this time I wasn't going to look away.
Her fingers brushed my cheek. Her touch was soft, tentative, and it sent something electric down my spine. I didn't move because I was afraid if I did, I'd wake up. That this would turn out to be another dream I'd have to bury come morning.
Then she rose on her toes. Her lips brushed against mine.
My mind went blank. All those years of holding back, of telling myself she was off-limits, of burying everything I felt so deep I almost believed it wasn't there—all of it gone. There was only her. The softness of her mouth. The small sound she made when I finally moved, my hands finding her waist, pulling her closer.
I lifted her off her feet. She didn't resist. Her arms tightened around my neck, pulling me deeper into the kiss as I carriedher into her room. I tried to close the door as quietly as I could before I laid her gently on her bed.
I pulled back just enough to look at her.
Her hair spread across the pillow. Her chest rising and falling. Her eyes—God, her eyes—looking up at me like she was afraid I'd stop.
"Jamie," I whispered.
She answered by pulling me back down.
The rest of it became a blur. Clothes falling away. Skin against skin. Her body under mine, warm and real and finally here.
What came after, I'll never forget.
The sound she made when I touched her—soft, surprised, like she hadn't expected it to feel this way.
The silk of her skin under my palms.
The way she tasted when I kissed my way down her neck.
The scent of her and how I wanted to bury myself in it and never come up for air.
The way she said my name between whimpers, like a prayer she didn't know she was saying.
