At first, I think that I imagine it. But then, her fingers trace my jaw and grasp my chin, tilting my face to look at her. “Iseeyou, my love,” she whispers, a small smile lifting her lips and her eyes radiating the emotion I’d been searching for.
My breath stutters at her use of the endearment, a hope sparking inside me like a raging fire.
“Did you hurt me? Yes. Youbrokeme, Noah,” she confesses, and I die a little more inside.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur a broken apology, my features contorting with the pain I caused her.
“I know, my love.” Her fingers slide through my hair, grounding me. My eyes fall shut as I revel in her touch after being starved. “It’ll take me some time to forgive you. But…” she trails off, making my breath catch as I hang on to her every word.
Andie surprises me by dropping to her knees in front of me, her hands framing my face and pulling me to her.
My wide eyes glance at her, search her eyes for anything that can tell me how she feels, what she’s thinking.
“But,” she continues, “I know that Iwillforgive you, because I can’thelpbut love you still.”
I exhale a ragged breath at her words, relief like I’ve never known before, lodging itself in my throat. I can’t hold back the whimper and lean into her palm on my face.
I feel her hot breath warming my wet lips. “I love you,” she whispers against my lips, sealing her truth with a kiss.
She presses her soft lips to mine, and I swear I could die right here, on this rain-soaked sidewalk, with her in my arms and the unconscious bodies of her attackers flanking us on both sides, sirens wailing in the distance, voices drowned by the rain.
None of it matters.
Not the cops. Not the medics demanding to check our injuries. Not our friends and family. Not even Ezra yelling at me to stop devouringhis sister’s face.
I pull all that matters to me—the one who saved my shriveling soul—by her waist, pouring everything I can’t say into the kiss.
I tell her just how much I love her with the stroke of my tongue around hers.
I promise her my mind when my fingers tangle in her hair, angling her face to kiss her deeper.
I promise her my life when I bite into her lower lip.
And I promise her my soul when I smear my blood across her lips and kiss them again.
Epilogue
6 months later
Noah zips up my blue strapless dress, pressing a soft kiss on my shoulder. “You look breathtaking, Rainbow.” His words caress my skin.
A serene smile finds its way to my lips at the sweet gesture, a shiver running down my spine.
He does this—makes me feel cherished even in the most mundane days.
Today is anything but mundane, though.
Our journey to each other wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t easy either.
It was messy, difficult, and filledwith lots of therapy sessions. But it wasus. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As I stare at my figure draped in a dress with a slit so high, I realize how far I’ve come. I used to hate what I saw when I looked in the mirror.
But now, when I see Noah’s bright eyes memorizing every curve of my body in the reflection as he stands behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder, and his arms wrapped around me, all I see is the stunning woman who deserves to be worshiped.
I swivel around in his hold, craning my neck up to see him. I open the top few buttons of his shirt, loving how delectable he looks in his black suit, the tempting tattoos peeking from his clothes.
“I’m so proud of you, my love,” I remind him, placing my palm right over his beating heart, where he took the blade meant for me, and the rainbow he got tattooed there—the only colorful tattoo on his skin.