Always Only You by Chloe Liese (z-lib.org).epub

Watching her, I’m distracted from where I step, so when I hit a dip in the
sand, my leg buckles, pitching me toward the water. Just before I anticipate an
icy wake-up swim, I’m yanked back, a warm hand wrapped around my waist
and hoisting me upright.
“Oof.” I bump into Ren’s chest, my hands reflexively fisting his shirt.
Embarrassment heats my cheeks, and rather than meet his eye, I rest my head on
his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.
He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “You okay?”
I nod, but a stupid tear rolls down my cheek. It’s the first time I’ve tripped
like that in front of him, and it feels exposing. Indecently vulnerable.
Holding me close, he wraps both arms around me tight. Like he knows I
need a minute.
“I’m tough,” I whisper.
He nods. “I know you are.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“You have,” he says. “You still do. You always will. I’ve just joined in, too.
Now we take care of each other.”
I hiccup a stifled cry and press my forehead to his sternum. His chin fits
exactly over my head. I feel his Adam’s apple as he swallows.
“Frankie?” he says quietly.
On a sniffle, I say, “Hm?”
Sliding one hand from my back, slowly down my arm, he holds out my hand,
and interlaces our fingers. “Dance with me?”
I rear back enough to meet his eyes. He’s grinning, but there’s a blush on his
cheeks. A look, I’m starting to learn, that he wears when he’s nervous. “Okay?”
Tucking me close in his grasp, Ren brings our joined hands to his chest. As
he sways us, he hums softly in my ear. It’s warm and low. No melody I
recognize, but it doesn’t matter. It’s beautiful all the same.
“You got ahead of me,” he says quietly. “Trying to do a dip before I’ve even
asked you to dance.”
Fresh tears spill down my cheeks. “Søren.”
“Yes, Francesca.”
A long, silent moment holds between us as an unfamiliar force churns from
the core of my body. A powerful, surging, unstoppable something, it roars
through my chest, tearing through my heart. A lock slipping into place, it settles
with a small, quiet, irrevocable click.
The door of my heart swings open, and out tumbles the most terrifying
handful of words. Inside me, the irrefutable truth that clatters into place.
I love Ren.