Savor You (Fusion #5)(52)

“I look horrible,” she says. “I’m in my grimiest clothes, my hair is a wreck, I probably have dirt in all of my most secret places.”

“You didn’t bathe in the garden, did you, sweetheart?”

She grins. “No.”

“So probably just dirty on the outside, then.” I rub a particularly dirty patch on her cheek. “But still gorgeous, and I’m still in love with you.”

She closes her eyes, and looks like she’s physically having a hard time letting the words soak in.

“Look at me. Why don’t you believe me?”

“I didn’t say that I don’t believe you,” she says, but still won’t look me in the eye. She’s toying with a string on the sleeve of my T-shirt. “I don’t think you’re lying.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” I reply, but still can’t figure out the lack of response from her. “Mia?”

“Uh huh.”

I kiss her deeply, plant my thigh between her legs, and feel her immediate arousal. She’s clinging to me, but she ends the kiss and stares in my eyes for a moment, until I ask, “What is it?”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you love me?”

I pause, thrown by the question. Jesus, there are a billion reasons to love this woman, I have no idea how to go about listing them. But the most important question of all is, why does she need to ask me that?

“Don’t you think you’re loveable?”

She frowns—and a myriad of emotions play over her face before she looks away—and I can see tears threatening to form. The last thing in the world that I ever want to see is Mia in tears; so before she can answer me, I stand up and hold my hand out to help her up off the ground, which she immediately takes.

I lead her into the house, through the kitchen and into the living room where I dropped my phone.

“I want to show you something.”





Chapter Fifteen





Mia


Holy fuck.

He’s staring down at me with so much raw emotion in his face, in his voice, that I don’t even know what to do.

Do I say it back to him? Because I want to more than anything. I love him so much that my chest aches with it.

“Don’t you think you’re loveable?” he asks and drags his fingertips down my cheek.

I don’t know.

That’s the ridiculous response that’s running through my head. I don’t know if I’m loveable. Or worthy of love, at least from him. The girls all love me, and my family loves me, but this is so different.

Suddenly he stands and helps me to my feet, then leads me into the house. I’m not even going to think about the fact that we’re tracking dirt and water through the house that I spent all morning cleaning. He grabs his phone and turns back to me.

“I want to show you something.”

He pulls me onto the couch next to him, cuddles me, and wakes up his phone from standby so I can see the screen. He opens his photos, then finds a folder that’s labeled Mia.

“This photo,” he begins as he starts at the most recent image, “was the other day when we were watching that horror movie. You were curled up in the corner of the couch, that orange blanket pulled up to your chin, and your eyes were so damn wide. I love your blue eyes, by the way.”

He scrolls to the next photo. “This was at the farmer’s market this week. You were smelling the peaches, and the look of pure joy on your face is just stunning. I love how much you love food. Oh, and this one was that morning that you slept through your alarm.”

“I’m sleeping in this photo.”

“Yes, I woke up with the alarm, and I knew I needed to capture this. Look at how sweet you look!”

I would call it a hot mess, but I’m not going to argue.

He flips through a few more photos, then stops on one where I’m laughing.

“Is this at that comedy show?” I ask.

“Yep, and I love it when you laugh.”

“I look horrible in this one. I have about fourteen chins.”

“No you don’t,” he says and kisses my forehead. “Besides, you’re making my favorite sound in this picture.”

“Did I snort?”

“No, you’re giggling.”

“My giggle is your favorite sound?”

“It is,” he says and shows me a photo he took while we were dancing. “Look at how happy you are here. You seriously love to dance.”

“Yeah.” I grin and examine this photo. I was wearing the cute black top that Addie helped me pick out, along with some skinny jeans and fun shoes. “I felt sexy that night.”

“You were so fucking sexy that night that I thought I was going to have to kill some of the fuckers who kept eyeballing you.”

“Whatever,” I reply with a snort, but he looks down at me with deadly serious eyes.

“Trust me, they were looking.”

“But I only have eyes for you,” I reply and bat my eyelashes.

He kisses me and flips to the next photo.

He flips to one of me just smiling at him from the top of a ladder at the orchard. “That was a fun day.”

“The pies went over amazingly at the restaurant,” I reply with a nod. “And yeah, the whole day was fun. Picking the apples and making the pies together. I enjoy being with you.”