Falling Down(130)

"Oh no."
"Yeah. I don't know why they stayed married. I guess at least the make-up sex was good. For as much as they fought, you'd think they'd have ended up with more than just me, Ben, and my twin sisters."
"Jesse," she whispers. Where I expected pity, there is none. This woman is incredible.
"That's why I swore to never be in a relationship. I don't want to be vulnerable, to have someone use my weaknesses against me like my parents did to each other. When they fought, it was so vicious. Anything they could use against the other, they did. They hurt each other, always trying to one-up the other to see who could hurt who more."
"That is most definitely not love and that isn't something you ever have to worry about from me, Jesse. I promise you that."
I nod. "I know and you're so amazing. I hope I don't do that to you. I don't know if I will, growing up with that--can I be different than they are?"
"You already are, baby. If you were like them, you'd use everything going bad in the press against me when you feel the least bit vulnerable--like now. But instead you help me find a way to make it better, to fix things. That's love, Jesse. You help, you don't hurt."
"I can't imagine ever not wanting to help make everything right for you. A happy Lucy makes for a very happy Jesse."
"And a very horny, Jesse," she says with a laugh.
"Mhmm. Speaking of," I get up from the bed and clean up in the bathroom. I wet a washcloth and walk back to the bed. "Slowly, baby, very slowly roll to your back?"
She nods.
"Open." She does and I clean her up, taking my time. It takes a whole lot of trust for her to open herself up like that, to expose herself by allowing me to take care of her like that. I'd never use that against her. I never wanted to take care of a woman before--like that or in any other way but with Lucy, things are so different, they have been from the first time she was in my bed.
I toss the cloth into the clothes hamper and wash my hands. When I get back into bed, she's lying on her side facing me, her hands tucked under her cheek.
I lean in and press a kiss to her lips, pouring my heart out to her, my brow pulling inward as I do. It's only when she returns my kiss that I allow all the tension in my body to release. It's her. She's my calm. She's my everything.
I pull back and look into her eyes. "I love you Lucy."
She smiles. "I love you Jesse."
"All is right in the world."
She giggles then gasps then giggles some more as if she can't help herself.
"You've always giggled."
"I did not."
"I hate to be the one to tell you, but you have. It's adorable, Luce. Don't think it's a bad thing. Your happiness is a gift."
She shakes her head. "You are so much more than I thought you were."
"Of course I am. You nearly fainted when you saw my cock."
She laughs and gives my shoulder a shove. I can't hold back my grin.
"Not what I meant. I meant I knew you were kind and caring from what I'd seen when you interacted with others in interviews or on stage. But I didn't know the full depth of it all."
"Are you sure this isn't just your crush, Lucy?" I don't know where the thought comes from, but I honestly need to know.
"What? No. I can see how you'd think it could be but please believe me when I tell you that my crush was superficial and what I feel now…" she pauses and meets my gaze steadily, "what I feel now… I feel so much of everything and it goes so deep that sometimes, like before, I don't know how to handle it or contain it--"
"And that's when your tears come." I nod. "Then I should probably tell you…"