“What?” She focused on me. “I don’t want to be the reason you feel forced into taking on more responsibility.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying you’ve made me want to be better. You’ve inspired me to make something of myself instead of standing in my own way.” I took a deep breath. “This will give you time to push through the last of your studies as well.”
Sofia searched my eyes, the fight slowly draining out of her body. “I was going to transfer to be closer to you.”
I brushed my thumb along her jaw, bowing my head to touch my forehead to hers. “I love you, Sofia. I want a life with you. Six months is a long time to be apart, but we can do it.”
“I love you, too.” Moisture glistened in her eyes, but I felt her give a small nod. “I know we can do it. We can do anything if it means getting to have a life together.”
“Exactly. Don’t be mad at your dad, baby. He’s given us what we needed to grow into the people we are now.”
I closed my eyes and ran the tip of my nose up the length of hers. When I reached her brow, I placed a kiss on her left eye first before doing the same to the right.
Sofia’s breathing hitched, and her hands ran from my elbows to my shoulders before they slid around my neck. Her head tipped back as she offered me her lips.
I took them gently, giving her every ounce of emotion inside me as I pulled her closer. Sofia’s fingers wound into my hair, tugging lightly as she lifted herself onto her knees to plant one leg on the outside of mine.
With one leg now on either side of my hips, she scooted closer to straddle me and mashed her chest against mine. Between me being shirtless and her wearing a sundress that only hit about mid-thigh, there was enough of our skin touching that I couldn’t resist deepening our kiss.
Elation spread from my chest as I kissed her with everything I had. She loves me. She fucking loves me.
I hated that she thought what had gone down was her fault, but I hated it even more that she thought I was capable of hating her. Determination coursed through me to prove to her that I adored her, loved her. I’d go to the brig for her every day of the week if that was what it took, and I still wouldn’t be capable of hating her.
Sofia’s soft lips moving with mine and the feel of her heat even through my pants distracted me from my thoughts. Talking didn’t seem like an option anymore, though.
We’d both gotten carried away by our feverish kisses. If I had to guess, I’d bet that she was feeling as much of a need to show me how much she loved me as I was feeling about her.
We’d been separated for days, but it had felt like much longer under the circumstances. I needed to know that she knew how much I loved her and still wanted her despite Charles’ role in our separation. As she lifted her head and started peppering kisses across my jaw and down to my throat, I knew she felt the same way.
Both of us needed to know the other was okay, really okay. Both of us wanted the other to know that we really were okay, and I, for one, felt the most insane, intense need to make love to her to prove all of this to her.
Once again, we were on the same page. My hands flexed on her thighs just as she nipped my earlobe.
“Take me to bed, Lincoln,” she whispered, her fingertips scraping against my skull. “I need to feel you. I need to know that you’re really here and that we’re really okay.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.” The bedroom felt like it was way too far away, even though it was only about ten feet to the door.
But I also wasn’t going to fuck her on a couch today. Worshiping another person’s body prior to making love to them felt like something that needed to take place on a bed, so that was where we’d go.
Undertaking what felt like a gargantuan task, given the fact that I had a raging hard-on and a burning need to touch the girl sitting on top of me, I gripped the backs of her thighs and stood up. Sofia gasped against my skin, then wrapped her legs around me. “You really have to stop trying to carry me around. We can’t have you going off on deployment with an injured back.”
“Carrying you around will never injure my back,” I said, groaning when she accidentally brushed against my dick as she tried to get situated. “But not getting inside you soon might kill me. Just hang on tight, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, a hint of amusement in her tone. Thankfully, she kept still for the remaining few feet to the bedroom. Well, she kept everything still except for her tongue. It happily tortured me by licking along the curve of my ear.
“Jesus,” I muttered, nipping at her collarbone just before setting her down at the foot of the bed. “You really are trying to kill me.”
“Nope.” Her eyes were hooded when she looked up at me, vulnerability and lust shoving at one another to be the dominant emotion shining through. “I love you, Lincoln. It’s just good to know that you still want me as much as I want you.”
“It’s like you’re reading my mind today,” I said. But then she reached for the sides of her dress and dragged it over her head showing she had nothing on underneath it. I nearly swallowed my damn tongue to keep it from
