Can I Really Have You?

"What do you mean?" Nedra asked, her second palm finding his face so that he was cupped between her hands. "You've always been here for me."

"No," Seth breathed against her, his eyes squeezed shut against the flood of realization. "Not the way I should have been. I would have never left your side. Never. Not for anything."

There was something different between them. She was always drawn to Seth. She cared for him deeply, but now there was something more. It felt as if he was blooming outward, the petals from his being unfolding to offer something hidden at his center—something that had been tucked away just out of reach.

This inner part of him was slowly releasing as he held her hips almost as if he was bracing himself against it.