Disclaimer: The characters are property of Janet Evanovich and I am not making any money from this story. The story line is mine.
A/N: Alright some fluff from me. My muse has taken a vacation without me and I'm trying to reel it in.
Places of the HeartBy, Elissahara30
"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within." – James Baldwin
It's raining outside, the patter of the rain is hitting my windshield making a tic, tic sound. My breath is cold and I breathe out and the frost escapes my lips. And I wait.
The call had come in an hour ago. She was home.
I don't know what was stooping me from going up this time. Maybe my fear. I wasn't supposed to be afraid. With her, everything was unpredictable. Even my reactions.
So I continue to wait.
I swung my head around when there was a knocking noise at my door and there she stood. She wore her robe over her pajamas getting soaked from the rain. Nothing looked as beautiful and as exasperating as she did in that moment.
I opened the door and she backed up, her eyes bright in the lamp light. I cupped her face in my hands and followed my heart and . . . kissed her.
My heart beat wildly as I tasted her mint toothpaste. She clutched my shirt and I was lost, Dear Lord I was lost in her. I held her to me and when we pulled apart I looked again into those blue eyes. The eyes I would never find again, even if I looked in a thousand faces. Nothing could replicate what I found in her eyes. It was more complicated, yet simple all at the same time. She loved me.
No one had ever loved me the way she did. I'm a fool for pushing her away. How can I deny us this . . . but I do. Time and again I push and pull. One of these days what we have will break.
I rest my forehead against hers. I feel her shiver from cold and I pull her closer to me. I can't do this anymore. Every time I walk away I leave more of myself behind.
I look up at the sky as the rain splashes into my face. I then look back at the woman in my arms, "I will never love another woman as much as I love you." I push the hair from her face, "And I don't want to."
"What do you mean?" her voice asks me hesitantly.
I touched her face softly and watch as her eyes flutter shut. My chest tightens up with such simple trust she gives me. "I want all of you."
"What about Joe?"
What about Morelli? There are thousands things I would like to do to him . . . but, "The decisions yours Babe. It always was."
I stand away from her and she looks at me again this time confused and a bit angry. I don't blame her. She crosses her arms, "I'm not playing this game anymore."
My heart stutters, "I don't want play anymore," I say.
She drops her arms to her side and moves her head to the side and looks at me. I smile a little at her attempt at trying to read me, "You want a commitment." She demands.
Leave it to her to go straight to the gut, "Yes."
"If I wanted children would you give them to me?"
Children? Do I want that? No. In her though I can see so much more than I was willing to see for myself. And in her eyes I could see our children and it didn't make me afraid. It was time for me to stop hiding. "Yes."
"And if I wanted to get married?"
"All that and more, Babe," I say.
I watched as her face softened and her mouth curve up. The cold making her face pink and her eyes soft. She stepped closer to me and circled her arms around my neck, "I'm willing to try then." And she kissed me.
After all this time, we were making this so complicated and it was always this simple. Will I love forever? With every breath I take, I will love her forever. Will she love me forever? I don't know, but it's a chance I need to take. I sweep her off her feet and I take her to her apartment.
Here is where my heart has always been.
A/N: Alright some fluff from me. My muse has taken a vacation without me and I'm trying to real it in.