“I’m sure you’re exhausted.” Micki pulled on a faded T-shirt, kicked off her jeans, and searched for an elastic band to put her hair up. “Are you okay to sleep? Do you want to talk or watch some TV or something?”
Micki felt herself pushed up against the dresser, the hard edge of the wood pressing into her lower back. Savannah was in front of her, already completely undressed, running her hands up and down the length of Micki’s torso.
“No, I’m not okay to sleep,” she whispered, kissing her way softly up Micki’s neckline to her earlobe. “But I don’t want to talk.”
Micki groaned. Her eyelids fluttered closed. “It’s been a harrowing day, to say the least. We can just—oh, oh—are you sure?” Micki gasped as the warmth of Savannah’s tongue made its way around the shell of her ear.
“Quite sure. I need to touch you, I need you inside me, I need you to make me feel safe again. The way that only you can.”
Micki didn’t need an engraved invitation. She dropped her head to kiss Savannah’s collarbone, letting her hands slide all over her naked body. She could feel the desire within rising at an alarming rate, and she gently pushed Savannah back toward the bed.
Savannah scooted up toward the headboard, cushioning her head with the pillow beneath. She made no move to cover herself, lying in front of Micki completely exposed. A plea in her eyes.
A surge of rage bubbled through Micki’s chest, watching Savannah present herself to her, so vulnerable, so open. Right then, arrest didn’t feel like enough. Jail didn’t feel like enough. Micki wanted David dead.
Sensing her hesitancy, Savannah pulled Micki down on top of her, dragging her T-shirt slowly over her head and tossing it to the floor. “It’s okay,” she said, wiping the tear away from Micki’s cheek. “I’m okay.”
Micki smiled bitterly, ashamed that Savannah was the one comforting her. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t. You saved me.” Savannah brought her hands up to the sides of Micki’s face. “And I hope I can spend the rest of my life returning the favor.”
“You’ve already saved me, Savannah. You don’t have to return anything. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever fall in love. I didn’t want to. You rescued me from a life spent with one foot out the door.”
Gently rubbing her thumb back and forth along Micki’s cheekbone, Savannah lost herself in the sincerity pooled in Micki’s eyes. She pulled her down again, their bodies erasing any chill in the air, immediately surrounded in heat. Their mouths met in a shower of electricity, a lightning bolt urging them to part their lips, to explore the abyss. Savannah tightened her grip on Micki’s hair, pulling her closer, closer because it would never be close enough.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Much to Savannah’s chagrin, Micki poked at all of the buttons that adorned the steering wheel of her new Infiniti. “Cool,” she said as the windshield began to automatically tint against the setting sun.
“Will you stop? I knew I shouldn’t have let you drive.”
“Oh, come on, we’re on our honeymoon, don’t you think you should let me have this? This one time?”
Savannah sighed and fell back in her seat. “We’re not technically on our honeymoon until we arrive in Niagara Falls,” she muttered petulantly.
“I can’t even wrap my mind around that fact that it’s been a year already,” Micki said, looking at the date on Savannah’s dash. “One year done in his seven-year sentence. So not enough.”
“No, definitely not enough. I wish he hadn’t been so cooperative with everything. He should have gotten twenty years at least.”
“I know. If only that woman from Iowa had pressed charges. It would have been a whole lot easier to narrow it down to him if he’d had a record for stalking and harassment. I get why she didn’t; it can be hard to make a stalking case stick. Maybe he’ll be less likely to do it to someone else with a record following him around.” Micki shook her head.
“We can only hope. At least the nightmares have finally stopped. Let’s not talk about him anymore.” Savannah rubbed the sleeve of her sweater. “El was so excited for us to make it official. She told her whole class that Chief Blake was her stepmom now.”
Micki smiled at her happily. “I still can’t believe it. She’s amazing. You’re amazing. I’m the luckiest girl in the world,” she said, bringing Savannah’s hand to her mouth to kiss her fingertips.
Savannah visibly melted. “Yes. Yes, you are. I hope Eliana is having a nice time with my mother. I really want those two to bond. It’ll be a lot easier now that she lives in town.”
“I think they will. And your mom loves me—of course, how could she not—so I’m sure we’ll be seeing her a lot. You two have a lot to catch up on.”
“We do. I didn’t know how she would feel about walking me down the aisle to marry a woman, but she was amazing. Maybe this really is the fresh start that we’ve needed.” Savannah smiled softly, twisting the diamond on her ring finger.
“A fresh start for all of us, really. Eliana looked so grown up walking down the aisle. And can you believe the way Rebecca cried? You’d have thought she was the mother of the bride, not her best friend.”
“I’m still not certain if she was crying because she was losing her best friend or because she was losing her best friend to me. Either way, I’m happy.” Savannah flashed her a brilliant smile.
Micki grinned. “It was actually very sweet. Read me your vows again.”
“Micki, I’ve already read them three times.”
“It’s our honeymoon,” Micki said sadly, looking ahead at the road with pitiful eyes.
“Oh, all right.” Savannah smirked, pulling the folded piece of stationery out of her purse. She cleared her throat dramatically.
“I wish I could say that from the first moment I saw you, I knew you were the one. I didn’t, but I soon learned that you would turn my life upside down. I’ve never been more right about anything.
“When you walked into my life, you brought love with you. And I know that by having you beside me, I will be a better person tomorrow than I was yesterday.
“I will love you for who you are, not who I want you to be.
“I promise to be patient, understanding, and forgiving—with you but also with myself.
“I will celebrate our triumphs and treat our failures as opportunities.
“I promise to carry you and to be carried by you. You are my best friend and equal.
“I vow to always love you as you deserve to be loved.
“Mackenzie, I believe in us. I am proud to be your wife.”
“Every damn time!” Micki used her knuckle to swipe away the moisture beneath her eye. “I still don’t fully understand how two people can go from detesting each other to,” she gestured between the two of them, “this. You are truly the clichéd, formulaic, platitude-filled love of my life.”
“And you’re mine.”
Sighing happily, Micki sat back, setting the cruise control and removing her foot from the gas. She flipped on the radio, clasping Savannah’s hand in her own. Eliana’s favorite station, KiddieKat Radio, blared “You Are My Sunshine” throughout the car.
They grasped at the radio buttons, pushing, pulling, lowering, stabbing. The radio went off with a brief stutter of static.
“Huh.” Micki laughed uneasily. “Maybe we should just enjoy the silence.”
It would take time for the residue of what they’d been through to truly fade away. But for now, life was exactly what it should be.
About the Author
Nicole Stiling lives in New England with her wife, two children, and a menagerie of dogs, cats, and fish. When she’s not working at her day job or pounding away at the keyboard, she enjoys video games, comic books, clearing out the DVR, and the occasional amusement park. Nicole is a strict vegetarian who does not like vegetables, and a staunch advocate for anything with four legs.
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