"You are the most amazing person I have ever met," he whispered in awe as he shook his head in utter disbelief. "You make me want to be a better man then I was before." His voice began to waver. "It's like you were made for me, to love me, to save me, to heal me. I'd been waiting my whole life for you, and I didn't even know it."
"We were made for each other," I agreed as tears dripped from my eyes. I rested my hands on top of his. "I'm yours and your mine. It was meant to be."
"I love you so much, Sydney." He pulled me toward him until our foreheads touched. I moved my hands to cradle his face, then kissed him with passion and purpose, showing him exactly how I felt. He kissed me back, and it ignited into something profound and spiritual. It spoke of our deep connection and commitment to each other.
He broke the kiss and stood, gathering me up into his arms as he rose. He held me to his chest like something important and precious to him as he carried me out of the room.
"What are we doing?" I asked as I snuggled into his chest.
"We're going back to bed." He smiled, his eyes shining with love and lust. "I'm going to show you how much I love you, and it's going to take a very long time."
"Oh yeah?" I asked with a wicked smile. "How long?"
"The rest of my fucking life."
Epilogue
Jensen
"I'm about to do something crazy today, Jordan," I said with a smile. "Something I never thought I would do in a million years."
I stood in front of Jordan's gravestone with my hands in the pockets of my gray dress pants, my fingers mindlessly fiddling with the small box in my right pocket.
"You told me once that everything would change when I found the right woman, and I didn't believe you at the time, but you were so right." I stepped closer and rested a hand on the rough top edge of the gravestone. "Sydney is so amazing. You would have loved her. She's my everything, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her."
I stared straight ahead across the cemetery. It was a beautiful September day, sunny and warm without a cloud in the sky. There was a light breeze hitting my face that was just cool enough to make me think about autumn approaching.
"I'm doing better now," I told him. "I haven't had a panic attack in over a month. I still have nightmares some nights, but Sydney is always there to calm me down afterwords. David has helped me a lot too. He's helped me wade through all my fucked-up bullshit and try to make sense of it all. I feel more like myself now then I have in a very long time, and it's time I gave Sydney all of me, the good and the bad." I reached back into my pocket and wrapped my hand around the box, taking comfort from it.
"I love you, Jordan." I took a deep ragged breath as my emotions overwhelmed me. "I miss you." I pulled a guitar pick out of the inside pocket of my suit jacket. I always brought one when I visited Jordan. I knelt down and placed it on the narrow bottom lip at the base of his gravestone. "For your next gig, big brother," I told him as I stood. A few tears flowed down my face as I looked at his name etched into the stone. The grief still hurt, but most days it was bearable now. I had a long way to go, and some days were still pretty bad, but I was getting there, and I'd be okay.
I turned and walked back across the cemetery toward my Camaro, where Sydney was waiting for me. I could see her leaning against the car, and as I approached she straightened and came toward me. She looked gorgeous today, wearing a long flowing white sun dress with cap sleeves and red roses embroidered across the low neck line. It cinched in at the waist, showing off her curves. She came to me and brought her hands up to rest her palms on the sides of my face.
"Are you okay?" she asked me with concern.
"I am now." I smiled through my tears and pulled her into my arms, burying my face into her soft, sweet-smelling hair. This simple act never failed to comfort me, no matter what I was going through. I pulled my head back and brushed my lips across hers. "Let's go, or we'll be late." Her smile was radiant as she nodded at me.
I opened the passenger door for her and watched her climb in, getting a tantalizing flash of bare leg in the process. I made sure her dress was all the way in before closing the car door, walked around to the driver's side, and got in with her. I started the car, the low rumble always satisfying, then grabbed her hand and kissed her palm briefly, before driving away.
I was doing okay, but the closer we got to our destination, the more nervous I got. Today was going to be such a big deal for us, and I didn't know how she would react to what was in the little box in my pocket. Part of me was afraid she'd feel overwhelmed and freak out. I didn't know what I'd do if she didn't accept it. When I finally parked the Camaro and turned off the engine, I was practically vibrating with tension.
"Jensen." She looked at me suspiciously. "What's wrong? Are you going to have a panic attack?"
"No," I answered immediately. "Just nervous."
"Nervous?" she asked with concern. "Why?"
"I have something for you," I said deciding it'd be easier if I just gave it to her now, before I lost my mind. "Promise me that you won't freak out when I give it to you."
"Alright," she said slowly as her eyes narrowed.
I pulled the box out of my pocket and held it out to her. She took it from me, a look of confusion on her face. I held my breath as she opened it, wondering if I had made a mistake. She stared down at the contents for a second, then gasped as she realized what it was.
"Is this what I think it is?" she asked as she looked at me with a shocked expression.
"Yeah," I answered quietly.
"You're giving me the Corvette?"
I nodded as I watched her pull the key out of the box and look at it.
"You gave me your dad's Corvette," she stated, like she was trying to convince herself this was real.
"Do you like it?" I asked in an unsure voice, still not sure if this had been a mistake.
"I love it," she said as a radiant smile lit up her face. "Thank you so much. I promise I'll be careful when I drive it."
"I know you will." I smiled with relief. "And maybe you'll let me drive it sometimes too?"
"Of course," she answered immediately, her eyes softening. She leaned toward me, and I kissed her for several long moments. I pulled back reluctantly then got out of the car and glanced up at the courthouse with a smile. I went around to open Sydney's door, and reached down to take her hand in mine.
"Come on, Sydney baby. Let's go get married."
**********
Almost two weeks ago, I blurted out a marriage proposal in a post-orgasmic haze, shocking both of us. Even more shocking to me, she had immediately accepted. I thought for sure she would have freaked out, considering we hadn't been together for four months yet. She had only one condition, she wanted to get married in two weeks. At first, I was shocked and thought maybe she was pregnant, which scared the living shit out of me. She had laughed at me and reassured me that she wasn't pregnant. She just figured what was the point of a long engagement when all she cared about was being my wife.
Sydney didn't want a big fancy wedding. Hell, she told me she didn't even need an engagement ring, but I had shot that down immediately. I'd be damned if she didn't get a fucking diamond on her finger, even if it was only for two weeks. The next day she picked out a ring, a beautiful marquise cut solitaire on a simple white gold band. To our surprise, the display ring fit her perfectly, so it didn't even need sized. Just another reason we were meant to be together, she had said.
So after a two-week engagement, we had a small intimate civil ceremony at the courthouse with only our immediate family and close friends. My mother sat smiling at the front of the courtroom next to Uncle Mathias with Annie and the kids. Adam sat just behind them with Lydia, while Lauren was standing to the right of the judge waiting for her sister with love and pride in her eyes. I stood calmly to the left with Andy smiling like an idiot next to me, waiting for Sydney and feeling no fear whatsoever. I'd never been so sure of anything in my life.
Even though we were gettin
g married in the courthouse, Sydney still wanted to walk down the aisle to me. What I didn't expect was her choice of music. Lydia hit play on the portable music player she had brought with her and my brows shot up when You Shook Me All Night Long by Muddy Waters started playing. It was the first song I had ever sung to Sydney, totally inappropriate for a wedding, and absolutely perfect.
I watched David walking Sydney down the short aisle from the back of the courtroom. She smiled and only had eyes for me as she walked toward me. Her hair was a mass of soft waves gathered up on her head, with perfectly curled tendrils framing her face. She was stunning. Instead of a bouquet, all Sydney carried was a single red rose that matched the embroidery on her white sun dress. It was simple and beautiful, exactly what we wanted this to be.
It seemed to take forever until David finally gave her to me, and stepped away to take a seat next to Lydia. I took her hands in mine and sighed with sheer relief, staring at the face I was going to spend the rest of my life looking at. She was so fucking beautiful, every inch of her, and she was about to be mine in every sense of the word.
The ceremony was quick; the kind-faced female judge who married us prompting us at the appropriate times for us to speak our parts. Our vows were traditional, but I meant every word as I said them to Sydney, and her eyes were brimming with emotion as she said them to me. We exchanged rings with shaking hands, and then all I could do was stare at her gorgeous face and wait for the final words that would make her my wife, the words that would make me the happiest man on earth.
"Therefore, it is now my pleasure to pronounce them husband and wife." The judge finally said with a huge smile. "You may now kiss your bride!"
I pulled her close, carefully wrapping my arms around her like the precious thing she was to me. "I love you," I whispered softly just before my lips found hers. Our kiss was long and sweet with a hint of the passion we'd share later when we were alone. She was breathless, her cheeks flushing that perfect shade of pink, as we broke apart to the sound of our friends and family applauding us.
"I love you, too," she breathed out as she looked up at me with a deep well of love in her vivid gray eyes. This was it for me. I never wanted another woman for the rest of my life. There was only Sydney, and I couldn't wait for our future to unfold for us. Good or bad, we could handle anything that came our way, as long as we had each other. After all, it was fate. We were meant to be together.
Read on...
Read on to enjoy an excerpt from the first book in the Breathless Trilogy featuring David Mazur in his own story, You Are My Air: Breathless Book 1. Buy it HERE on AMAZON.
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S.W.
David
"Who's fucking idea was this, anyway?" Jensen swore again loudly as he ran next to me, and yet again I had to fight the overwhelming urge to smile at him. He'd been at it now for seven or eight miles, unleashing a tirade of blistering profanity as we ran, his green eyes lit up in anger and a scowl on his face. At first, I thought he was angry at me for dragging him into this half marathon, but none of it was ever directed squarely at me. That was when I realized it was merely a coping mechanism and an amusing one at that.
Despite his ire, he was doing well. Better than I expected when I asked him to do this with me this last summer. He was keeping up with my pace easily, especially considering how much more muscle he was dragging with him then I was. Not that I wasn't muscular myself, but Jensen was just a bigger guy then me.
It still shocked me that we had become the close friends we were now. I'd only known him for four months or so. He had been dating my best friend Sydney when I had gotten back from my almost year-long trip to the Ukraine for Doctors Without Borders as a psych nurse. The first time we had met he had been civil, but the underlying current of animosity toward me had been intense. It didn't help that she hadn't even told him I existed until the day before I got home.
What I didn't know at the time was that Jensen had been lost in a nightmare inside his own head. He had lost his brother and father only a few months before I met him. He had developed PTSD from the trauma of watching his brother die in the car accident the two of them had been involved in. Then on top of that his father died from a heart attack two days later.
Now after surviving that, two heart-wrenching break ups with Sydney, and a suicide attempt that I had saved him from, he had come out the other side stronger and more sure of himself. He'd come a long way from the fragile broken man he had been, and I was proud to have helped him through it and to call him a friend. When he had married Sydney just a few weeks ago, I had been pleased and honored to walk her down the aisle. I knew that I was giving her away to a man who would take care of her and love her like she deserved.
"This hill can go to fucking hell!" he snarled as we started up a hill at the eight mile mark. I had to agree with him. This hill was deceptively worse than it looked. It wasn't that steep, but it went on forever and my legs were burning already. It was taking all my willpower just to keep going. I was trying to focus on the road ahead instead of on my protesting lower body, when I noticed her.
I could see the back of a tall slender woman in a red hoodie running up the hill ahead of me. I couldn't see her face, but her legs were long and toned in her black running pants, and absolutely gorgeous. Her ass was mesmerizing as she moved, and I couldn't stop staring at it. She had a long thick braid of light brown hair falling down her back, and I was struck by a sudden image of it wrapped around my fist as I pulled her head backward for a hard demanding kiss. I didn't even know what her face looked like, but I wanted her even so. Another image of those long beautiful legs wrapped around my waist filled my mind, and suddenly this god-forsaken hill was just an afterthought.
Then just after we had finally crested the hill, I watched it like a slow motion train wreck as some jerk shoved her out of his way when he ran past. She tripped over her friend's foot and tumbled to the ground. Without a thought, I rushed over to her. I leaned down and when I put my hand on her shoulder, I felt an almost electric shock surge through me.
"Are you alright?" I asked her, my voice sounding a lot calmer than the maelstrom of energy that was roiling inside me. She looked up at me, and the world stopped as the most beautiful, gorgeous green eyes I had ever seen stared back at me. I was struck speechless as I looked into them, because I wasn't merely looking at them anymore. It felt like I was literally looking into her, seeing an echo of my own loneliness reflected back to me. The concern I felt for her deepened as I felt her eyes pulling at my heart. It scared me to death.
"What a fucking dick," I heard Jensen blurt out next me, and my mind rushed back to the here and now as the girl pulled her eyes away from mine. I felt lost and set adrift for a moment as I came back to myself.
"You bastard!" a female voice yelled close by, and I glanced over at the girl who had been running with the green-eyed one. She was beautiful too, but I didn't feel anything for her like I had just experienced.
Movement caught my eye, and I looked back down to see the girl struggling to get up. I helped her and ended up standing in front of her with mere inches separating our bodies. She was tall, only three inches or so shorter than my six-one height, putting her lips perilously close to mine. I took in her oval face, from her flawlessly arching brows to those big beautiful eyes and down to the most perfect full lips. I wanted to run my fingertips across them to see if they were as soft as they looked. I took in a breath to calm myself down and was struck by how good she smelled, like pears or some kind of delicious fruit.
I took her by the shoulders and asked her if she was okay, trying to keep my hands from wandering where they shouldn't. It was a mistake. I heard her reply, but had no idea what she said as that electric surge from earlier hit me again. I took a step back and let my eyes trail down the rest of her body. She was tall and toned and perfect. I wanted to mold my body against hers. My mind conjured u
p erotic images of me pressing her up against a wall while I held her wrists behind her back and shoved my tongue into her mouth, claiming her, taking her. I felt my body start to shift toward her, wanting to taste her lips and feel them against mine.
"Natalie," her friend said, thankfully breaking this spell that had sucked me under, "are you hurt?" Natalie was pulled away from me by her friend, and I was left reeling and terrified by my reaction to this woman. I had told myself I wouldn't let this happen another time, that I would never let a woman get to me and rip my heart out again. I took my opportunity and fled as she turned away from me to face her friend.
I turned to find Jensen staring at me with narrowed eyes and a wry smile, but I ignored him. "Let's go," I mumbled uncomfortably as I took off back into the throng of runners, heedless of whether he followed or not. I don't know what had come over me, but I wasn't going to take the chance of getting close to any woman in a way that was more than physical. The risk was too high, the payoff nonexistent. So I did the only thing I could do. I ran like I always did, both physically and emotionally, hoping the loneliness I was cursed with wouldn't eventually destroy my soul, though part of me feared it already had.
Jensen caught up with me a few moments later, with an annoyed look on his face. "What the fuck was that about?" I wasn't sure if he was referencing what just happened with the girl or me ditching him so abruptly. Either way, I didn't want to talk about it.
"I have no idea," I told him as I looked straight ahead again. The answering silence was deafening, and after a few moments, I risked a glance his way. He was staring at me with pursed lips and a pensive expression.
"Do you know that girl?" he finally asked me.
"Nope," I answered flippantly. One of his brows rose at my succinct reply.
Let Me Heal You: Beautifully Broken Book 3 Page 27