Restore Me

by J.L. Seegars

Sloane is…well, Sloane. She never actually wants me around. And that would be fine if, despite my best efforts and the promise I made to myself years ago, I didn’t spend all of my time craving her infuriating presence.

The one that’s hidden the shattered man who watched his best friend fall in love and build a life with the woman who already owned his fucking soul.

“Quiet, angel.” He whispers against my lips. “Do you want everyone to know what’s happening in here right now?”

“You’re so God damn beautiful, Sloane. Better than anything I could have ever dreamed.”

Moonlight filters through the blinds, turning her face into a luminescent silhouette. So damn beautiful it makes my heart hurt.

“Keep your eyes on the door, love. We wouldn’t want anyone to see how badly you want me.”

Every molecule of my body bleeding slowly into his with the kind of precision that makes it all feel inevitable. Like an invisible needle and thread is running between us, stitching us together with something much deeper than stolen moments, hidden desire, and a shared goal neither of us

Sloane Kent is going to be my undoing.

“Black like your eyes when you look at me like…well like you’re looking at me right now.” Like I love you so much I can’t fucking breathe? Like I might rip the world apart with my bare hands if my plan doesn’t work and you walk away from me when this is over?

God, I forgot how devastating it can be to stare into the eyes of the man you love. Because that’s exactly what this is. Love. Can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t breathe without you, love. Your smile lights up my world, and your arms feel like home, love. I could stand here all day and watch you do the most mundane task without ever getting bored, love.

Dom was the one holding the needle that stitched my heart back together. And he’d done it quietly, carefully, and at great cost to himself because he knew there was no hope in finding the piece of my heart I’d lost four years ago when Eric died, so he gave me pieces of his instead. Using them to put mine back together again, to make me whole. To restore me.

Because wanting you is the only thing that’s gotten me through living without you.

you and I can’t live without you. That I want your messy hair, your bare feet, your

anger and heartache, your smiles and cuddles, your kisses and your moans. I want everything, including the honor of calling you my wife. Can I have that, angel?”