The Plus One (A Brush With Love, #3)

by Mazey Eddings

“This is the best gift I’ve ever gotten,”

it’s so us. It’s so perfect.”

“I love it, you wonderfully clueless man,”

Nothing would ever compare to the way he adored her, cherished her, in these moments.

“Dira, I want to tell the world I’m with you. It’s the way I want to introduce myself to everyone I meet.”

he never wanted to let go of the happiness in this moment.

“You always seemed to have a knack for keeping him grounded.”

surge of overwhelming tenderness for this woman. For her steady perseverance.

just breathing around her made his chest ache and his throat burn. And it scared the shit out of him.

Even when I didn’t like you, I loved you.

You’ve always been my person, Jude. My annoying, wonderful person. And I think I’m your person too.”

He couldn’t possibly listen to something so kind and pure and sweet and survive it.

“I know you’re hurting. You’re in pain. I want to help you. I want to be here for you.”

“I’m really fucking broken,”

“I’m not looking to fix you,” she said, staring straight into his eyes. “I’m here to love you.”

“Everyone always talks about skin-to-skin contact in the context of babies and parents, but adults need it too,”

“This makes me feel so … calm. Safe.”

Your space was invaded, it doesn’t feel like yours anymore. And

You feel paralyzed, because you had to watch your space get destroyed and it hurts and it’s overwhelming and you start to shut down.”

You might not even let me in the front door until you can decide if I’m safe and you trust me.

I’ll wait outside as long as you need.

decide I want to help you get it...

I ask you to let me help.

You’ll never have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you also don’t have to keep it inside either. Let it eat away at you for fear that I’ll judge you. I could never do that.”

deciding to trust that. To trust her.

“Take as much time as you need,” Indira said. “I’m not going anywhere.” “Promise?” “Promise.”

You can hurt and also be loved.

You can feel sadness and also laugh and feel joy.

Good emotions can coexist wit...

You can struggle and suffer and learn to heal whi...

The best place to start is by giving yourself permission to feel with aba...

His conscience was heavy, so fucking heavy, but speaking about it slowly unraveled the knot. It felt like for the first time in a long time, he could start to breathe again.

It just felt so good, like his whole body was humming on a new frequency.

“Why are we laughing?”

sometimes,” she whispered against the crown of his head, giving him a soft kiss, “the body needs to laugh instead of cry.”

She held a magnifying glass up to the most hidden parts of his soul and still smiled, happy to simply know him.

She looked back—his safe soul. His happy place. His tether.

“Thank you for being you,”

“I’m on my way back.”

“It’s okay to sit with the feelings that don’t feel good,”

“It means your body is digesting them,

“Fathers make an effort. Fathers care about their kids. Their feelings.

Indira didn’t need him. She didn’t need her dad’s approval or his presence or even his love.

Indira was worthy of love just as she was. And she needed to start loving herself too, let go of the things that hurt her.

Every broken vow. Every time you left your children wondering why they weren’t good enough for your love. And I am going to heal.

am going to surround myself with people that love me. Cherish me. Know I’m enough. But

“I don’t really know,”

“We were kind of helping each other deal with stuff and…”

“Are you happy?” Indira nodded. “Yeah. I really am.” “That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”

“When you look at him … there’s just sort of, I don’t know, a spark in you. You look at him like he’s the most special person in the world, and he looks back at you with the exact same expression. It’s … uh … I’m happy for you.”