Dig

by L.A. Ferro

He is all man, with a perfectly chiseled jaw, broad, muscular shoulders that stretch the fabric of his cotton shirt, and hands that any woman would love wrapped around her throat. I’m not even into being choked but fuck if I wouldn’t let him try.

Resting my forehead against hers, I say, “I don't think you're ready for your last first kiss, pretty girl.”

“Pretty girl, you taste like forever.”

“I know this because I’m just as fucking scared. I feel it, Aria. It’s all or nothing with us, baby, and I can feel you falling. Let me catch you.”

I’m not the one that broke you. I’m not someone you need to fear. I’m just a man who wants to be a part of your world.”

“Because I needed you to miss me so that when I came back, that pretty heart would know it's mine.”

“I wouldn’t be saying it out of obligation. I would be saying it because it’s the only word that fits how I’ve felt about you since the first night we met. I’ve never been in love, Holden, but I can’t imagine it’s not this. You’re all I think about. You’re the last thought I have before I fall asleep and the first one I have when I wake, along with every other thought after that, but it fucking terrifies me.”

“You want it to hurt, baby. I can give you pain. I’ll give you all the pain I’ve lived with every day since you walked out of my life.”

“Look around, Aria. This entire fucking house is a shrine to you. This is the spot where we had our first date, the first time I ever held you in my arms, the spot where I kissed you for the first time and told you that you were mine. When I pulled you into the water that night, you told me you didn’t like water you couldn’t see in. This dock is so that you could be on the water and not in it. It’s always been you, pretty girl. It will only ever be you.”