Chapter 8

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Elise stirred from a dreamless sleep

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Elise stirred from a dreamless sleep. She bolted upright, fearing it may have all been just a dream. A sigh whooshes out of her lungs when she sees Matthew lying next to her. He had his hand protectively swathed around her like a blanket.

She longed to touch his face but thought better of it. She climbs out of bed and drapes on her robe. She stared out of her window to the streets they had walked in as a family on Sunday masses. She had good memories even from when she was just little. She hadn't known some moments could be the last then. Now she realizes she regrets not hugging her father more, not telling him she loves her more often and not spending enough time even without conversation.

Elise hears the bed creaked, but that hadn't swerve her from her thoughts. Until Matthew comes up from behind her, his broad chest on her back.

"I'm sorry you have to come all the way home on such short notice," she murmurs.

"Why are you saying sorry?" He asks, his voice raspy from sleep.

"Because you don't have to."

Matthew urges her to face him. "All I know is I love you and I couldn't be away knowing that you're hurting. You're everything. I'll renounce whatever else for you."

Elise felt a tug on her heart. Tears brimmed her eyes, this time, not entirely of grief. She was relieved that she had him.

His thumb hovered over her cheek. "Your dad is an honorable man."

She nods, allowing her head to droop against his shoulder.

"He's worth every damn tear," he whispers. "There's nowhere else in the world I should rightfully be but here."

Elise looks up.

Matthew reached a hand up to her face and gently pushes his fingers into her hair, his palm warm against her cheek.

They stared wordlessly.

In her dimly lit room, she could see clearer through his blue eyes. She sees the truth in them, sees the will to stop his life all together just to be a part of hers. And she never will love another as much as she loves him.

Elise rolled to the tips of her toes and kisses him with aching need and vulnerability. Her hands slipped between them, seeking his skin underneath his shirt. Her fingers moved over to the buttons of her blouse, frantic now.

His hands cover hers, stopping her fingers from unbuttoning her dress. He traces a kiss up to the tip of her nose. "I can't."

She holds his gaze and tried to forage answers.

Reading the question in her eyes, he swallowed. "I don't want you waking up regretfully next to me tomorrow morning."

"The only regrets I'll be having is not loving you enough when I had the chance." She fisted her palms on the front of his shirt, scraping his bottom lip with her teeth until he granted her another kiss.

"Elise," he whispers, his blue eyes searching her face.

Their gazes sparred for the briefest moment, but it has said enough. Matthew dips his head and pressed his lips on the delicate skin below her jaw. His hands that were tentative on his either sides had moved to her waist. He lifted her off the floor, her legs locked behind his hips.

He gives another pause, only to glance up to her eyes.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed her thighs together. "I love you, Matthew," she murmurs, and shivered when he responded to the encouragement.

Matthew laid her gently to the bed and traced kisses down her neck and back up to her face. His fingers tangled with her hair against the sheets. "I love you, Elise."

That one night Matthew kissed her for the first time, she's given him a piece of her heart. And he had been earning other pieces since then. Her whole heart is rightfully his the same way his whole heart is rightfully hers.

Tonight, Elise is giving her not just a piece of herself but, all of her.

Each and of every part of her. 

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