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DAY 140
Part Two
STEVE'S POV
The last three weeks made Steve want to kick the shit out of himself.
He had felt more emotions and seen more sides to Honey Daniels in the last three weeks that he had been missing out on this entire time. Four months of pushing her away just like everyone else, treating her in a way that was below less than what she deserved. If he had known such copious amounts of happiness could stem from just being around her like this - he would've given in the second he had met her.
The pressure in his chest that he felt as he stared down at her sleeping figure was a sensation that he had been trying to make sense of for a while now. It was difficult to explain something that he was certain he had never felt before - but Steve knew that he liked the way his body would respond towards her.
Honey was still in her black and white bikini, nestled down in the comforter of the bed as she stirred softly in her slumber. Her dark waves were pulled back into a loose braid, some of the baby hairs clinging to her rosy cheeks as her lips parted drowsily. Her skin was freshly kissed by the sun, sand still clinging to certain places, complimenting her white, painted fingernails, thick eyebrows, and dark hair.
She was gorgeous.
As he watched her peacefully nap, that pressure in his chest would build. It would give him urges to hold her, kiss her face, run his fingers through her hair - but he didn't want to wake her.
This intense, burning flame inside of him had never been lit before. Not with Peggy, who he was certain that he had loved, not even close. Not even with Amelia, who he had cared for deeply enough to allow his best friend to find happiness with her in the place of himself. In the moment, Steve had contemplated love, if the feelings he had for those women were him falling in love.
But they weren't.
This was.
It had to be.
What else could make him feel such an extreme longing for someone else? It felt bigger than him, than her, than the entire universe combined. Steve could physically feel the tugging towards her whenever he was in her presence, he felt it now, the natural, instinctual urge to wrap her up in his arms and allow her to sleep against his chest. To be as close to this yearning in his chest that she could possibly get, perhaps she could even feel it emanating from him.
Honey Daniels was his sun - warm, bright, and good for the soul. The whole meaning of his existence felt as though it revolved around her, like the Earth revolved around the sun, like he was meant to live and breath for her.
With her, he felt purpose again.
For the longest time, all of the puzzle pieces of his life had felt like a means to an end - but they were all pieces to a beginning.
Slowly, Steve crawled into the bed next to her, careful not to wake her as he laid beside of her - facing her as he rested his head on the pillow alongside hers. His blue eyes examined her slightly sun-burnt cheeks, her full lips that were smushed against the back of her hand that rested underneath her head, her salty, braided hair.
Fuck, he adored this girl.
"I think that I love you."
His words were quiet, leaving his lips before he could form a second thought.
What he hadn't expected was for her brown eyes to blink open slowly, her thick lashes batting together sleepily as she stared across the pillows at him. The possibility that she had heard what had just left his mouth made his heart thump heavily against his chest, he could hear it in his ears, hell - she could probably hear it from where she was laying.
The seconds ticked by as they gazed at each other, time feeling as though it was moving in slow motion as his anxiety kicked into hyper-drive.
But it disappeared the moment her lips curved upwards into a gentle smile, her cheeks pushing her eyes into a content squint as she reached her petite arms out - her fingers opening and closing a few times as she motioned for him to scoot closer.
Hesitantly, he inched towards her, the warmth washing through his chest as her arms enveloped around his neck. Her lips pecked at his cheeks, peppering across his nose, his forehead, his lips, before burrowing her face into the crook of his neck where his heart thumped erratically against the skin. His hands found her waist, tenderly pulling her even closer as they silently embraced.
For a moment, Steve still wasn't quite sure if she had heard him or if she was just happy to see him there as she awoke from her slumber.
And then her lips captured his, as softly as ever, maneuvering gingerly as her fingers entangled in his hair. He could still taste the salty air on her full lips as their tongues danced together, followed by the sweetness of her mouth as they explored each other's gently. She pressed herself against him, spreading the warmth of her body to his, as she kissed him with an urgency that screamed I love you, too.
He felt like putty in her hands as she caressed him with her fingertips, her palms holding the sides of his bearded face as she pulled away temporarily to observe him, before diving back in with another wide smile.
He loved feeling her smile against his lips.
He loved that for the first time since meeting her, she didn't go off on some endless, nervous ramble - like he had fully expected her to. She said all she needed to say through the way she kissed him, held him, touched him. In this moment, he didn't need words to know exactly the way she felt about him.
She always touched him with this amount of sweetness, adoration.
And that's when he realized that she had been silently trying to tell him all along that she loved him, too.
