Want You to Stay || Chenford / The Rookie

Part 35

Tim smirks as he sweeps her up into his arms and carries her into his bedroom. He lays her on the bed and hooks his fingers into the waistband of her sweatpants, eyes meeting hers before they begin to follow the movement of his hands as he tugs the pants slowly down over the curve of her hips. His throat goes dry as his fingers brush over the smooth skin of her thighs, momentarily pressing his eyes closed as he imagines how it will feel to finally be between them again. He flicks his gaze back up to Lucy's face and notices that she's flushed with anticipation, watching him as he admires every single bit of skin he's slowly exposing. She sighs when he closes his hands around her shapely calves, skimming down her legs before brushing his thumb over the inside of her ankle in a way that makes her shiver as he finishes the journey.

He tosses the pants off to the side of the bed, his pupils blown wide as he takes a step back to fully take her in.

"You are so fucking beautiful," he repeats, shaking his head in sheer disbelief at how far they've come, at how viscerally he wants this, and above all how much he loves this woman who has seen him through his very worst moments with such unrelenting kindness and compassion and faith.

He doesn't deserve her. Nobody does.

Tim's eyes soften as he gazes down at her.

Lucy laughs as she crawls to the edge of the bed until she is standing on her knees in front of him, the borrowed T-shirt just barely skimming the bottom of her ass. She slips her arms around Tim's neck and presses a kiss to his cheek. "Why are you looking at me like that? What are you thinking?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing — I just — I'm thinking about how incredible you are," he drops his gaze, looking uncharacteristically uncertain before lifting his eyes to hers, "and how much I love you."

And Lucy can see it, the fear in his eyes as he forces himself to meet her gaze. Can see how difficult it is for him to put himself out there like this after having his love thrown back at him in the cruelest of ways for so much of his life. Her eyes fill at the idea of this beautiful, amazing man being so completely and utterly unable to see how worthy of love he is. And she almost aches at the fact that she wasn't the one to say it first, because she would do absolutely anything to make him believe that truth.

"Lucy —" Tim starts, sounding almost apologetic as he moves to brush away a tear that has trickled down her cheek.

She shakes her head, shifting her fingers to his lips to stop him. "I love you, too," she says simply, moving her hand to his cheek. She can feel more heat building behind her eyes, "So much, Tim."

Their eyes meet and there's so much vulnerability, so much care for her reflected in his gaze, that her breath catches in her throat. She's seen it in glimpses and small moments, of course — how deeply he cares about her — but seeing it now, unfiltered and unguarded, it's almost too much.

She loves this man way too much to even begin to process how it could have possibly taken her so long to see it, how deeply ingrained her feelings for him are. Not the fluttery sparks of excitement in your belly that come when you think you might be falling in love, but a deep-seated warmth that has spread through her entire body and is threatening to burst out as if it is reaching for him, longing for him from the very core of her being.

And even as she is questioning why she isn't saying more so that he can understand the depth of her feelings for him, Lucy sees it in his eyes. He already knows, the way he just knows her, the way he can read everything she is feeling with just a single glance.

Tim tips his forehead down to meet hers briefly before shifting to press his lips against her forehead. Lucy hugs him as tightly as humanly possible, clinging to him as she tries to get hold of her emotions and process that this is finally hers, that she can actually have the man that somehow managed to become the center of her whole world without her even realizing it.