Tightrope

Chapter 19

Previously:

"I..." she paused, and he nodded in encouragement. "I've never been with anyone else. Just you."

He smiled and kissed her nose. "Thank you, love. Thank you so much for telling me. I know I don't deserve it, but you've made me so happy."

***

Can eased slowly out of Sanem's body. She furrowed her brow and whimpered, tightening her arms and legs around him even as he tried to roll off of her. He groaned, the sensation of her walls pulsing around him when he was still so sensitive making his breath catch. He kissed her forehead before he tucked himself back into his pants and zipped himself up and moved Sanem's underwear back into place. He pulled down her dress and kissed her lips tenderly, rolling over onto his back and pulling her with him.

She snuggled up against him and pressed her nose into his chest, inhaling him. "Can, do you know you still smell the same? Whenever I smell you, I'm taken back to our childhood."

He smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head. "Do I?"

She nodded against his chest. "Yes. We all have our own unique scent, and yours has been branded in my mind."

Can buried his nose in her hair and breathed her in. "You're right. You still smell the same, too," he said. "And it's not your shampoo or your perfume; it's just you."

Sanem snuggled in closer, winding her leg around his like a vine, and he tightened his arms around her and rubbed his cheek against her hair.

"Sanem? Are you okay? Do you forgive me?"

"Yes, Can. There's nothing to forgive. Feelings are irrational sometimes. We were apart, and we had no way of knowing if we'd ever see each other again. Of course it's natural for...that to happen."

"Your feelings are still valid. How you feel is the most important thing to me, hayatım. I never want you to discount the way you feel because you think you're being irrational. Promise you will always talk to me."

She turned her face up into his neck and pressed her lips against his pulse. "I promise, Can." She pushed herself up on her elbow so she could look at him. "You know, there is no other man in the world like you. You know me better than anyone, even still," she said, moving her hand so it lay over his heart. "You make me feel..." she shook her head, unable to find the words. "You make me feel so loved, so appreciated, so valued, so safe. You've always been this way, since you were a child, and I'm so glad you're still this way as a man. It's very rare, you know."

"You made me into the person that I am, Sanem. My heart knows how to love because you taught it how." She looked at him like she was trying to figure out how he was real, and she leaned down to kiss him. "Do you remember the day we met?" he asked her, cupping her cheek.

She nodded, her smile lighting up her whole face. "I remember everything about it."

"I was always lonely before you came. I was shy, and it was hard for me to make friends. That's why my father brought me out with him to meet you when you arrived. He wanted me to have a playmate. When I heard two girls were coming, I was so disappointed." He laughed and pinched her cheek. "But I didn't count on one of them being you. You kissed me that day, do you remember?"

She nodded, and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "I remember. You gave me chocolate and asked me to play soccer. That deserved a kiss," she said, smiling down at him.

"It touched me, your kiss. I never thought people could be so open and loving, but you were, right from the beginning. I fell in love with you right then and there," he said, his eyes soft. "And when we rolled down the hill and you held my hand as we laughed together, my soul became yours. At six years old, I knew that you were my person."