Always There

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chapter Fifty-Three:

Bryce's POV

"Good morning, birthday boy."

I open my eyes to find Blossom sitting on my abdomen, her palms laying flat on my chest.

She's grinning at me with that adorable smile of hers, her head cocked slightly to the side and her bottom lip between her teeth.

I raise myself up onto my elbows so that I'm closer to Blossom's eye level. "Happy Valentine's Day."

She gives me a strange look. "Happy birthday," she says in tone that makes it seem that she cares a lot more about my birthday than she cares about Valentine's Day.

I stick my tongue out at her. "Happy one year anniversary."

At that, she freezes.

"Wow. That's crazy. One whole year," Blossom whispers incredulously.

I nod at her. "The most incredible year of my life, all because of you, Blossom. You are my everything, and you have helped me more than you'll ever know. I will never be able to repay you for that."

Blossom's eyes fill up with tears. "You've helped me too, Bryce. I was in such an incredibly dark place before you came along, but you helped me be okay again. You're my everything too, Bryce."

I then wrap my arms around her waist and tug her down so that she's laying atop me, her chest pressed against mine. My fingers find the hair at the nape of her neck and I gently guide her mouth to mine, drawing her in for a sweet yet searing kiss.

She holds my face in her dainty hands and I hold her incredibly tight to me, refusing to ever let go. We kiss and kiss and kiss until I'm fairly certain that my lips are going to go numb soon, but even as this thought dawns on me, I continue to kiss Blossom with all that I have.

Somehow, we end up rolling over in bed. Blossom is now on her back, her legs hooked around my waist as I keep her pinned there. She tugs my bottom lip between my teeth, which elicits a groan from the back of my throat and makes me press her harder into the the mattress.

"I love you, Lexi Brooks. So much," I whisper against her mouth.

"I love you too, Bryce Bradshaw. So much," she whispers in response.

🌸🌸🌸

Lexi's POV

"What are you wearing tonight, Lexi? It's your first Valentine's Day as a taken woman," Kennedy asks from where she's sitting down the couch from me.

Her, Knox, and Nathan all came over to hang out for a little bit after school as Bryce isn't going to be home until later, giving him and I just enough time to make our dinner reservation at six o'clock.

Catching up at school has been hard. It's been stressful, and whenever I get home from school at the end of the day, I'm so overwhelmed that I often just have to crawl into bed and cry for a little while.

I can tell that it breaks Bryce's heart to have to see me like this; a complete and total wreck. He's been very supportive, though, and he sits on the couch with me every night as I review my notes. I think it says a lot about how much he cares about me that he would rather help me catch up with school than get his own school work done early.

When we finally go to bed at night, we usually end up passing out as soon as our heads hit the pillows. This means that we haven't had sex since my accident, and therefore, sexual tension has been crackling between us for far too long.