All Rhodes Lead Here

For a man who hadn’t used the L-word very often in the past, he wasn’t stingy with it any longer. I heard it every morning and every night. I heard him say it to Azalia in quiet little whispers. He said it to Amos on the phone. My favorite lately was when he mouthed it against my stomach.

They wanted me back.
They wanted me close.
And for me, that was more than something. It was everything.

That finger of his swept over my eyebrow again. “I’ll follow you home,” he told me in a grave voice.
Home. There was that word again.

“Merry Christmas, Aurora,” he whispered tenderly.
“Merry Christmas, Tobers,” I repeated, and in some small part of my heart, I hoped this would be the first of many. “You’re the best, you know that?”
I felt the curve of his mouth, felt the smile he made against my skin.
It really was the best Christmas I’d ever had.

He wasn’t my ex. This man wouldn’t lead me on or use me. He liked having me around, because he liked me.
And he just made me happy. His subtle smiles. His touches. Even his bossy britches voice. It all meant the world to me.

He hadn’t been shy about touching my shoulders or my wrist. Sometimes he’d touch my fingers, and I’d swear it was better than anything I did to myself at night in bed.

“I’m good!” I yelled back. “Are you?”
“Scarred for life watching you grab Dad’s butt like that, but I’ll get over it. Thanks for wondering!” he hollered sarcastically before shaking his head and closing the door.

“Are you all right?” he murmured, kneading my hip with his big hand, still staring at me like if he looked away I would suddenly disappear.

The hand on my head stroked down, pulling me in so close, I felt like if he could have put me inside of him, he would have.

That entire beefy, hunky body trembled lightly, I faintly noticed. “No more hiking by yourself,” he whispered roughly, so hoarse it scared me. “No more.”