I want the strings. I want the ball and fucking chain. I want to be so tied to you that you can’t ever slip away from me again.

Taking her tiny hand into both of mine, I lift it to my chest, placing it right over my racing heart. “You feel that?” I rasp, swallowing hard. Her head bobs. “That’s yours. It’s always been. So, the next time you try to convince yourself that you know what’s best for me, I want you to remember what you feel when we’re together.” I touch the pads of my first two fingers to her neck, feeling her pulse flutter against my skin. “I feel it, too.

For the first time since I was stupid enough to let you go, there is nothing but fear standing in our way. Be brave with me, Spence.

This doesn’t mean anything,” Haley whispers as she reaches up and pulls at the Velcro of my glove.
“Yes, it does.” I bring my arms to my sides and the instant the gloves fall to the floor, my hands latch on to that beautiful body. “Tell me, Haley. Please tell me it does because this means something to me.

Watching her talk to someone else made me crazy. I was jealous. Ridiculous. I wanted her to know me; I wanted her to talk to me. And I felt it then: this strange, inexplicable sense that she might be the only person in the world I could really care about.

And when I kiss you, I swear I can taste the next sixty years of my life on your lips.