Hard Love

Ours was a hard love. We'd fallen hard into it, and we'd fought hard to keep it. Our kind of love didn't ask nicely. It took. It ravaged. It consumed the heart whole and asked questions later. The rewards were soul-deep and all-consuming, sweeping through like a wildfire.

I found myself falling in love with him all over again. I fell in love with the broken parts and the parts that had healed and changed for the better.

And I’m going to make you fall in love with me all over again. Every morning and every night. In every city and at the edge of every ocean. I’ll remind you why you’re mine and why I’ve always been yours.

The last thing I want to do is find my way back to myself when I've already found the best part of myself in her.

Our bodies, our love, and the fierce way we came together made sense when the rest of the world failed us.

Ours was a hard love. We’d fallen hard into it, and we’d fought hard to keep it. Our kind of love didn’t ask nicely. It took. It ravaged. It consumed the heart whole and asked questions later. The rewards were soul-deep and all-consuming, sweeping through like a wildfire.

We were all too human then, the vast ocean surrounding us and the tiny island we inhabited. We were two small beating hearts in this world, yet what we sought now seemed enormous. What we wanted and what could be created between us, a spark of life, so small and fragile, was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. My heart beat heavily in my chest with the weight of what we were trying for.

The center of my world is our love, Blake. Every joy...everything beautiful in my life I have is because of our love." He closed his eyes, drawing me closer until our foreheads touched. He slowly lifted his, capturing me in a deep, soulful gaze. "You'll always have it.

New heat hit my veins, and the world became a place that I could live in again. She was with me. Safe, mine. But never the same.

It's like someone carved your body out of my dreams.

I trust you to give me exactly what I need. You know my heart and my body better than anyone else. That's what makes you my husband and not some wild beast.

This is who he is. I don't like it any better than any of you do, but frankly he can't help that it's so easy for him to do these things. It's a talent--an unethical one, maybe. But it's who he is. It's why none of us will ever want for anything. You can't vilify him for that.

him. I sped home, calling her phone repeatedly only to hear her voicemail time after time. I barreled through the front door, half expecting to find Erica there. But the house was quiet and dark. I went to the kitchen, explored every room on