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Sing hard, I covered her hands that were locked around me under my navel

Neither of us spoke There was no need for words right then We had both lost vital parts of our fa

The water continued to stream over me, and after a few minutes, Quinn picked up an to wash ers ing

Despite all the pain ht then,evenQuinn with a need that became a physical pain

She grippedher exactly as going on withinto her bottoers to the tip

“Last time … it hurt,” she murmured

“I’m sorry, baby I didn’t mean for you to feel pain” I tipped her head up with in, and I didn’t knohat to do with that”

Her eyes widened “I was your first …” A small smile tilted up at the corners of her mouth “I like that I could be your first for at least one thing”

I bentto scare her off I hadto the beat of ht then, I wasn’t about to break it “Sweetheart, you are in My first love But what you should be thinking about is that you are my last … and my only” Confusion filled those baby blues “My last lover My last love And the only woman to ever own my heart”

“Raider,” she breathed my name “I …”

“I love you, Quinn” I kissed her again “That’s not going to stop … ever”

Her exhale brushed across my lips “I love you, too”

Everything in me went completely still, as if everyher off and changing her mind “What did you say?”

“I love you,” she repeated, and while those words didn’t completely ease the ache in my soul, it fed it with the love I had been scared I had killed in her “I have always loved you, even before I knehat that word meant I love you more than I love myself”

I gripped the back of her neck, tangling ers in her wet hair as the shower continued to pour over us “It’s the saht it was possible to love anyone That’s why it took so long foremotions, don’t want them to rule me, but with you, it’s different I just needed a little extra time to realize that”