The next morning, I wake up to the bright sun above Niagara Falls filtering into the room. I guess we forgot to shut the blinds before falling asleep. I get up to use the bathroom when strong arms tug me back.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” Brady sleepily says, resting his arms around my stomach.

“Good morning, handsome,” I mimic back. Oh, how different it feels to have someone there for you in the morning.

“I was going to go get us some coffee and breakfast, but I didn’t want you to wake up alone.”

He stayed in bed this whole time for me.

It’s confirmed. Brady isn’t still carving his way into my heart; he holds the whole thing in his hands.

“Thank you,” I say genuinely.

“No need, baby. I’m your boyfriend. Your needs come first,” he tells me.

I thought my feelings couldn’t get any stronger for this “white knight with an edge,” as Brady referred to himself.

“Now, let’s take a shower.” He winks. “Then, we’ll go sightseeing. I’m taking you on that boat ride under the falls. After that, maybe we’ll play at the casino…” He lists what he has planned for our day.

“Sounds great. Let’s just start with the shower.” I’m more than ready to take it easy today and just enjoy being with Brady, especially now that we have made it past my biggest hurdle.

“I’ll go warm the water.” He pushes the sheet off himself.

A wide smile crosses my face as I watch his naked ass walk into the bathroom.

I throw the sheet off me and check my phone for any messages. I don’t know why I’d have any.

Maybe Jessa, I think to make myself feel better.

As I walk across the room, I pick up our clothes from last night. I place them on the chair, and Brady’s cell phone falls out of his pants onto the floor. I contemplate for all of two seconds if I should go through it, but I shake my head. I can trust Brady. I will not diminish what we have by snooping. Just as I set it on the table, a text message flashes across the screen from someone named Maura.

I freeze, not knowing what I should do, but I decide just to place the phone on the table. I walk into the bathroom, and Brady is happily humming some song I’ve never heard while he brushes his teeth. As I walk by the mirror, I cringe at a glimpse of my naked body. I hurriedly go over to grab the robe from last night and tightly secure it around me. Him seeing me at night by the moonlight is one thing, but during the day in fluorescent lighting is another.

Brady frowns. “Hey, why so shy?” He laughs and pulls on the belt around my waist. He undoes the knot, and the robe falls open. He lets the toothbrush rest in his mouth. His hands grab either side of my stomach to draw me near. Keeping one hand around my waist, he turns around and spits out the toothpaste in order to get rid of the toothbrush.

“I’m going to shower,” I say. “You had a text message come through,” I admit.

His face goes blank. “Oh,” he says.

I can tell by his voice that he’s wondering if I read it.

“Let’s get you washed.” He spins me around, taking the robe off my shoulders. He opens the shower door and leads me in.

I’m taken aback when he follows.

“Brady…I can wash myself,” I tell him.

“Remember my promise, Sadie?” he questions.

I nod.

“We would shower together in the morning and be stuck like glue the whole day,” he reminds me of his promise from that morning after Halloween.

“Okay. Well then, I’ve been dying to get my hands through that hair. Bend down a little,” I instruct him.

I place a dollop of shampoo in my palm and rub my hands back and forth to produce lather. My fingers scrub his wavy dark hair into suds of white, and then the warm water rinses it away.

“Now, my turn,” he says.

I happily allow him to do the same.

“Man, you have a lot of hair,” he comments.

“I know. I can do it,” I admit, moving my hands up to my scalp.

“Um…no.” He places my hands down to rest on his thighs, and I try not to move. His length is pressed up against me.

After my hair is finally rinsed, I twist around to face Brady. I lather up his body, appreciating every inch of his muscled self. He, in turn, washes mine, concentrating on some parts more than others. Just as we are about to finish, I drop the soap, and it falls to the shower floor.

“Uh-oh. You dropped the soap,” Brady jokes.

I start to laugh, bending over to pick it up. When I get up, Brady’s hands are on my hips, and his erection is pressed up behind me.

“Sadie, you’re so beautiful. Remember that always. Don’t ever think you are anything less than exceptional. In my eyes, you’re everything,” he whispers in my ear.

I can do nothing else but fall back into his arms.

“Now, I know why you’re such a talented musician. You know how to write lyrics.” I giggle.

“You’re my inspiration,” he admits, his hands grazing my breasts and tweaking each nipple, while his mouth descends on my neck. “I love your neck,” he says, nibbling it.

I can’t control myself any longer, so I turn around to face him and crash into his lips. He pushes me up against the shower wall. I wrap my leg around his hip, and he enters me in one fluid motion, making me gasp for air.

“Fuck, Sadie…I don’t think I’ll ever have enough of you.” His breathing is rapid as he drives into me harder and harder.

“You feel so good, Brady.” I grip his neck, trying to meet his every thrust.

“Don’t come, baby. Wait for me, okay?” he requests.

Knowing this is his second time saying this, it must be important to him.

“Yes!” I scream as I dig my nails into his back.

“Shit, babe, I’m going to lose it soon. Show me how bad you want me,” he pants.

I pull my body closer to him, wrapping my arms fully around his neck, so my breasts are practically in his face. He starts picking me up and down off of him, each time going deeper inside me.

“I can’t…hold…it, please,” I plead to Brady.

“Let go, baby…let go,” Brady says softly as he comes inside me.

He rests my body against the shower wall, trying to catch his breath.

After my body calms and I come back to reality, I slowly release my legs, and Brady steps back to grab a towel from the rack, holding it open for me.

“Thanks.” I’m desperate to get covered up, even after his nice words about me. I briefly wonder if I’ll ever be comfortable with being naked in front of him.

He comes up behind me, staring at our reflection in the mirror. “I’m a lucky guy.”

He smiles, and I sink into his chest, believing his words.

I stay in the bathroom to do my hair and makeup while Brady leaves to get dressed.

The text message comes back to my mind, but I quickly disregard it. If this is ever going to work, I need to trust him. He has given me no reason not to. There are secrets in his past, but I’ll have to give him time, like he gave me.

---

By the time we get to the Maid of the Mist ride, my feet are killing me. Brady has had us traipsing all around town to see every nook and cranny of Niagara Falls. It’s a beautiful city though, and I’m happy to experience it with him.

We go up to buy our tickets, and Brady looks at me, disappointed.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re not wearing white,” he deadpans.

“I’m sorry.” I look around at the other patrons and see that everyone is in an array of colors. “Am I missing something?” I ask.

“I was just hoping for a little tease.” He laughs and stares down at my breasts before meeting my eyes again.

“Brady,” I say, slapping him on the shoulder. “I believe you just had your hands on them not six hours ago.”

“You should be happy. You have marvelous tits,” he whispers in my ear, pulling me into him and kissing my cheek.

“I’m happy, deliriously happy, Brady Carsen,” I admit.

This is the first time in my whole life when everything seems right, except for Theo not being here. But, for some reason, I can still feel him with me.

“Me, too.” He winks and walks up to buy our tickets.

---

That night, I’m able to convince Brady to pick up some sandwiches and junk food and stay in. We sit at the small table and eat the dinner that, somehow, I still was unable to purchase. I thought I had it. My money was concealed in my hand. Since I ordered before him, I was first to the cash register. Just as I was ready to pass it to the cashier, Brady came up and held his card out. The girl cashier was so enamored with him that she took his card while staring at him the whole time, never even realizing I was there.

“Nice try, baby,” he whispered to me.

“One of these days, Brady, I will buy you a meal,” I joked.

The girl finally looked my way.

Now, she notices me.

The falls look amazing all lit up at night. Brady relaxes back into his chair, looking totally at ease. His phone hasn’t gone off all day, and I suddenly wonder if he ever answered that text message.

“What are you thinking about?” he asks me.

“Nothing,” I lie.

He raises an eyebrow but lets it go.

“Do you want to play strip poker?” he casually questions. He tilts back on two legs of the chair, gulping down his water.

“Um…no,” I respond.

“Why not?” he asks.

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Who has twenty questions now?”

“Payback,” he teases, holding his arms out for me.

I stand up and walk over to him. He places me on his lap so that my legs hang over his.

“You have an amazing body, Sadie. Please don’t hide it from me.”

“Brady…it’s hard. I’m not one of those girls.” I stare into my lap, unable to look into his eyes.

He places his index finger and thumb around my chin and brings my face up to him. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re talking about, but, to me, Sadie, you’re perfection,” he says.

A tear slips down my face.

“Why are you crying?”

“Because…I love you.” I gasp and cover my mouth, shocked that I let it slip.

“Finally.” Brady laughs. “I’ve wanted to say it for weeks, but I didn’t want to scare you.” He places his hands on either side of my face and stares into my emerald eyes. “I…love…you…Sadie…Miller,” he says, pausing after every word. Then, he kisses me deeply.

Later that night, we’re making love, and Brady is exploring my body. I have come to realize that he loves to slowly relish every inch. I’m not complaining. I thoroughly enjoy it as well.

When he gets to my outer thigh, I tense. There are small, light lines of stretch marks from when I lost weight. Although they are barely visible, I know they’re there, and I hate it that Brady might see them. He doesn’t skip a beat and kisses that area multiple times before coming back up to me. When he kisses me, he says nothing about them, as though they don’t exist. I’m in awe of him again. Where did this man come from?

We are naked, wrapped up in a blanket and stretched out on the chaise lounge in front of the windows, while fireworks go off above the falls. Out of all the moments this weekend, this is by far the most romantic. Brady nuzzles his head close to my ear, and I hear his small oohs and aahs when the bursts of colored flames light up the sky.

I know now that I’m completely his.

The room is dark when I open my eyes, the lights above the falls long gone. I notice first that I’m alone on the chaise. Where is Brady? I see the bathroom light is on, so I get up to move over to the bed when I hear him talking.

“Maura, I told you, I’m out of town. You’ll have to do it this time. I’m sorry,” he says, his voice angry but compassionate at the same time. “I deal with it all the time.” His voice starts to sound drained. “I know you have obligations.”

“Okay…I’ll try to call someone, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Kara? No, I’m not calling her. She’s had some kind of stalker thing going on with me recently.”

“Yeah, I’m with her.”

“She’s asleep.”

“Listen, Maura, I’ll figure it out, but I can’t keep doing this. I’ll stop by when I get home tomorrow.”

I fumble back to the chaise and pretend to be asleep, but Brady doesn’t come back out yet. I hear his muffled voice talking to someone else.

All I can catch is, “Thank you,” and, “I owe you one.”

He turns off the light in the bathroom before he opens the door. I close my eyes and try to slow my heartbeat.

Brady picks me up off the chaise and places me on the bed before curling up behind me. “God…I hope you love me half as much as I love you. You’ll have to in order to deal with this bullshit,” he whispers before I eventually feel his body relax into mine.