Before Athena entered my life, I was doing fine.
I’d left the SEALs and started exploring feasible options for me to apply my specific skills set in a job that I’d like.
My future looked good and everything was fine.
Now as I laid here in bed with her head on my left shoulder, after spending half of the night making love to her, I no longer felt fine.
I felt...happy.
Satisfied.
Content.
Infused with a type of energy that I’d never experienced before.
I’d never really tried to philosophize love and all that shit. I always thought that if I was in love, I’d know it.
And I had.
Before Athena, I’d loved another woman.
I couldn’t compare the two because it would not be fair to Caterina and back then, I was at a different stage in my life.
Athena’s love didn’t come with conditions.
She just loved me…
I felt it in the way she gave herself to me, as if she surrendered everything without making it feel like a sacrifice.
I saw it in the way she looked at me, especially when she gave me that secret smile where her lips turned slightly up on one side and a grin threatened to burst, it’s as if she can’t take her eyes off of me.
It used to annoy me that Denton was always stuck by her side in the beginning. But now it didn’t bother me because the way Athena looked at Denton was nowhere near in comparison to the way her eyes burned with heat whenever she looked at me.
She stirred in her sleep and tucked her head under my chin, needing more of my warmth so I gently pulled her head closer to me.
I love you, sonnenschein.
Kissing the top of her head, I scented the coconut and mango shampoo that she used. She wasn’t stuck to one brand, she loved to try different types of hair products; hence why my bathroom now looked like a store for fragrance and bath and body products.
I liked seeing her stuff in my place. The colorful hair clips and pins that she used, the weird-looking brushes that she tried, and the many little knick knacks that even I couldn’t tell you what they were for.
I pulled her body tighter, closer to my naked one. She still liked to wear her cotton pajamas to bed and though I’d rather feel her skin instead of fabric, I broke no objections because it was comfortable for her.
I never thought that I’d fall in love with someone like her.
After Caterina’s scorn and Ryder’s death, I’d barricaded my heart from experiencing another heartbreak.
It took me forever to act on my attraction to the woman who was slightly snoring beside me.
She was younger than me.
She was my detail.
She deserved so much more…than me.
But Athena had taught me that age didn’t mean jack when it came to attraction.
And me being her bodyguard didn’t stand a chance when my feelings for her started overfilling the barrel of heartache and sorrow that I’d imprisoned myself in.
Her love for me helped chip away the years of regret that I’d forcibly submerged myself in.
Her love for me had started me on a path of forgiving myself about what had happened to my son, that maybe, just maybe, I did everything that I could and what happened was meant to happen and that no matter how much I blamed myself, there was nothing I could do.
It’s a slow process and I didn’t know how long it would take, and maybe I never would, but I had to believe that I would reach a level of acceptance with Ryder’s fate.
“Webb…” Her lips opened up to whisper my name.
I rubbed a finger on her lower lip and said, “I’m here, babe.”
“Mmmkay.” A satisfied hum escaped her and in a few seconds, her breathing became even again and she would be lost in deep sleep.
I turned my head to check the time on my side table.
1:49 AM
With Athena’s even breaths and warm body by my side, I felt myself being lulled to sleep.
When I was a SEAL, I functioned at a high level with three hours of sleep. I’d gone on missions where sleeping for that amount of time was a luxury. Being in the cold deserts was never conducive to one’s REM, but my body got used to it.
Nowadays, I got away with six hours of sleep. Anything more than that, my body felt sluggish.
My woman, on the other hand, loved to sleep in. She was cranky when she had less than seven.
I settled my head on my pillow, and let my mind relax.
I started thinking about what to make Athena for breakfast. She still had a couple of days off before her college life started again.
Maybe I’ll make her a bauernfruhstuck tomorrow.
Yeah, that was easy enough.
I loved feeding her.
My cock stirred. Yeah, I loved feeding her with that too.
Breakfast, Webb. Breakfast.
I couldn’t wake her up now for a 1AM quickie because she’d just gone to sleep an hour and a half earlier since we spent the whole evening watching Thor, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, and she’d drifted off when The Avengers was playing.
She’d wanted her fix of that blonde guy, Chris Hemsworth. I couldn’t even get jealous of the dude because he was really good-looking and built. And from what Athena said, he was married with a bunch of kids. And it wasn’t as if Athena would ever get a hall pass to sleep with other men. I sure wasn’t handing it out, whether he was a fictional character or not.
I started feeling the tension on my shoulders at the thought of Athena sleeping with other men so I reached for her arms and started caressing her soft skin.
No, babe, you’d never get a Hall Pass from me.
No, I won’t ever want a Hall Pass from you.
And yes, tomorrow, I’m making you a breakfast skillet.
I pressed a soft kiss on her lips and closed my eyes, letting my mind wander to the curve of Athena’s lips…
The soft gentle sloping of her face.
The bewitching beauty of her hazel eyes.
My pulse started to slow down and I felt the pull of slumber slowly, slowly enticing me.
I whispered, “Goodnight sonnenschein.”
And I let sleep take over me.
“Do you need more sunscreen, babe?” I asked Athena as she stretched on the portable beach lounger beside me.
She lifted her sunglasses from her face and shook her head, “No, I think I’m good for the next five years.”
I gave her ass that was barely-covered in a mint green bikini a slap.
Sassy woman.
“Are you complaining?” I lowered my Oakley’s so she could see my expression.
“No, but I think you’re making the girls,” her head swiveled to the side, “over there uncomfortable…”
I eyed the three women that she was referring to. They were cute and all in their barely-there swimsuits, but they didn’t hold a candle to the alluring woman laid out in front of me.
“Who the fuck cares?” I snickered, I couldn’t help it if my touches have lingered way more than what was allowed in public and if I’d applied sunscreen on all the exposed parts that her one-piece didn’t cover. I didn’t want her getting sunburnt.
Yeah, yeah. Keep telling that to yourself.
She giggled and said, “Webb, if you keep lathering that sunscreen on me like that, I’d have to go back in the car.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want to go exploring inside my swimsuit,” she replied and flexed her head.
“I do babe.” I replied, shrugging my shoulders, “I always do.”
“You just had me. Three times. This morning.”
Her reasoning always amused me. As if I could just contain my attraction to her and keep it off after every time we made love or fucked or had sex.
“So? It doesn’t mean shit babe. I’m hard as a rock right now because you’re close to me and even though this sunscreen is sticky, I’d apply it a hundred times so your delicate skin doesn’t get toasted from the sun.”
A long sigh lifted from her pink lips, “Thank you, handsome. Thanks for protecting my skin and for making me feel beautiful and sexy all the time.”
I lowered my head to her ears and whispered. “You are, babe. You are so fucking sexy that if it wasn’t for my promise that I’d take you to the beach today, I’d gladly take you back to my place and give you a solid fucking so you won’t ever doubt that.”
Her breath hitched and I knew I was turning her on. It didn’t take much with Athena. I could her give a look or say a dirty word and she’d be rearing to go.
“Tonight handsome.” I knew she was conceding because she wanted to be out today and she’d said that she missed the fresh ocean breeze.
I gave her ass a light smack and sat up to adjust myself in my trunks. “Aight, I’ll leave you to your music and I’ll be back in another fifteen to reapply your sunscreen.”
A warm smile spread over her face. “You going for a run?”
“Yeah.” I nodded my head and stood up to warm my legs, feeling the sand on my feet. “Liam’s close by.”
“Isn’t he always?”
“Yup, he is,” I said, shielding my eyes with my sunglasses. For eighty-degree weather, the breeze was cool, but the sun’s rays were already out in full force.
“Mmmhhhmmm…” She hummed before placing the earbuds back in her ears. In two minutes, I knew she’d be falling asleep which was why I had to be vigilant in keeping her skin protected from the harmful UV rays. That, and I just wanted to feel her skin between my hands.
“I’m not taking any chances with your safety, beautiful,” I said, mostly to myself. I looked around and Liam was right there, ten feet away, talking to a woman whose bathing suit was smaller than dental floss. He was chatting with her, but I knew his eyes were on us.
He wasn’t going to take any chances with my girl’s safety either.
Not after everything that had happened to her.
No, there would never be a repeat of that.
As long as I was breathing, Athena was going to be safe.
And it didn’t matter if I was standing on solid ground or not, as long as my lungs were inflating and deflating on their own accord, I would fight to hell and back for her.
Because right here, lounging on the foldable plastic chair, was the woman who breathed life back into me.
And I would do, give, sacrifice-
Every.
Single.
Thing.
That I had.
For her.