Alive with Me

Chapter 19

Nate

I still can't believe that this wonderful woman sleeping in my arms loves me.

I looked down at her sleeping face and smiled. She looked so peaceful.

"I swear in going to melt if you don't stop staring," Lia joked.

I chuckled. "You are supposed to be asleep."

She opened her eyes. "How can I? I'm so happy, I feel like I'm going to burst."

"I feel the same way, Sunshine. I still can't believe you love me," I said.

"I can't believe you love me!" She countered.

"How can I not? You're everything I never knew I wanted and needed in my life."

"I don't want to die anymore, Nate," she said, her voice cracking.

I frowned at her words.

"You've given me a reason to live. For the first time in my life, I don't wake up thinking about what happened to me," she said. "I don't go to bed, seeing his face."

I pushed her back away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"I go to sleep thinking of you. Thinking of how wonderful the day has been, and I look forward to waking up in the morning because I know you'd be there."

Tears stung my eyes at her words.

"I used to hate mornings Nate. I go to sleep never wanting to wake up," she said through her tears. "But now... I live for every morning. You're my reason for being, Nate and I love you so much. I love you with all that I am," she said softly, as she tried to fight back her tears.

I kissed her tenderly, pouring all my love in that kiss. "I love you, Sunshine. I look at you and my heart pounds, when for as long as I can remember, I don't think it beat at all. You make the world right for me. You take away the emptiness. Being without you is unimaginable. I don't want to live without you ever again."

I wiped the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "I know what life is like without you, and life without you isn't a life at all."

"Oh Nate..." She sobbed.

I kissed her tears away and made love to her all through the night.

I kissed the top of her head and settled back down on my pillow.

I closed my eyes with a smile on my face.

***

"You've got to harden your fist. Make it strong," I told Lia, as I showed another technique to land a powerful punch.

"Like this?" She asked as her mouth twitched.

I shook my head, as I clenched my jaw to stop myself from laughing. She has been giving me a hard time this morning. Every time I would tell her to do something, she would do the exact opposite.

"No?" She asked. "So is it like this then?" She asked chuckling.

"Babe, this is serious," I tried to sound stern, but damn this girl for being too damn adorable.

She shrugged.

"Emelia..."

"What?" She asked innocently.