Just Give In by Jenika Snow

leave Lena, not ever. She was it for him.
    Lena
was the woman he’d die for, kill for. She was the reason he breathed, and he’d
make sure they got through this, because if he couldn’t comfort and be there
for the woman he loved, then what was he good for?

Chapter
Twelve
     
    Two years later
    Lena
was in her second year at college, doing well with her grades, and trying not
to get distracted at the fact every time she came home it was to see Rory
waiting for her. Even that thought had her smiling. After all the shit they
went through, him going to Colorado, and then coming back after she lost the
baby, they’d gotten closer, their relationship even more engrained, stronger.
Lena didn’t know if she’d believed in soul mates or if she hadn’t, but that
changed when she’d gotten with Rory. And when things had gotten hard over these
last few years, things just clicked for her that this man was the only person
she’d ever love. He was it for her, Lena’s world, her other half, and not
having him in her life was too unbearable to even think about.
    She
grabbed the shopping bags out of the back of her car, shut the door with her
foot, and headed up the slightly cracked driveway of the home she lived in with
Rory. The house they rented was only twenty minutes from the university, and
less than that from the garage Rory managed. He might have left Colorado only
months into the project, losing the chance to have a secured job with that
company, but he’d left for her, and she would have done the same for him.
    And
here they were now, two years later, living together, loving each other even
more with each passing day, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. At first it
had been hard for him to find good work when they’d moved in together, but they’d
made it work, and then he’d gotten a good job, one that had provided for both
of them. True to his word, he worked and she focused on school. They were a
team, and always would be.
    Of
course they had their differences, fought even, but at the end of the day they
still loved each other, were there for each other, and wasn’t that what really
mattered?
    She
juggled the keys and the two plastic bags of groceries as she tried to unlock
the front door. Cursing loud enough she was sure the neighbors, a young couple
expecting their first baby, heard, she finally managed to open the door and
push it open with her foot.
    When
she stepped inside she saw Rory coming out of the spare bedroom in nothing but
a pair of running shoes, track shorts, and headphones in his ears. His upper
body was covered in sweat, glistening, and his muscles stood out in powerful,
sharp contrast.
    He
was busy messing with his phone, and she took that moment to stare at him, to
really look at him after his workout. His chest glistened with sweat, and the
few tattoos he had flexed and relaxed as he moved his body closer to her, his
focus still on his phone. This sigh left her on its own at the power he
displayed, and the strength that made her feel all feminine.
    She
thought she’d known everything there was to know about Rory being with him for
three years, but since living with him she’d realized there had been so much
that she’d been blind to. He hated coffee, preferred water over soda, and he
liked sour treats, often forgoing chocolate when she brought it home. He also
left the toilet seat up constantly, didn’t like to put his clothes in the
hamper, and instead usually tossed them right beside it on the floor.
    She
smiled at the annoying things he did, things she only found out about because
they were living together, but they were things she’d grown to love about him.
After the miscarriage she’d become closer to her parents, her mother
especially. Even now she remembered the way her mother had held her as the
doctor told her she’d lost her baby. Her parents hadn’t been upset about her
being pregnant, and maybe it was because she had lost her unborn child, or
maybe she’d never given