15. This Is Mine #3
“I thought I knew what love was, from watching my parents and getting married young. This love feels different,” he continued.
“It’s something we didn’t force. Something that grew because we showed up to each other honestly each day.
Even when I couldn’t have you, you were still there.
You’re always on my mind and I find myself considering you in every move I make. ”
His thumb traced slowly along the back of her hand.
“I don’t just want to protect you. I want to laugh with you. Travel with you. Experience life with you.”
Aniyah blinked quickly, tears gathering in her eyes.
“I thought I was the poet,” she said softly. “You have a way with words, Mr. Porter.”
Trevor grinned.
“You’d be surprised what love can turn a man into.”
She laughed through the tears. “You remember Anthony in Bridgerton, the show I made you binge watch with me? He always said he was a man of little words until Kathani came around, then he was vomiting his feelings to her every chance he got”
Trevor chuckled, shaking his head.
“Now look at me,” he said. “Fell in love and turned into a poetic ass nigga. ”
Aniyah burst out laughing.
“I’m serious,” he added, smiling at her.
She wiped at the corner of her eye, still smiling.
“I can see that. And let me just say, I never intended on leaving. Yes, that day at my condo where you snapped brought me back to reality. But it did so in a way that I knew if I didn’t back off, if we didn’t take a break, this would end before it could truly be beautiful.
” Aniyah looked down at her lap nervously and then back up at him.
“I love you too,” she said with quiet confidence. Trevor felt his world go aglow with her admission. There was no way he was letting this woman go.
Trevor barely made it through the door before Aniyah’s laugh met his mouth.
It started as a kiss meant to be gentle, something soft to mark the end of the evening, but the second she reached for the front of his jacket and pulled him closer, the careful distance they had carried for the last three months disappeared between them like it had been waiting to.
Trevor backed her toward the couch, his hands sliding along her waist as he kissed her again, slower this time, taking his time like he’d promised himself he would if he ever got this moment back. The warmth of her body against his felt familiar in a way that made something in his chest loosen.
He missed her so much.
Aniyah’s fingers slipped into the curls at the back of his neck, her voice quiet against his mouth. “You still thinking too much?”
Trevor huffed a small laugh against her lips. “Trying not to. I know we had a prequel before we went to dinner, but I may die if I don’t get inside of you soon.”
“Good thing I want you there just as bad as you want to be there,” she murmured, tugging him closer.
The rest of the night unfolded slowly after that, like something neither of them felt the need to rush anymore.
They moved through the condo together in that easy rhythm they’d always seemed to find with each other, laughter slipping between kisses, touches lingering longer than they had any right to.
When they finally reached the bedroom, Trevor felt the last of the tension he’d been carrying dissolve somewhere beneath the quiet of the room.
They made love without a care in the world, slow motions cementing the confessions of love that hung between them. This was everything he hoped for and more.
Later after two more rounds, the world outside the condo faded into nothing more than the soft hum of traffic in the distance and the steady rhythm of Aniyah’s breathing beside him.
Trevor lay on his back with her tucked against his side, one arm draped across her shoulders while his thumb traced slow circles along her bare arm beneath the sheet. The lamplight cast a warm glow across the room, catching the edges of her curls where they spilled across his chest.
He looked down at her, a quiet smile tugging at his mouth.
“I don’t know if you needed the reminder since we’ve been apart for a minute,” he murmured, his voice rough from sleep and laughter, “or maybe you forgot because I saw how Mr. Nelson was looking at you the other day at pick up time…”
Aniyah lifted her head slightly, her chin resting against his chest as she studied him.
Trevor brushed his lips across her forehead.
“But once I was in this motherfucker,” he said softly, hand moving down to rub her soaked slit, “it’s mine. ”
She blinked up at him trying to decide to pounce on him again or let him get his joke off.
“We go together real bad.”
Aniyah burst into laughter, pressing her face into his chest as her shoulders shook. “Don’t nobody want Wesley’s ass. Boy, you are ridiculous.”
“Mm,” he hummed, tightening his arm around her. “You love it.”
She lifted her head again just long enough to kiss him, slow and lingering, before settling back into the space beneath his chin.
“I do,” she said quietly. “I love you too, baby.”
Trevor kissed the top of her head, letting the moment settle around them.
“On a serious note, I can’t end the night without asking. Aniyah, my Roxanne. Would you do the honor of being my girlfriend?”
“I’d thought you’d never ask, Max. Yes, I’ll be your girl.” Aniyah let out a yelp as Trevor pulled her on top of him and planted kisses all over her face. They calmed down soon after and just held each other.
For a while neither of them spoke. The quiet felt easy now, the kind that came from knowing there was nothing left to prove.
After a moment Aniyah shifted slightly, reaching toward the small notebook sitting on the nightstand beside the bed. Trevor watched her flip it open, her brow furrowing in that familiar way she got when words started forming in her head.
“You writing right now? You not tired yet?” he asked, amused.
She shrugged lightly, already scribbling across the page. “Inspiration doesn’t keep office hours.”
Trevor chuckled under his breath and let his hand drift slowly along her back while she wrote.
After a moment she turned the notebook toward him.
“What I’m Not,” she said softly .
Trevor read the lines quietly.
I am not the silence
left behind by broken love.
I am the quiet
that comes after healing.
And you…
you are the man
who learned how to stay.
Trevor swallowed slowly, the words settling somewhere deep in his chest.
He looked at her again, his thumb brushing lightly along her cheek.
“Damn,” he murmured.
Aniyah smiled softly. “Good damn or bad damn?”
“Good damn,” Trevor said, pulling her closer. “Really good damn.”
She laughed quietly and closed the notebook before setting it back on the nightstand. When she curled back into his side, Trevor tightened his arm around her without thinking, like his body had already decided this was where she belonged.
Maybe it had.
Somewhere in the quiet of the room, Trevor felt the last of the noise he’d been carrying for months finally settle.
The work waiting for him back in the city would still be there in the morning.
The premiere coming up soon. The world’s response to it.
The stories he’d fought so hard to protect and amplify.
But tonight he slept beside the woman he loved.