Sometimes the beauty of her smile blinded him. Looking at her, all aggressive swagger and attitude, you’d never know that underneath lived a warmth that rivaled the sun. Not many people in her life had taken the time to learn her secrets, to understand her wants and needs. He pitied them. To never know such love as hers was unthinkable to him. Unimaginable. He wondered if they had any idea of what they had missed out on. Such vitality, such all encompassing joy.

Sometimes when he looked at her he wondered what she saw in him. What it was about him that had allowed her to let her guard down and feel safe for once. Other times he looked into her eyes and saw the man he’d always hoped to become, and realized that she made it possible. That she allowed him to be that way because in her eyes he was that man. And then he felt like the luckiest guy in the world.

Sometimes she turned to him in the night and made him believe in things he wasn’t even sure existed. Made him feel things he’d never known. When she cried out his name in a voice filled with awe and wonder, she brought him to the edge and beyond and made him glad he’d taken the trip. She was his sunlight, his light in the darkness, and every night she made him feel alive again.