“I might have to,” I say, sneaking glances at Aidyn. He’s staring at his almost-empty plate. “Someone canceled my hotel room.”
“Someone did,” Aidyn says as he jumps to his feet and starts clearing the table.
Lanie throws out ideas of what we can do today, and I nod in agreement, but my mind is on Aidyn, who still hasn’t returned. I grab my plate and more of the empty plates on the table and head to the kitchen.
Aidyn is at the corner bench, looking out the window.
“I’m sorry. I should have asked?—”
But talking becomes impossible because Aidyn is kissing me and then pulling away. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how this is going to work, Garrett.”
“We don’t have to figure it out right now. There’s no rush. No expiration date. I’m here whenever you’re ready.”
He shakes his head. “That’s not fair to you.”
“I’m happier than I’ve been in a while. And leaving will suck. But there’s video calls and messaging. Just…if you decide this isn’t what you want, let me know. It will hurt less than you ignoring me.”
“That won’t happen.” He holds my face so I can’t turn away. “I can’t say the words. I need to be sure, and there’s Lanie—but my feelings are strong. I’m in this. However that looks.”
“I— Does it bother you when I say the words? Because I can stop.”
His eyes hold a vulnerability that kills me. “Please don’t.”
I give him another quick kiss, aware that we could be interrupted at any time. “Good. Because I fucking love you, Aidyn Christy. So damn much.”
He nods, his eyes watery, but he grins, and I can’t help grinning in response. His smile fades. “With Lanie here, we can’t?—”
“Lanie is staying the night with Isaac and me,” Jane says, barging in.
“What? No. It’s your honeymoon.” I back away from Aidyn, but there’s a gleam in her eye.
She points to her very pregnant belly. “One night of hot sex a week is all I can take.”
“Ew. Stop.” Aidyn glares at her.
I clear my throat. “Does Isaac know—about us?”
“No,” she says with a laugh. “That boy is not good at keeping secrets.”
We rejoin the group before anyone can wonder what’s going on. The day stretches out before me…being with Aidyn and Lanie. Getting to have Aidyn in my arms again tonight. Sure, tomorrow will be difficult. Maybe more so because now I know what I’m missing. But it’s a sweet, tolerable torture. Even if he can’t say the words yet. Even if he can’t tell anyone yet, Aidyn Christy is mine.
And I know in my heart that Emily is happy for us.
EPILOGUE
AIDYN
(Almost) Two Years Later
“Touch that cake and you die.”
Zye stops spinning and glares at me. “You’re the only one here who’s ruined a cake.”
Heat flashes through me. That ruined cake sparked this thing with Garrett. It’s been almost two years, and that first kiss between us still sets me on fire. I squash all those thoughts and the feelings that inevitably come with them.
“You’re a walking time bomb. You already knocked over two glasses of water.”
“I would have cleaned it up, but no… ‘No one touches me mop, Zye!’” he says, doing a terrible impression of me as he waves his arms around and barely misses the balloons on the kitchen counter. “Why are you so grumpy?”
