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“I just want to—”
Halo turned on me, his eyes flashing as that fire from Monday night came to a head and he said between gritted teeth, “Not now, Viper.”
But this time when he turned his back on me, Halo excused himself from Lori and went to leave. He got about two steps away, and before I knew what the hell I was doing, I said, “Well, then you let me know when you’re ready, so I can tell you how much I fucking love you.”
Halo came to an abrupt standstill, his entire body freezing in place, along with every other person in the near vicinity, and then he slowly circled back to face me. His eyes were wide, disbelief stamped all over his face, as his mouth opened and shut as though he were trying to speak but nothing would come out.
I didn’t think it was possible to be standing in such a crowded room and have it fall silent, but the only sound I could hear was the music playing overhead mixing with the rush of blood in my ears. Everyone had stopped talking, because everyone was staring at the two of us, but the only person I could see was standing too far away from me.
I took the two steps needed to close the distance between us, and when I finally reached Halo, he blinked and shook his head.
“Wha…what are you doing?” he finally said, and for the first time in four of the longest days of my life, I reached out, took that exquisite face of his between my hands, and smoothed my thumb over his lower lip.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and never had two words felt so right to say. “I’m so fucking sorry for everything I said to you. Everything I did. None of it was true, Angel. You were right. I was scared. I am scared, because what I feel for you is more powerful than anything I’ve ever felt in my life. And the idea that I’ve lost you, that I’ve pushed you away—”
Halo reached up and gently touched his fingertips to my lips, halting my words, and all the pain and hurt that I’d seen earlier in his eyes melted away. “You wanna be with me?”
A heavy exhale left me. “You have no fucking idea how much.”
Halo’s eyes, those beautiful, luminous eyes of his, all but glowed as his lips curved into that charming smile I loved. “Then I’m ready.”
It took me a second to realize what he was referring to, and then, without any hesitation at all, I said, “I love you, Angel. I love you more than I ever thought possible. And this week without you has been the most miserable fucking week of my life.”
Halo slid his fingers through my hair, the grin on his lips growing impossibly wider as he rested his other hand over my thumping heart. “I love you too.”
“You do?” I said as I reached for him, wrapping my arms around his waist.
“Of course I do. I’m a romantic, you cynical, jaded asshole. But if you ever pull this shit on me again—”
“I won’t.”
Halo chuckled as he wrapped both his arms around my neck and said against my mouth, “Good. Because every single person at this party is recording us right now. So I have proof of all of this.”
“Wait, there are other people in this room?”
“Mhmm. For someone who didn’t want to take this public, you aren’t doing a real good job of keeping this a secret.”
No, I wasn’t. Was I? “That’s your fault.”
“How do you figure?”
“Because it’s been too fucking long since I’ve kissed this mouth, and I’ll be damned if I wait another minute.”
As I leaned in to finally get my lips on the man smiling at me, the one who had consumed me from the moment I laid eyes on him, Halo curled his fingers in my hair, drawing me toward him. We met each other halfway, as equals, finally on the same damn page, and once his mouth met mine, I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I was home. It may have taken me dragging us through hell to get there, but as I tightened my arms around Halo’s waist and his mouth opened to me, I knew that now I had the angel right where I wanted him, there was no way I was ever letting go.
