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Dare closed the distance between us, each step slow and calculated, each step creating a frenzy inside me. When he reached me, he slid an arm around my waist and cradled my face with his hand in a move so natural and without hesitation I wanted to cry.
“I love you in a way that shouldn’t be possible,” he breathed, his knowing eyes searching my own. “Tell me you lied.”
I blinked quickly, trying to understand his urgent plea. “What?”
“Tell me you lied. Tell me there’s still a spark or an ember, and I’ll find a way to keep it alive until the day I die.”
“You got my note.”
“Lily,” he said on a groan, dropping his forehead against mine.
My breath caught at the sound of my name on his lips. It was a moment I hadn’t realized I’d spent years longing for—needing. And in that instant, I felt the peace and comfort I’d been searching for.
Dare was my home. He was where I would always belong.
I tentatively reached up to press my mouth to his, my soul rejoicing in having this connection with him again when I was so sure I never would.
“I was wrong,” I whispered against the kiss. “If you’re here we still have everything.”
“You’re done lying, and you’re done disappearing,” he said, his voice nothing more than a rumble. “I’ll follow you across the world but no more chasing. I want you to be mine.”
A rush of air tumbled from my lips when I searched his eyes. Worry and unrestrained need swirled in their depths. “Can’t you see I’ve been yours?”
“Then give me your days and nights. Give me your forever.”
“They’re yours if you’ll wait for me to light up the after.”
Our next kiss was all-consuming.
Match lit.
Fire burning beyond control.
I was lost.
In him. In this kiss. In us.
And I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to be found.
Six Months Later
r /> “What’s this?” I asked, a smile tugging at my lips when Dare casually slipped a piece of paper into my hand from where he was relaxing between my legs.
His dark eyes flashed to mine, humor and love dancing in them before he fixed his adoring stare on the small bump growing between my hips. His fingers gently traced over my bare stomach, the touch so light I might not have noticed if I hadn’t been watching him.
“Open it,” he murmured.
Tearing my eyes from him, I opened the folded paper, my smile widening when I read it.
“Hmm . . . truth.”
“Boy or girl,” he said immediately. “What do you want the baby to be?”
I didn’t have to think long. I’d been going back and forth ever since we’d found out, and I had come to the same conclusion every time. “I don’t care. As long as the life we both grew up in never touches the baby, I don’t care.”
When he looked at me again, his expression was grave. “It won’t,” he promised.
I knew Dare would do everything to make sure of that.
