Page 660 of End Game

Now I understand what he means.

Not yet doesn't mean we aren't capable of getting there.

It means we know enough now not to confuse imagination with readiness.

When we started, Shibari was something Ronan and I talked about because it sounded interesting. Then it became rope wrapped around a stuffed dragon in the basement and both of us checking the same knot three times because neither trusted himself enough not to.

Tonight, we moved Cami together without needing to explain every choice.

We caught each other's mistakes.

Used each other's strengths.

And when I asked about something harder, neither of us assumed wanting it meant we were ready to do it.

I tuck the rope into the bag and look across the room at Cami laughing with Alexis.

We're still learning.

The difference is, now I know enough to see how far there is left to go.

And that doesn't make me impatient.

It makes me want to keep going.

Chapter forty-nine

Roll for Commitment

Micah

There is a stuffed bear wearing a red shirt sitting on the kitchen counter, and I have been staring at it for approximately three minutes.

The bear itself isn't particularly interesting. What makes it useful is that Dex is upstairs attempting to turn himself into Tigger, Cami has somehow convinced Griffin that Christopher Robin is a legitimate adult Halloween costume, Ronan is wearing a brown sweater vest and has already been informed by four separate people that being assigned Owl was less a costume choice than an acknowledgment of fact, and… there is a ring in my pocket.

The bear is considerably easier to think about than any of those things.

“You're going to wear a hole through the floor.”

I glance toward Ronan. He's standing near the sink with a mug of tea, already wearing the glasses Cami bought specifically because she says they're more “aggressively Owl” than his normal pair.

“I'm standing still.”

“You've shifted your weight fourteen times.”

“Did you count?”

“No.”

I stare at him.

His mouth moves slightly. “Not intentionally.”

“That's worse.”

He takes another drink of tea while I look back at the bear.

Two months ago, Griffin and Cami celebrated their first anniversary.