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She set her champagne down next to mine without a second of hesitation and slid her hand into mine.

I led her onto the floor and pulled her close, my palm settling on the small of her back. Her hand came to my shoulder, our other hands linked between us, and she moved closer so our bodies were touching. Sam fit against me like she’d always belonged there, and the longing that I held so close to my chest felt like it was starting to overpower my resolve to be patient.

She tilted her face up, her eyes gazing into mine like she was searching for something. If she told me what it was, I’d give it to her.

Her gaze grew serious and her brows furrowed slightly. “I’m not as strong as I look, Harry.” Her voice was a cracked whisper like she was finally revealing the thing that had held her back for so long.

I stared down into her blue eyes so she’d know I was telling the truth when I spoke. “Yes, you are.”

She shook her head, jaw tight. “No. I’m not. I’ve been faking it for so long that everyone just believes it, and I—” Her voice splintered. She pressed her lips together, steadied herself. “No one has ever meant anything to me. None of the guys I’ve dated or hooked up with. Not a single one. I picked them because I knew I’d never let them get close enough to matter.”

I already knew that, but she’d never admitted it—not to me and maybe not even fully to herself.

“But you…” She nibbled her lip, her gaze unguarded but also a little scared. “You’ve always been different. You’ve always meant something to me. You always seemed to see right to the heart of me even if I didn’t want you to. I could never fully hide from you like I could from everyone else. You’ve become my best friend, Harry, and that scares me. I see the way you look at me. Hell, I even crave it a little bit because you know me and you still look at me like you are right now. Like I’m the air you need to breathe and that’s a heady feeling, but it’s also terrifying because I already love you and if we cross the friends line, you could break what’s left of my heart, and as loathe as I am to admit it, my heart is pretty fragile these days.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

She sucked in a breath, her gaze searching mine, then shook her head. “You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“How? How can you be so sure?”

“Because I’m already yours. Do with me what you want, but I don’t belong to anyone else and haven’t since the moment we met.”

The words came out the same way they’d lived inside me for the past year and a half—steady, certain, and unhurried. It felt like relief to finally speak the truth out loud.

Her lips parted in a silent gasp as she stared at me with hope and longing, and a little more disbelief than I would’ve liked. How could she still doubt after everything I’d said and done? I hadn’t been with another woman since we met at that music festival right before junior year.

“What if I break your heart then?” she whispered.

“Then I’ll hand you the pieces and let you decide what to do with them.” I paused. “But you won’t.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“Because I’ve watched you for a year and a half. Like you said, I know you, Sam. You have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met and when you give people your love, you don’t do it in half measures. When you’re in, you’re all in. Even if you know you can get hurt. You let yourself love your friends, me included, so why won’t you let yourself love me as much as I love you?”

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “You love me?”

I tilted my head slightly. “Sam, have I not been transparent this whole time? It’s always been you. It’ll always be you. I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up.”

She leaned in closer to me like she needed more contact.

“I don’t know how to do this,” she said. “I don’t deserve to feel this way.”

I released the hand holding hers and brushed a strand of hair from her face before cupping her cheek. “Bryce wouldn’t want you to punish yourself like this. I never met him, but anyone who loves you as much as he no doubt did wouldn’t want you to suffer for the rest of your life. Even Mira doesn’t want that for you.”

She nibbled her lip again like she wanted to believe me but was terrified at the same time. I dropped my forehead, my gaze locked on hers. “I love you, Sam. I won’t break your heart and you won’t break mine. Take the leap with me. Let’s stop pretending.”

She stared at me for a long time. I could see the fight behind her eyes, the same push and pull I’d watched play out across her face a dozen times before. But this time the balance was different. This time she wasn’t retreating.

“Okay,” she breathed.

“Okay?”

“Let’s stop pretending.”

Joy ripped through me so fast, my knees nearly buckled. Before I could stop myself or think about our location, my lips were on hers, kissing her with everything I’d held back for so long.