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The butterflies decide to wake up and join the jumping around behind my rib cage. “You’re supposed to correct a slip up if it isn’t true.”

He lifts his hand and ghosts it over my cheek and down to cup the side of my face, tilting my head up gently with his thumb along my jawline. “Yeah. I know how words work, brain.”

“So it’s true?”

He watches me like I might bolt. I don’t. We’re still standing in the middle of our room, with his hand on my face, and I’ve never wanted to stay in one place more in my life.

“It’s true,” he says. “You don’t have to say it back. I know it might seem fast to you. I just didn’t want you to agree to date me and then find out that I already…yeah.”

Already. Like it happened a while ago.

I nod too many times and make myself stop. My face flushes, I can feel the way it heats, but it isn’t embarrassment. It’s the good kind of blush.

“I like that you didn’t take it back,” I say.

His smile is so bright, I blink rapidly at him to take it all in. His eyes are crinkled, and he looks wrecked with relief, which is a strange look on him and also my new favorite.

“Okay,” he says. “I can work with that.”

I lean into his palm. He makes a small sound, like he didn’t expect me to move first, and then he folds me into him carefully, giving me the opportunity to pull away. I don’t. I tuck my face into his shoulder and breathe him in. I still love the way he smells. I can feel myself smiling against the fabric of his hoodie. It’s probably a stupid smile. But I don’t care, he likes me for me, not despite my quirks.

“I like flowers, too,” I say.

FORTY-NINE

DANIEL

A beat passes as I hold him against me. I want to kiss him. But if I put my mouth on his in the same minute I admitted I loved him, I’m going to turn this into the exact thing I just warned him about.

So I don’t. I keep him against my chest until his breathing evens out, then I let him go far enough to look at him. His glasses are a little skewed from wiping his face. And he’s a little flushed, with an adorable smile pulling at his cheeks.

I really do love him. And I’m done fighting it. I’m all in.

“You want some water?” I ask.

He shakes his head. Then he nods. I huff and grab a bottle from my fridge, putting it into his hand. He twists the cap off and drinks it. My gaze tracks the movement of his Adam’s apple for a moment before I step away from him and move over to his bed, picking up the tray and setting it on the desk. He watches me do it, possibly making sure I don’t dump it all over the floor.

“I should put that away properly,” he says.

“Later,” I say as I capture him around the waist and pull him back into me, kissing the side of his neck.

He reaches for it anyway. “The sample will…”

“Later, Quinn.” I tip my head at my bed and let him go, hopping up. “Come here.”

He sinks his teeth into his lower lip, and I almost jump back down just to free it. The loft was a great idea for storing gear under it. It’s not such a great idea when I have to wait for him to climb up here with me. He sets the water down, gets a foot on the frame at the end of the bed, and I offer him my hand to tug him the rest of the way up. He laughs, and that surprised little sound is something I would do anything to keep hearing. I haul him up. He tips forward into my chest, and we both go back onto the mattress in a graceless heap, him half in my lap, his glasses sliding down his nose.

“Smooth,” he says, like it was all my fault.

“You’re dating a professional athlete. This is peak performance.”

He laughs again. I steal his glasses, fold them, and set them on the nearby shelf because he doesn’t need to see for what we are doing next. Then I kiss him.

Soft at first. The version I’ve taught him for months. He makes a small noise and fists my hoodie. I lick into his mouth when he opens for me, and he follows my lead. We kiss until my legs are stiff from holding still, and he shifts, clumsy, and swings a leg over me so he’s straddling my lap. The bed frame creaks. He winces, then grins against my mouth.

“This is better,” he says. He shifts his hips, lining up his length with mine, and I moan into his mouth.

“Mmmm, yeah,” I say, kissing him.