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“Come up,” I add excitedly, in case it wasn’t clear.
“I’m on my way,” he says, then bounds up the steps.
I call Hank, tell him to let my piano teacher in, then I rush to the door, gingerly passing the flowers so I don’t knock any over. I turn down the hall and head to the staircase.
Then, I run, barefoot, ready, eager. I yank open the door, right as Finn reaches the top of the steps.
My man. My love. The guy who was off-limits for the longest time, till I ripped down the barriers—the ones inside me.
“Hi,” I say, bursting with hope.
“Hi,” he says, then sweeps me up in his arms, lifting me in the air, bringing me close. “I miss you too much to stay away any longer. I miss you too much to be without you. I miss you too much to let another hour go by without telling you,” he says, as I wrap my legs around him, thrilled to be back here, with him. “Tell me it’s the same for you.”
He gazes at me with such vulnerability, such passion that I wish I could capture this moment and remember it forever. The moment he declared his heart. The moment when I’m ready to do the same. I sneak a hit of him. Fire, leather, orchids. My favorites. But soap too. He just showered.
Even his hair is damp.
I eat up all these details, recording them so they become my photo albums and I never forget how I feel right here, right now. “Yes. I miss you. I want you. I need you,” I say, then I swallow, taking a fortifying breath before I say three more words. “And—”
But before I can speak, he says, “I love you.”
“You beat me to it,” I say, laughing, my whole body singing, my mind dancing.
“As a man should,” he says, then he sets me down and holds my face like he’s about to come in for a kiss, but he pauses.
Sweeps his gaze up and down me. Then finally brushes his lips to mine. I sigh happily against his mouth.
It feels like both a kiss and a declaration.
We’re choosing this. Choosing us. I know this in a bone-deep way. When he breaks the kiss, I take his hand and lead him out of the stairwell and down the hall, stopping at my open door.
“Want to see my place?”
“I bet it smells really good.”
“Like a dream that became real,” I say, unable to stop smiling.
His expression softens, his eyes gleaming as he cups my cheek. But before he hauls me in for another kiss, he lets go and gets to work.
“You brought the gardens to me,” I say as I pick up a vase and a box.
“And I always will.”
Another declaration, and it fills my whole soul.
A few minutes later, the flowers are in my tiny kitchen and we are too.
He takes my hands, threads his fingers through mine. “I want to be with you. In case that wasn’t clear,” he says, his green eyes sharp, intense.
“You can tell me again,” I say.
But his smile disappears. His expression is serious. “I missed you terribly. I fell in love with you in Paris, and I did a terrible job telling you. I wasn’t bold enough. Wasn’t clear enough. I don’t want to stop telling you now. I just love you, Jules, and all the reasons to resist this don’t matter anymore. I let them go. I’d do anything for you. Even if I lose your father’s friendship, I’ll take that chance,” he says, his tone somber, underscoring his meaning. “If you’ll have this guy who’s a little bit older, who has a kid, who’s divorced.”
He says it like those things would hold me back.
“I’m all in,” I say, voice feathery as I fight off happy tears. “I’ve been holding back for too long. Keeping my own secrets for too long. I haven’t been living. Then, you came into my life and I’m not afraid to be myself anymore. I’m not afraid to live every day of my life. And to love…deeply. I want that with you.” My eyes well with the emotions rising up in me.
Finn swipes a thumb along my eyelid, wiping away the start of a tear.
