Page 101 of After All This Time

“I’m so fucking happy,” he says into my ear.

“Me too.”

I try to free myself from our embrace, but it’s no use. His grip on me grows tighter. I can feel all the muscles in my body getting crushed to death.

“As much as I’m enjoying this, we need to go home.”

“Why?”

“So we can regroup and figure out what we want to make for dinner.”

“Okay.” He releases me from his grasp as he gently wipes away any remaining tears off my face with the pad of his thumb.

I return the favor, wiping tears off his face with the pads of my index and middle fingers.

We get off the bed one by one.

Noah puts his earbuds back into the drawer inside his desk. Putting my phone in my back pocket, I stand in front of the doorway of his childhood bedroom.

Strong hands rest on my shoulders, sending chills straight down my spine.

“I’ll meet you in the car.” He removes his warm hands from my shoulders and walks away from me.

Thanks for the memories. The times when Noah and I screamed at each other when one of us won family game night. And for the moment we just shared now. It’s one I’ll cherish for a long damn time.

I make my way out of the house.

“How long have you been standing out here?”

“Not too long,” he says.

He waits for me to move away from the front door, so he can lock it. When he does, we get in the car and head back to my house.

We pull up in front of the garage and I shift the gear into park.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing,” he says as he opens the door and gets out of the car.

I get out of the car, and press a button on my car keys so it locks. When I unlock the front door to the house, I turn the light on.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go work on my book.” He smiles at me before he goes into the guest bedroom to get his computer.

God, that smile is going to be the death of me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

dani

I’m sitting on the big chair in front of the big window in the living room inside my house while I’m endlessly scrolling on Instagram to see what posts I’ve missed.

I haven’t been on social media that much lately. That’s crazy to even think about considering I’m usually on Instagram every single day—for hours at a time.

Is it unhealthy? Yes, of course it is. Do I care? No.

It’s hard to not be on social media, especially promoting a book.

One of my favorite things about this community is being able to engage with readers and fellow authors. I love receiving sweet messages from readers about how excited they are to read my book.

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