Page 104 of Stuck with Me

She huffs out a bitter laugh and glances away.

I keep one arm around her waist but raise her chin with my finger. “But it was the most exciting form of foreplay I’ve ever experienced. You pissed me off, you challenged me, you saw me at my worst. Rosie, spending this week with you was the best week of my life. And somewhere along the way, I fell in love with you.”

Her brown eyes go glassy as they dance over mine.

I let go of her chin and tug her close to me. “Did you hear me? I said I love you.”

She swallows. “I…I…don’t know what to say.”

“Well, you better hurry it up and say something. Because it’s almost midnight. And I don’t want to start the new year with you if I can’t spend the rest of the year with you.”

“I’ve been taking care of myself for as long as I can remember. I don’t need a man to take care of me.”

“Kit-Kat,” I drawl, “I don’t want to take care of you. I just want to be your person.”

She shakes her head, a tear slipping from her eye. “Nico, I’m fucked up.”

My head spins, and I brush my thumb across her wet cheek. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m not the kind of woman that men settle down with. I’m not the forever kind of girl.” She swipes at the tear rolling down her cheek.

“You’remyforever girl,” I announce, peering into her deep-brown eyes.

“I’ve spent years building walls to keep people out so they don’t get too close. Years trying to keep my circle small.” She sniffs. “I can’t lose anyone else, Moretti. I’ve lost too much. It hurts too fucking much.”

She doesn’t hold back the tears anymore and it breaks something in my own heart. It’s so relatable and raw. My own grief is exposed and tender. And I know Rosie will be the only person who will allow me to reveal it and not only that, but she’ll also share in it with me.

“I’m right there with you. I’m no stranger to grief. And I’m not planning on going anywhere, Kit-Kat.”

Her hands lift and she rests her palms against my chest. My breathing accelerates and the magnetic pull to draw her mouth to mine is powerful. But I resist. I wait for her to surrender. I wait for her to concede.

While we gaze at one another, the same fire between us that’s been here all along burning between us, I’m desperate for her to admit her real feelings.

She narrows her eyes. “You swear?”

I frown, momentarily confused by her question, my heart thumping hard and fast.

“You swear you want this? You want me?”

“Like I said, you’re my forever girl. And if I have to spend the rest of my life proving it to you, I will do so happily.”

She softens against me, her fingers curling at my chest. “You better. Because I love you, Moretti.”

Satisfaction bursts through my veins at her declaration of requited love. I adjust my cowboy hat before taking her face in between my hands and lowering my lips to hers. “Just remember who said it first,” I quip, and crush my mouth against hers.

Her smile builds on her lips, and she gives me a playful shove in the chest. I chuckle and devour her mouth with mine, smashing our lips together and quickly tangling my tongue with hers.

Outside, the shout of a male’s voice trickles through the cabin walls. “One minute!”

It’s followed by some hoots and hollers.

I pull back from our kiss and gaze down at Rosie’s lips. They’re so inviting I want to spend the rest of the night taking pleasure in them. But the reminder that it’s almost midnight, almost the new year has anxiety thrumming through me.

“It’s almost midnight,” I whisper.

She takes my hands in hers and walks me backward toward the stairs. “And there’s nothing I want more than to start the new year in bed with you.”

I waggle my brows suggestively. “Yeah?”

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