Page 36 of Reeve

That’s when I know—whether I like it not, and whether or not the timing is good or bad—I’m crazy about him, too. I think maybe I have been for a long, long time.

He tries to pull away, but I jerk my hands forward, grabbing at his cheeks and pulling him back. And I’m not sure, but I think he laughs into my mouth, and I swallow the sound whole. I tell my heart to keep it. It’s the sounds of Aaron being kissed, and the sound of me loving him exactly the way I want to.

The hand that was on my face lowers so that both of his arms are around me, holding me close, holding me tight. We are flush, but frustrated by layers, and our kiss is wet and wild and abandoned to make up for what we want. We want skin. We want skin (all of it) against skin and all we have is lips against lips.

When he finally breaks off the kiss, he presses his forehead against mine, panting softly. I leave my lips open so that his huffs of breath fall into me.

I can’t believe I’m leaving so soon.

“I’m visiting my dad over MLK weekend,” he tells me, his voice gritty and breathless.

“That’s soon,” I pant.

“Can I call you?”

“I already told you that you could.”

I let my hands fall from his face, but he doesn’t let go of me. He holds me closer.

“Close your eyes and ignore me for a second,” he says.

“Okay.”

“Wait for me,” he whispers.

It’s so soft, I guess I could have heard him wrong. But I’m pretty sure he asked me to wait for him. And every beat of my heart promises that it will.

“Ready to go to the party?” he asks, pushing me away gently and taking my hand with one of his.

“Ready,” I tell him, and here’s something interesting:

I don’t care who’s there.

I don’t care who sees us.

I don’t care about anything else except for the fact that there’s a future for me and Aaron Adams. Someday, we willbelongto each other.

We walk to the Parsnip, hand in hand, ready to usher in a brand-new year.

THE END

Epilogue

Four years later

“Hey, baby!”

I step off the plane in Skagway to see Aaron standing on the tarmac.

“What are you doing here?” I ask him, running into his arms.

“I flashed my badge, and they let me meet your plane.” He pulls me against his body and kisses me long and hard, before drawing back to smile down at me. “How does it feel to be done?”

“Amazing,” I say, taking his hand. “I still have to pass the state exam, but I amofficiallya college graduate.”

“Are they gonna be pissed they missed it?”

He’s talking about the fact that I graduated last week and didn’t invite my family to the ceremony.

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