Page 41 of Next to You

“It’s your turn to tell me what you want, Spencer,” I whispered. I wanted him to say it out loud. All the things we had in common, the way we wanted to be with each other. I neededhim to define it so I could sink into it and believe it. It might be too soon, but I needed a declaration.

“You.” His voice, low and sensual, sent a shiver of awareness through me. “I want you, Lucy.”

“I want you too,” I said on an exhale.

My heartbeat seemed to match the slow pulse of the music as my knees went weak.

He wrapped a big arm around my waist, hauling me against him with a deep, knowing laugh. “I got you, sweetheart.”

“But I meant—remember our first night here? When I told you what I wanted.”

Light flickered from the fireplace, casting the room in a golden glow while stars lit up the sky outside. This cabin couldn’t be more romantic if it tried.

“I remember.” He bowed forward, touching his forehead to mine. “Something real,” his whispered voice filtered between my ribs, burrowing into my heart as his gaze seared into mine. “This is real, Lucy. You’re so fucking beautiful right now.”

He pulled back, brushing my hair over my shoulder before stroking my cheekbone with his thumb.

“Tell me more. Please?”

“I want what you want, all of it. I wantreal.I feel it with you.”

“I feel it too, with you. I feeleverythingwith you, Spencer.”

“Good.” He paused, studying my face for a beat before a gleam of vulnerability entered his eyes. “We’re safe with each other, aren’t we?”

“Yes, we are.” I snuggled closer into his arms, pressing my cheek against the broad wall of his chest. Sighing when he kissed the top of my head, then letting my eyes drift shut as his chest expanded on an inhale.

One song faded into the next as we held onto each other and let the music carry us away.

“I want to be like my dad,” he whispered into my hair. “Honorable, a good husband and, if I’m lucky someday, a father. I don’t just want to have a wife and kids, Lucy. I want to create a family. I want to participate in all of it and be a true partner. I want to be with someone who understands me. Someone who sees me for who I really am. But what I want the most is to watch TV in bed on a Saturday night after going to dinner or a walk in the park or whatever.”

I pulled away to look at him, and I swear my future flashed in front of me. The two of us here, years later, happy, maybe curled up on the couch watching TV…

His gaze seared into mine, and I saw everything I’d ever wanted right there in his eyes.

“I see you, Spencer.” My breath hitched as I tried not to cry. “I see you so freaking hard. I see nothing but you.”

“I see you too. Damn, Lucy. This is torture, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it.” He buried his face in my neck and breathed in, curling a possessive hand around my hip as he pulled me closer.

All pretenses had faded away. The dance was now only an excuse for us to touch each other. Nothing in this entire world mattered more than me and him and this perfect moment.

“Ten, nine, eight—” A voice from the radio began counting down.

My eyes flew open. “It’s almost midnight, Spencer.”

“…three, two, one.” The sound of fireworks exploding from the radio filled the cabin.

“Happy New Year, Lucy,” he whispered hotly into the side of my neck. My hair ruffled from his breath, and I shivered.

I looked up. His eyes darkened with emotion, reflecting everything I felt for him back at me. I knew this was it—he was the one.

My breath caught in my lungs as my lips parted.

Chapter 16

Spencer

She didn’t get a kiss last year.

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