Page 119 of Until We Meet Again

"Then I'll wake you up by fucking your bratty mouth."

My hand slips between us, causing her body to jolt when I find her clit and the moisture that’s gathered between her thighs. "Don’t you dare. I've still got to go out there and see your family."

"Fuck." The frustration pours out of me, and I know she feels it just as much. Tessa being so tightly wound is one of my favorite things. "We need to go and say goodbye."

As soon as I get her back to our room, I'll do what I've been thinking about for the past year.

We walk around the room, saying goodbye to friends and family. However, my patience is starting to wear thin. Every goodbye leads to another conversation, another memory shared, and another hug before moving on to the next person. I love these people—I really do. But I need to be inside my girl.

The moment the door to our hotel room closes, tension erupts between us, and she's in my arms, my lips devouring hers. "Tessa?" I whisper her name in between kisses.

"Yeah." She quickly removes my jacket and unbuttons my shirt, trailing her lips across my chest.

I grip her hands, halting her in her movements, my heart beating faster than ever. Her piercing green eyes are fixed onmine, and I know I can’t hold back any longer, knowing that this is the moment that will change everything.

"I wanna marry you, sweetheart." She slightly buckles in my arms, staring into my eyes as I hold her body close.

"When?" she asks with a trembling breath.

"I would've married you the day I bought this a year ago." Releasing her, I drop to one knee and pull a small black box from my pants pocket.

I open the box, showing her the diamond ring that perfectly matches the earrings she's wearing in her ears. The ones I bought her for graduation. "I told you that the next time I bought you diamonds, I'd be down on one knee asking you the most important question of my life." Although my heart is pounding in my chest, there isn't a part of me that isn't sure about what I'm doing right now. "You make me so fucking happy, Tessa." She bites back a smile, tears glistening in her eyes. "I've been thinking about this moment for a long time. You'd think I'd know what to say." I gaze up at her, overwhelmed by how much love I feel. "God, I just want to marry you. I want to call you my wife and spend the rest of my life loving you."

As tears stream down her face, she nods, and I slide the ring onto her finger, feeling her hands trembling in mine.

I stand back up and lift her into my arms. Her smile is bigger than I've ever seen, and her beautiful green eyes show me just how sure she is that she wants this, that she wants me in every way that I want her.

In this moment, I know our love will last for the rest of our days. And when I'm no longer here and my soul reaches the heavens, I'll whisper to the stars about her until we meet again.

Epilogue

Seven Years Later

"How's my niece doing?" I flip the camera on my phone to show the tiny terror I adore sitting next to me on the couch.

"I'm coloring, Aunt Jen."

"Show me," Jen asks, and my daughter holds up a picture of some kind of swamp animal, but Jen showers her with praise as if she had just created a masterpiece. "I think we have a mini artist in the making."

"The ink stains on the sofa would suggest that she needs to improve her aim." I nudge her little shoulder, and she laughs. "So, how are you?"

"I'm swollen, exhausted, and hungry all the time." Jen and Harry are expecting their first child in the next couple of weeks. "It's normal to be over this pregnancy, right?"

"Oh yeah. I'm right there with you," I reply. We both laugh, and when Jen shows the side view of her bump, I feel so happythat this time, she's joined me on this pregnancy journey. "You should relax now that you've finally stopped working."

"How much longer do you have left?"

"It’ll be a few more weeks before I leave, but if Zane had his way, I’d be home already." I achieved my dreams and am teaching at an elementary school. I’ve been there for two years, and it’s exactly what I was meant for. I love being around the children and watching them grow, and I get to help them reach for the stars, just as I always wanted.

Once our babies arrive, Jen and Harry plan to stay with us for a bit. It's been nearly a year since I last saw her.

Ten minutes later, I'm off the phone and preparing dinner, knowing my husband will be home shortly.

Six months after Zane proposed to me, we packed up our lives in Chicago and moved to Dallas to be closer to his family. And as it turned out, Callum and Zoe did get pregnant on their wedding night, and we were lucky enough to be settled when she gave birth to a little boy.

We searched for a place that would be perfect for us. We knew exactly what we were looking for, and thankfully, we found it—a house with enough space for a family.

Land was the one thing we both wanted. We both envisioned a future filled with a bunch of kids running around outside, having fun, and creating memories to last a lifetime.

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