Page 149 of Best Friends for Never

His ocean eyes bore into me like he’s searching for a hint of a lie. He’s not going to see one. I’ve weighed my options on this. Heck, I’ve been weighing them for the last ten years.

I’m sure.

A life with Noel Carter is what I want.

“Are you sure?”

“Surer than I’ve ever been about anything.”

“It’s going to be a lot, Parker. There will be late nights, star-studded events, paparazzi, and people in our business.”

I nod. “I know. I know it is. It’s going to be an adjustment. A big one. But so have the last ten years without you. They were hard. It was painful slugging through them. If I can survive that, then I can manage a few fancy parties and photographers being annoying. I don’t want to spend these next ten years sitting here and wondering what my life would be like if you were in it. I want you in it now. I want you now. I ... I love you, Noel. So much it hurts sometimes. And I want a life with you. I want you to be my best friend. Forever.”

“Fuck.” He drops his forehead to mine. “Fuck, Peter. I love you too. I want all those same things. I really do. I ... I have one caveat.”

Worry races through me. “Okay ...”

“We live here too.”

I pull back. “What? But you hate it here. You ...”

“Youlove it here. This is your home, and I don’t want to ask you to leave. Besides, it’s growing on me. So let’s live here too. We can split our time between here and California. It’ll take some work, but I think we can manage it. Besides, you have a theater to run here. I can’t let you build your dream and leave it behind while I get mine.”

I bury my face against his chest, trying to hide the tears falling from my eyes.

“Hey, hey. Come on.” He pulls my face up to him, using his thumbs to wipe away my tears. “Why are you crying? I thought you’d want that. I thought that would make you happy.”

“That is what I want. It does make me happy.”

“Then why the tears?”

“The theater. You paid for the theater.”

“Oh. That.”

I laugh. “Yeah. That.”

He winces. “Are you mad?”

I shake my head. “No. I wanted to be, but ... no. I’m just happy—so dang happy.”

“Good. I know you can do it on your own. I have full faith in you that you can. But you shouldn’t have to. I want to be there to help. I want to be your partner in everything, including this.”

He presses his lips to mine in a soft and slow kiss.

“I love you, Parker,” he says, his mouth brushing against mine with every word. “I’ve loved you since I was eight years old and you came riding through town on your bike. I loved you when I was nine and you told me why your father left. I loved you when I was ten and you didn’t talk to me for a day because I said Batman was better than Spider-Man. I loved you from twelve to eighteen, even when you turned me down. And I’ve kept loving you these last ten years, even when I never thought I’d have another chance with you. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever loved, and I will always love you. You’re my best friend. My everything, Peter, and I want to spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”

I sigh. “It’s not fair. You’re an actor. You have all these pretty speeches memorized.”

He chuckles. “Nothing about that was rehearsed. I said every word straight from my heart.”

I know he did. I can feel it in mine.

“I love you, too, Noel Carter, in those same ways. I think I have since I was eight, before I knew what love was. From the day we met, I knew you were mine and I was yours. That’s never changed—not once when we were kids and not even when you were gone. And it never will change. You’re my best friend, and I want nothing more than to give forever a shot with you too.”

He captures my lips again, kissing me like he’ll never get enough of me.

I get it. I do. I’ll never get enough of him either.

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