Page 87 of Every Heartbeat After

“It’s in the car.” I keep my voice low like I’m saying something sinful.

She gasps a laugh. “What is?”

“Your milkshake.”

Sunshine splinters off her white-blonde curls like a kaleidoscope. She throws her head back, throat bobbing with laughter. Finally, when our eyes meet again, her thumb begins a slow stroke over what I know is some serious five-o’clock shadow. I couldn’t shave this morning. I was too frantic, too hopeful, for anything involving a razor blade.

“You asked me for my truth that night, Kit, and I couldn’t give it to you then,” she whispers. Her head shakes. She wets her already glistening lips. “I couldn’t give it to you because I didn’t know what it was. But I do now. My truth is that I love you. It’s also that I’m scared shitless, but I’m not letting that stop me anymore. I’m tired of just being alive. I want to live. I want a heartbreakingly full-to-the-brim life. And I want it with you.”

Hope explodes in my chest like a mortar blown sky-high. I kiss her again, because I can. Because she’s here and she’s within reach and she’s everything.Everything.How I ever thought I could live without this is beyond me.

“I love you so fucking much, Tess.” I cup her delicate jaw with one hand, cradling the base of her spine with the other. “Whatever it takes. I’ll move, to you or to somewhere brand-new. We can do long-distance till then. I’ll make it work.We’llmake it work.”

She tilts her head to the side, teeth grazing her plump bottom lip as the corners of her mouth twitch. “Here’s the thing… I might’ve already taken care of that part.”

My brow furrows. Just then, a singsong voice calls from inside the car. “And she gave her house to me, so no takesies-backsies.”

Our gazes meet with a comical snap, and we both burst into laughter.

“You didn’t?” I ask teasingly.

She nods. “Figured I’d couch surf at Gary’s place for a bit until I find something that’s right for me.”

I smooth the hair back from her face, shaking my head all the while. “You are something special, Tess Monroe. So damn special. You also fly by the seat of your pants in a way that gives me heart palpitations. But I love it.”

“Good.” She rises onto her tiptoes to kiss the bridge of my nose. “That part is definitely here to stay.”

“Just like you.”

“Mm,” she hums, lips curling into a feline smile that sets fire to my veins.

Pinching her hip with one hand, I lean over to peer through the window to her friend, who bats a tissue theatrically against her cheeks, then yelps when she realizes she’s been caught. “Sorry, I can’t help it. I just lovelove.”

I offer my most charming smile, chuckling good-naturedly. “Do you mind if I place your friend under arrest?”

She waves a hand. “By all means!”

“Hey, wait!” Before Tess can protest further, I bend at the waist and snake one arm around her backside, hoisting her onto my shoulder as I rise. She slaps my butt with enough passion to spike my heart rate. “Kit! Put me down!”

I click my tongue as I approach my SUV. “No can do. You were driving way too fast. You’re a menace to society. I have to take you in for the good of all.”

“I went sixty-five on a straight highway with no other traffic. I didn’t even see the speed limit sign,” she grumbles. I can practically hear the pout in her voice.

I open my passenger-side door and drop her into the seat. Her skirt rides high up her thighs, a merciless promise of everything I’ve been missing. Of everything to come.

I fuse our lips together, grasping the back of her head and taking my fill of her until she sags in my embrace. Only then do I relent. And it takes a hell of a lot of self-control.

“Don’t you have work?” she says breathlessly.

“Only for a little while longer. And now I’ve got myself a ride-along.”

She smirks, glances over her shoulder, and then shrugs. “So long as I can have the milkshake.”

“I will buy you a milkshake every day for the rest of your life.”

Her hand flutters over her heart. “My hero.”

I lean forward to steal a final kiss. “My Tess.”

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