Page 24 of Love You Like That

She whimpered, rolling her hips faster. “Yours… all yours.”

“That’s right.” I gripped her tighter. “This body. Ya heart. Mine.”

Her orgasm snuck up on her, and mine hit me hard, crashing over us both. She cried out, body shaking, legs trembling as she clung to me, riding it out until she collapsed against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her, breath ragged, heart pounding. Outside, the rain kept falling. Inside, we just breathed. Connected. Still.

She lifted her head after a moment, forehead pressed to mine, eyes still soft, dazed. “Tonight was fun,” she whispered, voice hoarse but steady.

I kissed her slowly and deeply, letting it land. Letting it echo. “A fuckin’ vibe.”

I th a db e e ndamn near a month since that night. Almost four weeks of tight schedules, mounting pressure, and time slipping through our fingers like water. Graduation was finally here and I had an offer for an interview from Hollis Medical. Of course, my parents were delighted. And me?

I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept a full night in days. My planner looked like a war zone. My inbox had three unread emails with the word “contract” in the subject line. And Ezra?

Ezra was preparing to fly to New York soon to meet with Nina and publishers who wanted to “develop his voice.” He’dbeen writing, filling up his spiral notebooks. We were both growing. But that closeness we built—the late-night laughs, the spontaneous sex, the Sunday mornings wrapped in each other—felt like it was shrinking. Not fading. Just… tightening like the space was still there, but we didn’t have time to sit in it.

And now? On top of everything else, I was finally bringing him to meet my parents. Not at a typical cookout. Not red cups and spades and paper plates. This was my parents’ version of a cookout, which meant wine glasses, live jazz, linen, shrimp skewers, and a rented event tent in the backyard of the mansion. Stepping out of the shower, I remembered the day I'd asked Ezra to come.

The laughter from the next table faded in and out, drowned by the clinking of silverware and the vibes of a live saxophone floating from the corner of the rooftop restaurant. I swirled my mango lemon drop around in my glass, the condensation wetting my palm as I tried to keep my thoughts from spiraling again. I would be graduating in four days and in two weeks … the NCLEX. My future.

“Bitch, if you stir that drink any harder, the glass us gonna crack,” Erin said, raising her wine glass with a smirk. “You okay?”

I blinked, sat up straighter, and smiled. “Yeah. Just thinking.”

Dianna leaned in with her usual softness. “About tomorrow or the exam?”

“Both,” I exhaled, setting the glass down. “Like… what if I get up on stage and trip in my heels? What if I freeze during the test and forget everything I learned? What if—”

“Girl.” Erin snapped her fingers and waved her other hand like she was clearing the air. “You been at the top of our class since day one. You got this. Hell, youarethis.”

Dianna nodded. “Facts. You’ve studied. You’ve sacrificed. You’ve had clinicals on top of clinicals. You even gave up Sunday dinners with your parents and you know that’s sacred.”

I smiled, but it didn’t reach all the way. “Yeah, but what if I get that letter in the mail saying I didn’t pass, and then everything just—”

“You ever think,” Dianna cut in, tipping her glass toward me, “maybe it’s not fear, it’s just nerves? Like, this is a big ass transition. You’re closing a whole chapter, Vanni. That shit is scary. But it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”

I blinked again, letting that sit. She was right. Erin added, “And you’re not doing it alone. You got us and Poet Bae now.”

At the mention of Ezra, my heart tripped like clockwork. A warmth moved through me that was both calming and chaotic. “I told him to come,” I said, glancing toward the entrance like I could will him into view. “I wanted y’all to finally meet.”

Dianna raised a brow. “You mean he’s finally gonna bless us with his presence?”

“He is,” I whispered, turning toward the glass door as the hostess pointed him in our direction.

Ezra walked in like time moved differently for him. He had on dark jeans, a navy blue hoodie, which exposed his neck tattoos, locs hanging past his shoulders, and a fitted cap on. His chains glinted under the patio lights and his good eye swept the restaurant before locking on me.

My breath caught and Erin muttered, “Goddamn. Did he get finer?”

Dianna lifted a brow. “Now I really see why you be ghosting us.”

He reached our table, leaned down, and kissed my lips. “Ladies,” he greeted, voice smooth and calm as he pulled out the empty chair next to me. “Nice seein' y’all again.”

I smiled and formally introduced them, finally relaxing as he took my hand beneath the table and squeezed. It was his way of grounding me and saying I see you, I got you, without saying it out loud. We ordered more drinks and the night took on a new energy. Dianna grilled him playfully while Erin asked about his next open mic and his goals, and he held his own like he’d known them for years.

“Let me find out y’all are gonna be a power couple,” Erin teased, sipping her wine. “Nurse and wordsmith. Fixing hearts in every way.”

Ezra glanced over at me with a smile in his eyes. “Sounds 'bout right.” When he said that, I felt my chest tighten like maybe I could let go of the fear just long enough to believe in what we were building.

Soon, the food came and the vibes continued. And for the first time in days, I wasn’t thinking about what could go wrong. I was letting myself feel what had already gone right.

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