Page 133 of Party Favors

“You’ve never said that to me before.”

“I haven’t? That was another thing that I should have been telling you repeatedly once I realized it. It just all happened so fast and I fell so hard and so quickly.”

This was one of the variables I hadn’t been able to plan for. I knew Max liked me, was attracted to me, cared about me, but I didn’t know whether or not his feelings were as deep as mine. I’d hoped they were, but I hadn’t known.

“I’m really glad you love me,” I confessed.

“Why?” he asked, a hint of a laugh in his voice.

I had missed his laughter so much. “Because I was scared that you didn’t.”

He hesitated for a moment and then reached over to me, holding my face with his hands. “Everly, I will love you every minute of every day for the rest of my life. I will love you until my final, dying breath, and then whatever happens after that, I will still love you. If I was given an entire eternity to love you, it wouldn’t be long enough.”

Tears fell down my cheeks and he rubbed them gently away with his thumbs.

“In addition to always loving you,” he said softly, “I want to spend the rest of my life making you smile.”

“You’re not doing a great job right now,” I said through my tears, and this time he did laugh.

He leaned forward and pressed a soft, tentative kiss to my cheek. “Everly Aprile, I have been head over heels for you from the very beginning. Including literally when you nearly knocked me out in your boss’s apartment.”

“That was an accident,” I protested.

Max smiled at me again, but then his face quickly sobered. “I don’t know the exact moment that I fell in love with you, and I also don’t remember what my life was like before you came into it. I can’t bear the thought of having to spend another moment without you. I am so sorry for lying to you. Can you forgive me?”

“I love you. And Max, I’ve already forgiven you. But you have to promise to never lie to me again.”

“Never,” he promised.

“If I ask you whether or not you like my shoes—”

“I will tell you that I don’t care about shoes and have no opinion one way or the other and that you’re beautiful no matter what you’re wearing.”

“What did I just say about lying?”

He kissed my cheek again. “It’s not a lie, la mia lei. It is the truth.”

I remembered that phrase from our first night. It meant “my her.” That I was his, out of all the women out there.

A surge of joy and love filled me up, making me feel unbearably light and happy. “It’s okay with me if you still want to do the accent.”

“Really?” He sounded intrigued.

“Yes, feel free to whisper sweet Italian words anytime you’d like.”

Then he said something, but it was in a bunch of different languages and one word seemed to meld into another and I didn’t know what he’d just said.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“I just promised you in every language I speak to never lie to you again. And Everly, ti amo. Te quiero. Wo ài ni. Je t’aime. Eu te amo. I love you in every language, too.”

What else could I do but kiss him? I leaned forward and softly pressed my lips against his. I heard his breath catch, how he held himself so still, as if he were trying not to scare me off.

It was a sweet little peck, but his entire body relaxed when I pulled back. When he finally seemed to understand that we were going to be okay. That I really did forgive him.

He said, “You know, you made me rethink everything in my life. What I thought about relationships, about marriage, about loving someone. You said I should find someone I enjoy being with all the time, someone I wanted to build a life with, someone who shared my goals and aspirations. My best friend. You were right. And that person is you.”

“Max,” I said, so touched.

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