Page 119 of Text Me Baby One More Time

He chuckles when I pull away. “You did. And it just got me thinking about us…”

“And everything we missed.”

“God, there’s so much.”

“We could have at least three pugs by now.”

“Is Steve not enough for you, Den?”

“You can’t just ask a girl how many pugs is enough. That’s barbaric.”

He laughs, and I roll onto my back and can feel him staring holes into the side of my head.

“What?” I ask.

“Last month, when I almost lost my career over one stupid decision, it made me realize all the other things I’ve lost to stupid decisions.”

“Like?”

“The respect of my parents. A relationship with my brother. Some friends. And the biggest one of them all…” He pauses then exhales a shaky breath. “You.”

“I’m right here, Shep.”

“I’m right here too, and I’m not going anywhere—not this time.”

I don’t say anything else.

I stare at the ceiling for a long time, so long that Steve begins to snore from his corner of the room.

Not Shep, though. He’s still awake…waiting, staring.

I roll back toward him, capturing his hazel stare with my own.

“I’m not going anywhere either, but Cap?”

“Yeah?”

“No bullshit this time?”

“No bullshit. Until the end of the line.”

My eyes widen. “I think I just came. You quoted Captain America to me.”

He winks. “You’re welcome.”

And then I smother him with a pillow.

Twenty-Seven

Shepard

I’ve never beenthe type to talk about my feelings, always keeping shit bottled up because it’s no one’s business but my own. Last night, talking to Denny so openly about how abso-fucking-lutely terrified I am of heartbreak was a first for me. It was the most real I’ve been in a long time, probably since I had a screen and two thousand miles separating us.

I wasn’t lying when I told her I still love her. How could I possibly stop? Of course I fucking love her. I just didn’t have the goddamn balls to put my heart on the line back then.

Now in the car on the way home, I peer at her out of the the corner of my eye, admiring the way her lashes fall across her cheeks, loving the freckles that dot the bridge of her nose, the upturn of her plump lips, which are the same color as her nipples.

“I can feel you staring.”

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