Page 108 of Away With You
“So, um, yeah,” I mumble when we draw back for air. That kiss has fried all my brain cells. “That’s it. I came to tell you I’m sorry. And I love you. And I want to be with you, in any way you’ll have me.”
His arms band around my back, holding me tightly to him like he’s never going to let me go.Fine by me.“I love you, too, Kitty Kat. And I want to be with you in any and all ways. I’m aware we have challenges ahead, with distance and my job, and my family, but I’m in this. I will make this work. As long as you’ll have me, I’m yours.”
I stand on my tippy toes and press soft kisses onto his cheeks, his eyelids, along his jaw before settling on his mouth. “I’ll have you forever, thanks,” I whisper against his lips.
Nathan whoops, picking me up and spinning me around. “You do not know what it meant to see you up in that stand today, Kitty Kat. When you didn’t contact me after that last snow globe, I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“I’m sorry. I was an idiot. It took me too long to get here, to be brave. But now that I am, I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.”
His lips worship mine with another toe-curling, spine-tingling kiss, only letting me go when the knocking at the door gets too loud to ignore.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Theo says, his dark eyes zeroing in on us, a smile growing on his lips. “But you kinda have a job to do.”
Nathan chuckles, squeezing me to him. “Sure thing, boss. I’ll be right there.”
Theo nods before turning to leave. “I’m happy this worked out.”
“Thanks for your help,” I call to his disappearing back. “Theo and Rosie got me here. But even if they hadn’t, I would have found a boat and rowed to you. Once I figured out being with youwas the only thing that mattered, nothing was standing in my way.”
His handsome face lights up. “And what got you there? To this moment of clarity?”
I pull at the arm of his race suit, rubbing the two hair ties still lingering on his wrist. “I saw these. And it all came flooding back. The reality of you, of who you are and what I was giving up, hit me like a freight train. Nathan, you’re worth a trip across the world. You’re worth the challenges of long distance. You’re worth everything.”
Tears shimmer in his eyes as he gazes down at me, his love shining brightly for me to see. “You’re worth everything, Kitty Kat. I’d give this all up if you’d ask me to.”
“You don’t need to do that. We’ll work it out.”
His smile is wide and brilliant. “I know we will. You and me together? We’re the real deal.” After another brief kiss, he wrenches his mouth from mine. “I’d better get going. You’ll be here when I’m done?”
I’m quick to extinguish the glimmer of doubt in his eyes. “I’ll be here waiting for you. I’ll always be here waiting for you.”
“I like the sound of that.”
Nathan swaggers away, blowing me a kiss before turning around the corner. With a sigh, I catch it and hug it to me, my heart thumping wildly in my chest.
“I did it, Mum,” I whisper as I walk out into the Aussie sunlight. “I’m here in Melbourne, in love with a man who loves me back.”
A flutter of warm wind wraps around me like a hug, and I grin, feeling whole again for the first time since she left me. Feeling like I’m not alone in the world anymore.
Who would have thought a chance encounter with an old school friend on a bleak Friday evening would have brought me here? To the other side of the world, surrounded by new friendsand in love with my perfect man. All it took was a bit of fake dating, only one bed and a few epic grand gestures.
Turns out our love story was just like the movies I love so much. Only, lucky for me, our story isn’t fake or fiction.
Me and Nathan? We’re real. And we’re for always.
EPILOGUE
NATHAN
Three Months Later
It doesn’t get any better than this.
I stare out from the top step of the podium at the yachts dotting the Monaco marina.God Save the Kingis blaring over the speakers. I have the track-shaped trophy tucked under my arm, and Katie is in the crowd below, beaming up at me.
“Soak it in, mate,” Nicky yells from the second step of the podium, just to the right of me. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
I grin at my friend, bending to place my trophy on the ground and replace it with an oversized bottle of champagne. With a whoop of pure joy, I cover Nicky and his teammate, Patrick, in sprays of bubbles while they do their best to soak me to the skin.
