Page 16 of Maybe This Time
There was comfort in it.
A calming haze lifted the overwhelming tension that had gripped me and left his words from earlier finally to settle, anchoring themselves deep in my chest.
I love you, Talya.
I’ve always loved you.
I loved you when we were kids and I haven’t stopped ever since.
The boy I’d fallen in love with when I was seven loved me back. With the same quiet ferocity I’d grown to love him over the years.
Ezra wrapped his other arm around my waist and gently turned me to face him, our joined hands caught between our bodies. For a beat, neither of us spoke. Words, explanations, and apologies swirled around us, but when I tipped my head back to meet his gaze, all of it just disappeared.
All I could feel was the solid press of his body against mine.
All I could smell was his familiar, intoxicating scent filling my lungs.
All Iwantedwas more of him.
Ezra seemed to share the same thought because if I could see myself right now, I’d bet the shifting expression on his face matched my own. We’d always been in sync, and what I’d thought had been long gone, barreled back between us like it had never left.
“Truth or dare, Talya?” he asked, his voice low, his eyes heavy on mine.
“Truth,” I replied without hesitation. Something deep inside me already knew what he was going to ask, and after years of holding it in, I was finally ready to set it free.
“Do you love me?”
“I do,” I said with unwavering certainty. “I’ve always loved you, Ezra. I loved you when we were kids and I haven’t stopped ever since.”
There was a soft catch in his breath, his eyes going tender as my words mirrored his own. My heart threatened to burst at the sight. I’d always assumed I’d have to get over my first love, to mourn what could’ve been and hope that someday I’d find someone who would be able to make me feel an ounce of what Ezra did.
But that was never going to happen because how do you move on from the person who owned your heart so fervently, the mere thought of them made your soul ache forever in their presence?
Ezra’s thumb brushed against my knuckles like he needed the sensation to ground himself. Goose bumps rose across my skin beneath his touch, craving to feel it everywhere. My eyes wandered over every line of his face, from the hard line of his jaw to the curve of his lip before meeting his eyes again.
“My turn,” I said, my chest brushing against his with each inhale. “Truth or dare?”
My body thrummed with anticipation as Ezra’s gaze dropped to my mouth, lingering there with such raw, reverent hunger that my lips parted on instinct, my breath suspended midair as I waited for his reply.
“Dare.”
He crowded closer, his body pinning mine against the door behind me, and the breath I’d been holding slipped free past my lips, carried by my next words.
“Kiss me.”
A dare. That was what this was meant to be, but the weight of it buzzed beneath my skin.
A kiss from Ezra James had been something I’d wished for every year for my birthday and maybe this time, fate wouldn’t get in the way.
Maybe this time, it would finally give us the ending we’d both been waiting for.
CHAPTER 9
TALYA
FOUR YEARS AGO (GRADUATION NIGHT)
Today was meantto be a day to remember.
