Page 201 of Going Viral for Christmas
My throat tightens, but Ava keeps going, eyes on mine. “Not the kind that ends something—the kind that begins again. You killed the version of me that only knew how to survive. And what’s left…” Her thumb traces my jaw. “What’s left is someone who finally knows how to live.Youare my heart.” Her bottom lip wobbles. “I love you.”
The words knock the air right out of me. My own heart kicks hard against my chest, wild and erratic, like it’s trying to leap straight into her hands. I’ve imagined hearing those three words from her—hell, I’veagonizedover them—but nothing prepared me for the way my chest feels too full to hold it all, and Ava has no idea how she just leveled me.
After processing all that, I say, “I know,” giving the Star Wars reference to her again. Because why not?
“You’re the worst.” She laughs through her tears.
I brush my lips over hers. “I’ll fight through a million wars, curses, and every damn monster in the realm to hear you say that again.”
Ava’s head drops to my shoulder, nuzzles into my neck. “I love you.”
“There’s no out with me, Bells. You’re it. Endgame. My final battle. Do you get that?”
“Yes,” she whispers.
“Fucking finally.” I hold the woman I love as the man who’s finally found the last page of a story he thought the world had burned. I’m here, with the girl in the red coat who captured me with a look, did unforgettably inappropriate things with a cinnamon roll, and healed me with a knock on the goddamn door.
Pressing a kiss to her temple, I breathe her in, the scent of her shampoo wafting up my nostrils: Jasmine and sandalwood.
“I’m so happy you’re in my arms again. Merry Christmas, Bells,” I murmur. “I love you.”
“Merry Christmas,” she whispers back, then pops up to look at me. “By the way, I have a present for you.”
Surprise wraps around me. “You—you do?”
Eyes twinkling, she nods. “It’s not wrapped. But I think you’ll approve.”
For a second, I can’t answer. Christmas gifts have never really been a thing for me. My childhood sure as hell wasn’t filled with anything from Santa. After that, the only ones that came my way were obligatory—publishers sending corporate baskets, fans sending things that belonged behind a paywall.
I go wonderstruck. “Bells, no one’s ever really given me a Christmas present before. Not one I actually wanted.”
Ava wriggles to stand, a devilish smile curving her lips. “Then you’re overdue.”
With careful fingers, she unbuttons her coat.
One.
Button.
At.
A.
Time.
My heart flatlines when the coat slips from her shoulders and puddles at her feet.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
She dressed as my main character—the one inspired byher.Only… sexier. And more scandalous than anything my cover designer ever approved.
What’s standing before me should absolutely be banned in these United States of America, along with several high-fantasy realms with strict morality codes.
There’s leather—deep forest green and scandalously fitted—laced tight through a corseted bodice that pushes her titswayup. Silver filigree vines curl along the boning, glinting in the firelight.
Ava’s magic, ready to be whispered. Her waist nips in, hips flaring into barely-there high-cut bottoms that leavenothingto the imagination. The thigh-high boots are laced up the front with slivers of iridescent ribbon and etched with runes that I’m eighty percent sure translate to “your doom is imminent... and you’ll enjoy every second of it.”
A sheer panel runs up the center, and every inch of revealed skin scrambles my not-so-polite thoughts, sending a rush of blood due south.
