Page 278 of Cross the Line
Jayden nips playfully at his lobe. “Only because you make it so easy.”
“Nah…” Eli’s head cants to the side, and with the brush of his lips along JJ’s cheek, he adds, “You get off on it. That’s the kind of sick fuck you are.”
“And you fucking love it.”
“Do I?”
We do.
“Yup,” Jayden retorts, trailing the tip of his nose along the bridge of Eli’s. “And too bad if you don’t, ‘cause you are stuck with me forever.”
“I suppose we will be,” Eli says with a sigh that wraps around me warmer than a tight hug. So wistful that my insides clench. “When we make it official.”
Eli is beaming at Jayden when he turns the hoodie in his hands so that the back is in plain view.
I’m staring at the letters appliquéd across the top while they watch me.
It’s the longest moment before Jayden asks, “What do you think, Lucky? Do you want to make it official?”
Suddenly, it’s not just my lungs forgetting their job. It’s my brain and my heart. It doesn’t matter how hard I swallow; I can’t stop the tears from flooding my eyes.
My vision turns to a blur of navy, white, and purple as I nod in reply, even though my brain is still piecing together the white letters curved over a large purple four leaf clover.
Sylkes-Morrow.
Rough pads swipe below my eyes with a gentle reverence that makes the tears heavier. Totally impossible to control while Eli carefully threads the hoodie over my head and JJ continues stroking my face, hands gliding down my neck and across my shoulders until they find mine and he helps our man get the hoodie on me properly.
“I meant what I said, Finley,” Eli tells me, sitting next to me on the bed with JJ snug behind him. “Your name doesn’t change who you are or how we feel about you. It certainly doesn’t dictate our future.”
“That future includes your happiness,” Jayden adds, lacing his fingers with mine at the same time as he leans forward, resting his chin on Eli’s shoulder. “More than anything else, it’s what matters to us.”
“So…” Eli grips my chin lightly, holding my face to his. With his thumb tracing along the curve of my bottom lip, he continues, “If you really don’t want to be a Tomes anymore, you don’t have to be.”
“You never have to be anything you don’t want to. Not with us.” Jayden rakes his thumbnail along my palm, bringing my blurry stare to his. “The joy of being us is that we can be whatever we decide and do anything we want, because the rules don’t apply to us. We make our own beat to dance to.”
“Thing is, you’re as much a part of me as you are of JJ. So your name should reflect that.”
“Our nameshould reflect that we are a part of each other.”
“I think Sylkes-Morrow has a good ring to it. What do you think, Angel?”
Every word in my vocabulary is MIA as I open my mouth to speak, and nothing but a breathy sob sputters out with my nod.
“Just imagine little Easter and Valentine Sylkes-Morrow… definitely has a ring to it,” Jayden says, leaning closer to smoosh us together at the same time as Eli groans, “We arenotnaming our kids after holidays.”
“But they’ll be sweet like chocolate and totally lovable…” Jayden croons while Eli traces his lips along my jaw to my ear.
“More so withoutthose names,” he groans, peppering warm kisses along the shell of my ear.
“We’ll see,” Jayden hums as his mouth finds mine, and I gasp into his open lips when Eli sucks at that spot behind my ear that lights up all my pores.
Even though Jayden’s teasing, I want to tell him that Eli is right—our children will not be named after holidays; however, all my focus is on the way my body is screaming with need when Jayden licks into my mouth. Meanwhile, Eli continues exploring the curve of my throat with his lips, and it’s taking every ounce of my energy to remember how to breathe so I don’t pass out. My heart is hammering harder than ever as he tunnels his fingers through my hair while his mouth trails back up to my jaw with open-mouthed kisses, from me to JJ.
This is everything I love about us. The way we fit. The taste of Jayden’s groans when Eli licks and sucks along his jaw. The feel of Eli’s chest rubbing against mine every time he gasps for air.
Everything about us is perfect and unique. And there will never be anything like this.
Like us.
