For eternity, maybe.
His next words breathe life into those very thoughts. “Move in with me,” he says, and time stops. The world stops, the earth stops spinning on its axis, and my smile slowly but surely breaks free.
I could launch myself into his arms and kiss him into oblivion; I could scream, “Yes!” from the depths of my soul, and kiss him some more, and never come up for air; I could somehow find my words, drag them up past my thundering heart, and give him the answer I know we both want to hear.
But I can’t seem to do anything but smile.
Smile, and smile, and smile.
“I love you,” I say through the curve of my lips, and he says it back, and his returning smile is the soulmate to my own.
Seventy-seven After
“MOVE IN WITH me,” Greyson says again. It’s more of a statement than a question, really, and my heart is still racing. Pounding out of my chest.
With excitement. With all of the excitement and none of the nerves; there are no nerves to be found, but I decide it’s absolutely necessary to mess with him anyway. “Move in together? That’s an awfully big step so soon,” I say, barely hiding the smile I can’t seem wipe away from my face.
He pulls my hand into the warmth of his. “Jess,” he replies with a seriousness that borders on amusement. “I love you; I’ve loved you for eight long years. And for every minute of that time, I’ve known—without a doubt—that you were the one that got away.”
I lean over my chair, across the small distance between us, and press a soft kiss to his mouth, already fully ready to give in. I was ready before he ever said the words—move in with me, move in with me, move in with me. I think they’re my new favorite words ever spoken.
“I’m not letting you get away again,” he finishes quietly against my lips anyway.
Giddiness rushes through me, sparking in my body like fireworks. I want to keep the teasing going, say something along the lines of: Are you sure? This is kind of fast. Or maybe a: I don’t know…
But I can’t help myself. I can’t contain it any longer. And I think it’s pretty obvious how I feel about the situation anyway.
“Hell yes, I’ll move in with you!” I give in, with a smile on my face and tears sliding down my cheeks, and then I launch myself into his lap like I’ve wanted to do since the second he uttered those words.
His arms snake around me, and I feel his smile against my lips. I graze it with my teeth before pulling his bottom lip into my mouth, and he groans, pulling me into his chest and deepening our kiss, slowing everything down. Tongues, and lips, and teeth exploring. Indulging, savoring. Celebrating.
By the time we come up for air, the sun has fully set. Goosebumps break out along my skin from the cold breeze rushing through.
“So, ‘hell yes,’ huh?” he says the words with a soft smirk, a little breathless, his chest visibly expanding and contracting before me.
“Hell yes to anything with you, Greyson. To everything with you,” I say, my breaths matching his.
“Anything?” he questions with a smile, brows raised.
“Anything,” I answer, and his mouth crashes down on mine again. He lifts me as he stands, my legs wrapping around his back as he walks us across his backyard, through his house, and up his winding staircase while hardly breaking our kiss.
We land on his bed in a tangle of limbs and laughter and clothing half hanging off our bodies. I finish undressing him, sliding his pants and boxer-briefs down his legs, and he slips the last of my clothing down my arms in return.
And I pause here. Beneath him. Breathing heavily as I try to catch my breath, but it’s no use. My chest rises and falls against his, and it’s clear he’s just as affected as I am. His green eyes, the ones that have always seen every beautiful and broken piece of me and loved them anyway, they shine with every emotion I’m feeling, too, and…
“I love you,” I whisper the words into the space between us.
His eyes drift shut, and a smile tugs at his lips. He bites down on it before bringing his mouth to mine. “I love you, too, baby. So fucking much,” he says into my mouth, and I swallow the words down. I lock them away where no one else can ever touch them as he pushes himself inside of me with a soft groan.
His lips find mine again, and our mouths move together beautifully, and our bodies do, too, and I’m already gone. Completely lost in him and the way he makes me feel.
His hands skating across my skin, fingers tightly gripping my waist—and my hips, and my thighs. His mouth moving over mine, tongue penetrating deep.
Our breaths and the sounds we make mingling together.
I sink my fingers into his muscled back, heels digging into flesh as I climb higher and higher, and I gasp for air. Frozen, as my back arches and I cry out, release washing through me in endless waves.
Greyson soon follows, groaning into my neck as his hands hold me tightly against him, and we’re two bodies molded into one.
A lifetime passes before my breaths settle and my bones feel like they’re no longer made of liquid.
I look over at Greyson, and he shifts on the bed beside me, turning to fully face me. He rests his head down on his folded arm beneath him, and we lie here, staring at each other from across our pillows. Quiet, smiling. Chests rising and falling with slow, contented breaths.
“So…about that anything…” he says after some time.
“Yeah?” I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, my smile growing even wider than before.
He clears his throat, eyes shining—with love and adoration and a hundred other things I can’t quite name at this moment—and I want to curl myself up in his arms and stay inside of this feeling forever.
“Does that mean you’ll marry me then?” he asks, and my heart skips a few beats, and then a few more. I lick my lips and trail my eyes over every inch of his face, gauging exactly what he means, his intent behind the question.
What I find are green eyes, and full lips, and features arranged in a beautiful way that anxiously and honestly await my answer.
“Will you marry me?” he asks again. His intention is clear, his voice rough with emotion, and I release a soft breath and smile.
And I kiss him, and I wrap my hands firmly around his neck as tears fall down my face, but I don’t think I’ve never been so happy in my life. It overwhelms me.
I suck in a deep, emotion-filled breath.
He leans forward and kisses my tears away, one by one. The soft touches send chills up and down my spine, fill all of the leftover spaces in my heart with pure, unfiltered light and warmth, and my answer is easy…
“Okay,” I whisper against Greyson’s lips.
Because I’ve known it all along. I’ve known it since the very first moment I saw him—that he was exactly like what I wanted the rest of my life to look like.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Call it manifesting, call it high hopes, call it wishful thinking, but I’m hoping that someday, sooner than later, more than a handful of you will own this book. And if and when that dream comes into fruition, I want—no, need—you all to know how thankful I am. (I promise to make this quick.)
So, first, thank you to YOU. To the ones that picked this book up, and read it, and gave it, and me, a chance. I thank each of you with all of my heart for handing me a piece of my dream come true.
Thank you to my husband, for believing in me. (Relentlessly believing in me.) There is no way in hell I could’ve done this without you. The book thing, and the life thing, too.
I love you so much it’s insane.
Thank you to my little loves, my babies, for filling me with the fight to chase my dreams, so that one day you’ll know how important it is to fight for yours, too. You are my light, and I love you beyond words.
Thank you to Kara, my best friend, aunt, auntma-to-my-littles, co-author, and everything in-between. I know we don’t even remember how we started this author journey together, which is crazy, but it’s only further proof that it was meant to
be—you and me. I love you more, always.
Thank you to my sister, Ashley (the best sister on this planet!), for being the most amazing auntie my babies could ever wish for, and for watching them for countless hours while I was out writing, and daydreaming, and clawing my way through this book.
Thank you to Angelica, for your support, and your friendship, and for always getting me. I have no doubt that the Universe nudged us together for so many beautiful reasons. My life would not be the same without you. Not even close.
Thank you to Emma, my Dilemma, because first, you’d kill me if I didn’t include you here, but second, because you are my friend who has always been more like a sister.
Thank you to my Cakie and my SIL, because you’re two of the raddest humans I know, and you care that I write which makes me feel pretty rad, too.
And to my Mama. ILY.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle Chamberland is a whiskey loving, moon manifesting, daydreaming author, wifey, and mama of two amazing kiddos, who lives in the mostly sunny, golden state of California. She is the Michelle half of the Watty Award-winning author duo, Kara Michelle, and is an absolute lover of losing herself between the pages of new worlds and clawing her way out on the other side with the worst (in the best way) book hangovers.
You can find her on Instagram @iloverusstopher
And on Wattpad, Instagram, & Twitter @karamichellebooks
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