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“I was afraid,” I confess. “I was afraid of so many things, but mostly I was afraid of how much I wanted you.”

The mask he’d worn to hide his emotions falls; he looks vulnerable, his cheeks flushed, his lips parted. “I’ve only ever loved one girl,” he says, “since I was fourteen. Maybe I could love someone else in in the future...”

I draw his mouth to mine, pressing my body to his, making him take back the words. I only release him when I’m satisfied. “I didn’t like what you said, about loving someone else in the future. The only girl you love, who you willeverlove, is me.”

He laughs unsteadily. “I’ve never seen this selfish side of you.”

“When it comes to you, I’m entirely selfish. I want all your attention.” I press another kiss to the corner of his lips, the edge of his cheeks. When I draw away, his eyes flutter open. “I crave it. I want you to look only at me.”

“Now that you’re being forthright,” he says, “you’re making me blush.”

I circle my arms around his neck and bring my lips to his ear. “Come home with me. I want to be alone with you.”

He holds me close a moment longer, his hands tightening around my waist before letting go. Taking my hand, he leads me from behind the partition to a different car in the long line of them. We climb inside and he gives the driver my address.

“Aren’t the others waiting for you?” I ask as we pull out of the parking lot.

He takes out his phone with one hand—never letting go of mine with the other—presumably to text them. But he only looks down at the screen for a few seconds before pocketing it again. “No,” he says, color in his cheeks. “They’re not.”

I arch my brow, wondering what sort of texts they’re sending him.

Neither of us speaks on the long drive to my house, conscious of the driver in the front. When we pull up outside, Nathaniel paysthe driver while I key in the code to the gate. The garden lights blink on as we walk up the steps, as if welcoming us home.

We pause briefly in the foyer to remove our shoes. I sigh in relief as my stilettos drop to the ground, and then we’re stumbling up the steps, laughing.

Nathaniel shuts my bedroom door behind us. I fall backward onto the bed, spreading my arms wide on either side of me. I look up to find Nathaniel standing at the foot of the bed, looking incredibly pleased with himself. “That’s one of your rules broken.”You’re not allowed to come into my room.

I lift a brow. “And the other?”

He’d already discarded his jacket. Reaching up, he unbuttons more of his obscenely buttoned shirt, pulling it over his head. My mouth goes dry at the sight of his lean muscles and taut stomach. Circling his hand around my ankle, he bends my leg. He lowers his head, kissing the Band-Aid over my scraped knee, then he wraps my leg around his waist, climbing over me.

We kiss, more passionately than before, every touch of our lips a promise of love, of belief, of trust. I want,need, to be closer to him, the fabric of my dress catching around my legs. He finds the zipper at my back, sliding it down. I gasp at the touch of his rings against my skin.

I draw him up to me, so that I can look into his eyes.

“I mean it,” I say, breathless. “Do you doubt me?”

His dusky eyelashes lower. “After the Ferris wheel, I thought it was over between us.” His voice is unsteady, an echo of his anguish. “I was prepared to live my life without you. It felt like my heart was being torn from my body.”

“Not without me,” I breathe, “never without me.”

I raise my hand to his cheek, and he lifts his to cover mine. Our eyes meet and my heart feels like it could burst with love for him.

Ever since he first teased me, I think I knew, and even as the years have gone by, and we’ve been pulled apart and pushed together again, my heart has always been drawn to him.

“I love you,” I say.

His eyes are bright. And then we’re kissing, falling into each other, in a night of endless bliss.

Thirty-six

I wake the next morning with the blankets kicked to my feet and my arms outstretched above my head. Abruptly I sit up, grabbing a pillow and bringing it to my chest. When I turn, I find Nathaniel still asleep. He’s lying on his stomach, his head turned toward me, strands of his hair falling across his bow. He’s so handsome, with the sunlight streaming over his face, that I forget my embarrassment entirely. I reach out to push the hair from his eyes.

My stomach growls. I haven’t had a proper meal since an early dinner the day before, and I’mstarving. But I don’t want to wake Nathaniel, not when he’s sleeping so peacefully.

I edge toward the side of the bed.

“Sori?”