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“The thing is, Gianna, you’ve always been my home, too. Even if it took me a lot longer to consciously think about what you mean to me,” Riley paused, holding tightly to Gianna. “The reality is that I spent my twenties looking for a love that I would have never been able to find.”

Gianna scoffed, lightly tugging on Riley’s hair in her grasp. “Babe, please. Don’t insult my favorite person – or me, actually – and tell me that the woman I’ve been in love with for my entire adult life wouldn’t have been able to enchant anyone else.”

It didn’t matter that they were married now. Gianna still refused to allow Riley to state that other people wouldn’t fall head-over-heels for her. In fact, Gianna loved being able to comment on that now that they were married. Because now, she got the peace of mind of knowing that even if there were hundreds of people who would have loved to be with Riley, Gianna was the one that got her.

Riley’s eyes rolled slightly, and she shook her head. “That’s actually not what I’m saying. Actually, that’s a moot point.” The exasperated teasing look in her eyes completely faded, into something urgent and genuine. “The point I’m making is that even though I didn’t realize I was in love with you, you’re the reason I never fell in love with anyone else.”

Gianna’s heart flip-flopped in her chest. Riley told Gianna she was in love with her every day. In both words and actions. But it would never be something she took for granted.

Even so, this was something Riley had never said to her.

“What, exactly, do you mean?”

“I mean that…” Riley thoughtfully rolled her lips. “What I mean is that Dull Dan could have been Dashing Dan, and I don’t think it would have mattered. Maybe for a few dates, but not in the long run. Yes, I wanted to fall in love, and yeah, I was – technically – dating, and I believed I was trying to make that happen. But it was never going to happen.”

Riley drew in a deep breath, her torso pressing right against Gianna’s, and she felt Riley’s strong and steady heart beating alongside her own.

“Because I was so emotionally invested in you and in us. Even before there was, romantically, an us.” Riley’s voice was so low it was barely a whisper.

Gianna heard it loud and clear as her stomach erupted in butterflies. It felt, wildly and amazingly, as if Riley was confessing her love to her for the first time.

“How could I have fallen in love with someone else, really fallen for them, when my favorite part of every day was talking to you at the end of it?” Riley asked. “How could I have fallen in love with someone else when the person I wanted was… you? The thing I wanted so badly to find was someone to build a life with without it feeling like work? I wanted to find someone who erased the very thought of loneliness from my mind. Someone who made me feel seen and heard and understood. Someone who made me laugh, who made me feel comfortable enough to cry with.”

Riley lifted her other hand, moving up to gently cup Gianna’s jaw.

“You were already that person, Gianna.”

She released a breath she hadn’t registered she’d been holding, realizing that her throat was tight with emotion as she swallowed.

“Yeah? You think?” On one hand, she felt ridiculous asking Riley if she really meant what she’d said. Not only because Riley always meant what she said, but because they were literally married! She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Riley deeply loved and adored her.

On the other hand, she felt those words soothing over a place she hadn’t known needed soothing. A place from her past, that unrequited place. Something she’d never held against Riley; as she’d always said – their friendship wasn’t a consolation prize.

“I don’t think it, I know it,” Riley’s conviction was undeniable. “Gianna, sometimes I was excited to have shitty dates because I knew afterward, my reward would be coming here to be with you.”

An incredulous laugh escaped Riley as she gently stroked her thumb along Gianna’s cheek.

“I just never realized what that meant. I never realized that I’d already been building the life I dreamed of with another person. Someone who supports my dreams, loves me completely, goes on vacation with me, and celebrates holidays with me. Someone whose company is my favorite thing and always has been.”

Gianna blinked and felt the tears spill out onto her cheeks as she drew in a shaky breath.

Before she could move to wipe them away, Riley did it for her.

“The truth is that you and I were always going to end up here. Together. In one way or another. Because I wouldn’t have been able to do this with anyone else. It was always you, even if I didn’t realize how emotionally invested I was with you. But the way I love you, this didn’t start when we started sleeping together. That just allowed me to open my eyes,” Riley finished in a murmur.

Gianna used the hand she had threaded through Riley’s hair to cup the back of her head, drawing her up. Riley moved with her, already sighing into the kiss by the time their lips touched.

The thing was, Gianna really didn’t care how long it took them to get here. She didn’t begrudge Riley those ten years. Because she, too, had loved what they’d built, even if she’d believed it would never be more than friendship.

Thank fucking god that it was so much more than that, though. She hummed at the thought, curling her lips into a smile against Riley’s. Her wife.

Riley slowly broke their kiss, blinking up at Gianna. She slowly swiped her thumb back and forth over Gianna’s sensitive, damp bottom lip.

“And that’s why I love this house. Because maybe I didn’t buy it with you, technically. But that laundry room has always been ours.” She gestured over Gianna’s shoulder toward the room in question. “That’s always been our safe place. From bonding in there to making out in there to hiding from the girls when we need a moment of peace. And this living room has always been my safe haven. The place we’d curl up together, whether we were watching reality TV or whatever cartoon the girls were obsessed with at the time. I was here to help you decide what doorknobs to choose and where to hang that painting you bought in Paris. Maybe you bought it thinking it was yours, thinking I’d never move in here. But I’ve always been yours, too.”

A low, keening sound escaped Gianna’s throat as she tugged Riley against her once more, needing to feel her lips against hers.

Riley made her feel so much. She was the only person on this planet capable of filling Gianna’s heart like this. The only person Gianna had ever wanted like this.

She was the person who had given Gianna the small herd of children – the family – she’d ached for but never believed she’d have. The person who had filled all of the sad, angry, lonely places inside of her and taught her what it was to be loved. The person who had taught her what it was like to truly feel like she was home.

And the best part was that Riley had always been hers, just as Gianna had always been Riley’s.