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He quirks an eyebrow at me. “What do you mean?”

A timid smile crosses my face. “Some part of you is still here at this time. I think for you to be able to really move forward, you will need to let it go. It’s going to hurt, but I’m here for you.”

He shakes his head as the tears fall harder. He pulls his hand from mine and attempts to stand up. My hand comes to his shoulder with a slight pressure. “Don’t run away,” I whisper between us.

His eyes snap back to mine, seeing the earnest emotions shining in them.

“Warrick, why did you bring me here?” I ask without shying away from the hard question.

His eyebrows dip together as his eyes flick back and forth as if searching for something. “What do you mean?”

“Why am I here right now? You said you have been dreaming of this moment, what exactly have you dreamed?”

He looks from my face to the room just behind me and back to my face. “I’ve dreamed of moments together in that room. Reading books, sharing stories, and filling your library with all the books that we read together.”

“So you have dreamed of a life of companionship where we share something we both love?” I run my hand along his arm, back down to his hand resting on his thigh.

He nods his head before swallowing hard. “Yes, I guess that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.”

“Do you think you are ready for it?”

He jerks back from me as if I slapped him.

“Wait, before you jump to any conclusions, think about what I just asked.”

He sits for a moment in quiet contemplation as his thumb sweeps back and forth across the back of my hand. “I think I’m ready to try.” He shifts to drop his knees to the floor as he turns to face me. He grabs both my hands in his as he keeps sweeping his thumbs across my hands. He looks up at me with an open, earnest expression.

“I’m going to fuck up. I’ll stumble, probably drop the ball a time or two.” He chuckles quietly as I smile at him. “But, I can promise you that each day when I wake up, I’m going to do everything I can to be the best man I can be for you. I promise when I stumble, I’ll stand back up. If I fuck up, tell me. I want tolove you for the rest of my life, through all the best moments and all of our worst moments. I’ll be your shelter to weather every storm.”

“This is a lot to process, Warrick. As I’m sure you’re aware of. While I understand where you are coming from, I need time.” It’s crushing to watch his face fall. I’m sure he was expecting for me to fall into his arms, declaring my undying love for him. While I do feel that pull to him, it doesn’t erase all the pain from the years past. It won’t take away the fear that he will cheat again or choose someone else instead of me.

He lets out a heavy breath. “Aspen, I don’t expect you to jump into my arms right away. I know that everything that has happened is going to take time to move beyond. I’m here begging for the opportunity to show you I’ll be different this time around, I promise.”

“Warrick, you opened up, telling me about your parents, I’m so proud of you. I should have been a better mate for you. Instead, I left you to wallow in your pain. You aren’t the only one who needs to be better for the other. How can I sit here acting as though you are the only one who needs to make changes?” My heart squeezes with realization. He really believes he is the only one who did wrong, and that’s my fault.

“You don’t have to change anything about you Aspen.” He gushes as he leans forward, brushing the tendril of hair behind my ear. “You’re perfect exactly the way you are.”

“As sweet as that sentiment is, it’s far from true. Nobody is perfect. Relationships, successful ones, are two people who show up for each other each day. Choosing them over everything else, but remembering you also have to care for yourself. You can’t be perfect, and I don’t want you to be. What I want is for youto choose us each day, even the hard ones. Because this isn’t a fairytale, we won’t live a life of constant sunshine and rainbows. We will have challenging days, days where we might not like each other, but as long as we keep showing up for each other, we will make it through it.”

“See! This is what I’m talking about! You know so much more than I do about all of this. How?” his eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. “It’s the books, isn’t it?”

A laugh escapes me. “I mean, they help. You know everyone thinks it’s just books, but really, it allows you to experience so many situations that you may or may not ever experience in your life. I think it helps you better understand the world, especially relationships. At least in my experience.” I won’t ever claim to be an expert, actually I’m far from it. My two only relationships have been such different experiences. Warrick, with his lack of concern for me as a person, but instead treating me as an object in his life, until the moment I found out I wasn’t his only object in his life. To Chase, who has been loving, caring, compassionate, and treats me as if every thought I have matters. Sure, I had a string of first dates in college, mainly me trying to move past the pain of Warrick’s betrayals. None of them stuck, none of them were him, and that frustrated me more than anything. The one person who hurt me the most was the one person I compared all of them to.

Why was it different with Chase? I think because I knew it wouldn’t be more than companionship, so I treated it differently. I’ve learned so much about myself under the careful care of Chase. But, the biggest lesson I learned? That Warrick and I would never last going the way we were. I would’ve been in a loveless bond, with a mate who treated me like an object. While I wouldn’t have been happy with him because I would’veexpected the fairytale prince who worships me. I think we needed this time to learn more about ourselves before we were thrust together.

Maybe with time, the pain, the heartbreak, and exploration of ourselves, we are better for it. We can be the mates we both needed. I hate to say it, but maybe it all happened exactly how it was meant to happen.

I pull my hands from his, and he drops his hands down to his side. His head droops as if I’m going to deliver the worst news to him. This poor man and his pain that’s so clear to see now. With both my hands, I caress his face, lifting it till he is again looking up at me. Slowly, I lean down until our mouths are only a breath away from each other. “I’m ready, too,” I whisper against his lips before closing the distance.

The kiss starts out slow and explorative. Like two people learning about each other and how to move together. He leans up and wraps his arms around my back before lifting me up. Shifting till I’m straddling his lap, his hands run up my back to tangle into my hair. The gentle pull on my hair as his lips dance across mine elicits a moan from me.

He growls against my lips at the sound pulling me closer. “You feel what you are doing to me?” He nibbles at my bottom lip.

I roll my hips along the impressive length between us. A gasp leaves my lips as I realize just exactly what he is packing down there. My eyes bulge as he smirks.

“Keep that up and we won’t be doing much more with clothes on.”

My skin flushes at his words. His nostrils flare as the scent of my arousal fills the surrounding air.