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I love this man.I was already falling for him with every moment we’d shared since I awakened to this unfamiliar world. But now, I realize…perhaps I’ve loved him all along.

And from his glittering dark gaze, the way his arms are twitching at his sides like he’s physically restraining himself from rushing toward me, Iknowfeels the same way.

Ethan Anderson, Polaris, they’re one and the same, and they both love me.

Desperately.

This is what’s missing in my heart. This big gaping hole nothing can fill.

“It was you all along, wasn’t it?” I stumble to a stop a foot away from him. The harsh moonbeam casts his features in stark contrast.

He swallows.

“You’re the man I’m looking for, aren’t you? The person I’ve forgotten but holds the missing pieces of my heart. You were in front of me all along.”

I wish I remembered us, our past in those missing four years—those precious memories that formed the inexplicable connection I have with this man.

Wetness glints in his stormy eyes and his nostrils flare.

My fingers tremble as I reach up and caress his face. A sharp hiss escapes his lips before he snatches my hand and turns his head, pressing a searing kiss onto my palm.

“And I pushed you away for so long.” Tears slide down my cheeks, but I don’t care.

“How come you aren’t mad at me?” I shove him in frustration. “I hurt you! I never understood why my heart ached or my head throbbedwhenever I saw you. I thought it was fear, that my body was trying to tell me something, but it was the opposite all along, wasn’t it?”

I shove him again, my mind overloaded with emotions.

Tears spill over, tracing silent paths down his cheeks, and the sight cleaves me in half. He hasn’t spoken a word, but his pain crashes into me, raw and unrelenting.

My fists flail, landing half-heartedly against him. He catches them, pressing them against his chest—keeping me from hurting myself, from hurting him any longer.

“It was the opposite, wasn’t it? Tell me, Ethan. My mind forgot, but my heart…my heart remembers. It was love all along, wasn’t it? That’s why it hurts so much to have lost it.”

Sobs rack my body.

I don’t deserve him. His kindness. His silent support. His love.

He’s solved my problems—the internship, my fear of swimming, the loneliness of having no one to talk to—all without asking for recognition.

All without asking for me to love him in return.

My heart recognizes him, even if my mind has forgotten our story—what must’ve been a beautiful, heartbreaking story. Because what else can explain his devotion to me?

I gasp—has he waited all these years for me? That’s impossible. No one can do that.

“I don’t deserve you, Ethan.” I shake my head. “I-I wish I could remember us. Our memories. I’m so sor—”

He yanks me to him and smothers my next words with his lips.

I’m finally home.

His mouth swallows my cries, and I kiss him back with everything I have.

We’re a mess of tears and passion, grief, love, and desperation. He grips the nape of my neck and angles me to the side to deepen our kiss.

Harder. Conquering.Healing.

Moaning, I claw at his tux jacket and in a flash, he chucks it off. He groans and crushes me tighter against him, binding me almost to the point of pain, but I’m already lightheaded.