Page 23

Declan

Six Months Later…

The heat in Orlando was disgusting, but I’d been waiting for this trip for a long time.

“Ready to celebrate?” Noah asked as we piled into the rental car, a red Toyota Yaris. We were halfway to our destination and had stopped at a dingy gas station for a pack of M&M’s and caffeine. Granted, if I didn’t eat my M&M’s fast, they would melt in this heat, just chocolate sludge everywhere. Fuck this heat.

“I’ll celebrate once we’re there.” I slid into the passenger’s seat. Noah was obsessed with driving, and since I didn’t care, I let him go to town.

“The whole trip’s a celebration, though. You did it.” He tossed me his signature heart-stopper of a grin that still made my heart do a backflip .

After a few months of sending out résumés and interviewing, I’d landed a chemical engineering job with an aeronautics company, and we’d decided to come down here. While it would be change—and I loathed change—I’d be working on projects that were more in the vein of what I’d been toying around with at home. I’d miss Henry and Jacob, but they promised to keep dragging me out, and I believed them.

Instead of keeping those projects in a dark basement to myself, I would use my skills to increase our abilities to eventually travel to the farther reaches of our solar system.

At least, one could hope.

Noah zipped along the highway at top speed, whistling to the tune of whatever shitty pop blared on the radio. Life with him and Petie had been amazing. And once I started the new job, I’d be selling my house as well. Petie was hanging with the grandparents—aka, my parents—and getting spoiled by the sheer volume of attention. By the end of the week, we’d have to pry him away. Mom and Dad loved him so much.

I turned the knob to blast the A/C higher, enjoying the coolness on my skin, and sank back in my seat. When Noah and I had gotten together, I’d been concerned about how our pieces would slot together, but we managed to make our relationship work and better than I could’ve dreamed. The ocean flashed by as we crossed the bridge, heading closer and closer to our destination.

I’d been wanting to go here for so long, but the sheer volume of unknowns with travel had me hesitating for a long while. However, Noah nudged me out of my comfort zone in the best way. He’d suggested the trip well in advance, with enough time for me to thoroughly research so I’d been prepared for the flight down. Though I hadn’t accounted for how muggy this humidity was. My god .

“You ready, beautiful?” He gripped my hand, one still on the wheel.

I licked my lips and stared out the window.

The sight of the familiar NASA logo struck me square in the chest, and my mouth dried. The Kennedy Space Center had been a must-travel destination for so long that it felt a bit surreal I was here.

And I never would’ve made it without Noah.

I squeezed his hand, my heart thumping hard. I was falling more and more in love with him every day. It was like I was a duckling that had imprinted on him as part of my family, and I’d never experienced that strong a pull to any other human. I doubted I would again.

Noah was my person, and navigating the world felt a little easier with him as a buffer. He smoothed over some of the negativity my directness sometimes summoned with others, and in turn, I helped him speak up for himself. Together, we were covalent bonds, the hardest to break, and we grew stronger every day. The space center grew closer, but my gaze drifted to Noah.

To the way the sunlight illuminated his stunning blond hair, how his eyes lit up with such infectious hope. How his tanned skin soaked up those rays, the nicks and scars making him that much sexier. God, he wrecked me every night in bed in the best way, and I couldn’t get enough. I would never find another like him, and the wildest thing was that he’d been right under my nose the whole time.

We veered closer and closer, and a heaviness like a weighted blanket settled over me, all comfort and safety wrapped in my person, even as I faced the unknown.

“I’m ready.”

And I was.

I couldn’t wait for the rest of our life—together.