Page 61 of Easy Reunion

“Maybe if I’d explained years ago…” I begin. But Kelsey lays a finger upon my lips.

“Who knows if we’d be standing here right now. I didn’t break away just because of you. I needed to find out what I could do on my own.” She reaches up to brush her own tears away, but I beat her to it. Slowly, back and forth, my thumbs wipe away every tear for what they are—a precious miracle of a reunion I don’t deserve but one I’ll never take for granted. Soon, my lips begin to trail across the wet tracks left across her face.

“I’ve vowed for the chance to make up for the past,” I choke out.

But when I look down, I realize the storm that’s raging isn’t behind her eyes; it’s inside my soul because the woman I’m holding in my arms has already risen from her demons stronger than she was before.

So what does that make me?

Desperately, I shove the thought aside as I thread my fingers through her loose brown hair. Tipping her chin up, I seek permission to bridge the space of air between her lips and mine under the night sky. Because once my lips touch hers, there’s no going back.

Not now. And maybe not ever.

Kelsey’s hands slowly slide around my neck, tugging my face as close to hers as possible without our lips touching. “Kiss me under the stars where a million wishes can be made,” she murmurs. “Kiss me knowing whose lips you’re taking. Kiss me knowing I’m the same girl I was at seventeen, the woman you took in Savannah, and that I’m going to make mistakes. I’ve changed, but I’m…”

Before she can continue, my lips have crashed down on hers, swallowing her words. Because I already know who she is.

Mine.