Page 154 of Hate Me Like You Mean It

I wiped at my cheeks, carefully refolded the most perfect letter ever drafted, and cradled it to my stomach.

“And I’m sorry it took so long to reach you. You have no idea—” He cut off, the telling crack in his voice shattering me to pieces. “I could write a thousand more pages, Alice, and it still wouldn’t be enough. It’s always been you. It’s only been you. And if you give me the chance to show?—”

I’d tackled him then. Clung onto him until we were both crying and blubbering “I love yous” until our voices grew too hoarse to keep going.

It wasn’t what I’d meant when I’d promised to make him weep on his knees, but I wasn’t complaining.

Brushing Dominic’s wet curls away from his forehead, I leaned in to kiss him again, the comforting weight of my ring a constant reassurance that this wasn’t a dream. “I love you,” I whispered. “You’re the best part of my day.” Another kiss. “My favorite color.” One more. “You’re my favorite song, my favorite movie, my favorite game, and every good thing in between.”

And I would happily spend the rest of my life proving it to him.

The End.