Page 194 of Headstrong Like Us

A card rests on the taupe-hued comforter, along with a bronze tray of chocolate-covered strawberries. He had this sent to the suite. My eyes burn. “You weren’t afraid that I’d tease you for doing a really fucking cheesy thing?”

“No, I knew you’d tease the fuck out of me for eternity, but I wanted to anyway.”

I cup his jaw and kiss him lightly. “So what’s in the card? Did you profess your undying devotion to me? Doodle us making love and add little glitter hearts?”

He grimaces, his neck reddened. “And now I’m rethinking that cheesy goddamn thing.”

“That’s too bad because I really want to read that cheesygoddamn thing.” I push him off me, before he decides to flush the card down the toilet. We rise to our feet, slipping off straps of our duffels.

I glide my hand down his muscular back as I walk around him to the bed.

“It’s not that serious or that long,” Maximoff warns me.

I smile. “Are you trying to throw me a life jacket before I read your card?”

“Not a life jacket,” he combats. “A flashlight.”

I pluck the card. “And here, I thought I was your lamppost.”

“Flickering outlamppost.”

My deep laugh rumbles my chest. I pluck the perched card off the bed and flip it open. Eraser marks smudge paper, and I can tell he retraced the pencil that exists with ballpoint pen.

He must’ve written and erased a dozen lines before settling on what exists. My eyes brush over his handwriting, his words.

If you’re reading this, it means we’re now married, and the sky didn’t fall in. We didn’t die before we could slip rings on each other. No doomsday or curse or hateful entity stopped us or separated us. It means you’re now Farrow Redford Keene Hale, and I can wake up knowing you’re mine forever. Thank you for giving the guy who has the world all the parts that he’s never seen or felt before.

I love you.

P.S. if this is too damn sappy, trash it.

- Maximoff

I’m never throwing this fucking card away. My love for Maximoff constantly overwhelms me. I inhale and I glance back at him. “It’s extremelyfucking sappy.”

“Great, burn it—”

“It’s mine now.” I slip the card in my back pocket.

Maximoff drinks me in and he unbuttons his shirt. “Why are you so far away?”

My muscles contract, and with a lengthy stride, I reach him in seconds and hold his jaw with two hands. He disintegrates under my touch.

I tighten the grip, and he kisses me, our lips melding with passionate force. We snap together, pulses drumming. Desire boiling. Our strengthening hands and exploring mouths burst with power and love.

I reluctantly tear back with a short breath. The bodyguard in me isn’t shut off, and this leftover thing is going to nag me.

He wets his stinging lips and watches me walk backwards. I unbutton my black shirt, and I scope out the candlelit suite.

Maximoff gives me a hard look like I’m unnecessarily edging him. “Where are you going, man?”

“Still impatient as hell.” I smile and peer into the marbled bathroom.Clear.

I glance out the red-brick terrace. Moonlight dances over the celestial waters, and three domineering rock formations, the Faraglioni, project out of the sea like pillars.

Clear.

I latch the terrace doors, locked, and I draw the drapes closed. When I return to Maximoff, he has his cellphone out, brows cinched.