Page 47 of My Rival Mate

I squeeze back.

***

Later—much later—we're walking back to my dorm. The campus is quiet, the streetlights casting pools of gold on the sidewalk. Sam is tucked under my arm, warm against my side.

"Hey," he says softly.

"Hey."

"We're really doing this, aren't we? The internship. The apartment. The whole... life thing."

"Looks like it."

He's quiet for a moment. "Are you scared?"

I consider the question. Before, the answer would have been yes. I was scared of everything—of wanting too much, of feeling too deeply, of losing something I never even had.

"No," I say. "Not anymore."

"No?"

"I spent two years being scared." I stop walking, turning to face him. The streetlight catches his eyes, turning them to honey."Scared to talk to you. Scared to want you. Scared that if I reached for something real, it would disappear."

I cup his face in my hands. He's so small compared to me—I could wrap around him twice—but he's never felt small. He's the biggest thing in my world.

"I'm done being scared," I tell him. "I want the life. The apartment. The arguments about whose turn it is to do dishes. I want all of it. With you."

Sam's eyes are bright. "That was disgustingly romantic."

"I know. It surprised me too."

He rises on his toes to kiss me. "Do it again sometime."

We stay there for a moment, breathing each other in.

"Come on," Sam finally says, tugging my hand. "Let's go home."

Home.

I follow him into the darkness, toward the light.

You made it! Thanks for reading Sam and Devan's story, and for sticking with the whole Westbridge crew!

When I started this series, I just wanted to write some spicy, swoony, instalove chaos. I didn't expect to fall in love with these characters quite as hard as I did. Writing this series has been such a joy, and I hope these characters found a little corner of your heart to live in. They've certainly taken over mine.

I've got some fun stuff in the works for the new year, and I'd love to have you along for the ride.