Page 55

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

ELLIOT

“ O kay, but seriously, no. No more. Not one more step. Fuck, El,” Amelia gasps, bending forward on the side of the Harvard Bridge with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

“There is no amount of healthy that’s worth this kind of torture on a Saturday morning. Why do you like this again?”

I chuckle, running a hand up her back and letting it rest lightly on her neck. “The quiet city. The cold air on my face. Feeling like I’m the only person in the world for a while. The way my brain empties out.”

“I could get all of that stuff going for a leisurely sunrise stroll,” she grumbles. “Instead, I’m out here taking my life into my own hands.”

“I would never let anything happen to you; you know that. Besides, it’s just an easy two miles. No lives will be lost. I swear.”

Amelia blows out a breath and hangs her head lower, her long brown ponytail almost brushing the sidewalk.

“ Only two miles he says, like that’s a walk in the freaking park.

You know I’m philosophically opposed to exercise in all forms. I honestly don’t even think I would run if someone was literally chasing me and running was all that stood between me and certain death. ”

She looks so adorably grumpy, I pull her up and tug her towards me, turning us so we’re facing the river.

I push her gently against the side of the bridge and wrap my arms around her so we can watch the view.

Bending down, I press a line of kisses up the side of her neck and lean my head against hers.

“The true crime and dark romance lover in you would probably like being caught anyway.”

Amelia snorts out a laugh. “True story. I’ve got a touch of the weird.”

I kiss her cheek, smiling against her skin. “It’s my favorite thing about you. You didn’t have to come with me, you know. You could have stayed in bed. Early morning running is my thing. You don’t have to make it your thing, unless you want to.”

She sighs, melting back into me, and I hold her tighter.

“I woke up to your head between my legs, and three orgasms later, you asked me if I wanted to run to the diner and have cinnamon rolls for breakfast and Diet Pepsi in the diner’s mugs, which are the best mugs ever.

I can’t be held responsible for the choices I made under that kind of duress. ”

Pulling back the ear warmer headband she’s wearing, I kiss behind her ear, flicking the spot that makes her gasp. “Orgasms scrambled your brain, huh?”

“Uh, yeah, the way you do orgasms? I’m lucky I have a single brain cell left in my head.”

“You’re not so bad at orgasms either,” I say, lacing our fingers together.

She turns her head and grins up at me. “Oh, I know. I’m fantastic in bed.”

“Bet your beautiful ass, Mystery Girl.” I kiss her nose and she laughs, turning back around and nestling deeper into my arms as we stare out at the view.

It’s a gorgeous March morning. Early enough to still be cold, but the sun is rising over trees that won’t be leafless for very long, a Charles River that, in a few more weeks, will be filled with rowing shells on the water for early morning training, and a nearly empty river walk that will soon be teeming with the morning runners who stick to treadmills during the winter months.

I’ve always loved the changing of seasons in Boston, but I love it even more right now, standing here on the side of the Harvard Bridge, wrapped around Amelia.

We found each other again right after Christmas, so we’ve almost been together for a whole season now.

It feels significant that we’ll be together to watch the city come back to life after the long winter.

That after that, the summer will be ours and ours alone.

Standing here with her, our future feels big and bright and like it belongs to us to make it whatever we want it to be.

I see it all stretching ahead of us. A shared home and a shared life.

My brothers strolling in without knocking and big, loud family dinners.

Going to Pittsburgh to visit her family and showing them around Boston when they come to us.

It’s all so clear to me, and every part of it settles me right down to my core, the same way it did two weeks ago when we had my brothers, Jo, and Hannah over to tell them about Maine, and what we found out about Clara and Henry.

Having everyone around the same table, talking and laughing together, eating the dinner I made and all the pies Noah brought, arguing about whether fruit belongs in a dessert and crowding on the couch to watch a movie, Amelia right at the center of it all, like she’s been there all along.

It feels easy to think ahead to a time when we’re not a secret anywhere.

When we don’t have to hesitate before we hold hands, and I can kiss her whenever I feel like it, no matter where we are.

Even being public in most of our lives isn’t enough for me anymore.

I want it all. That’s the future I want.

The one I’m ready for, whenever she is. The one I’ll sacrifice anything to have.

But I’m not the only one who has some decisions to make.

“Do you think there’s a way for us to be together that won’t cost you your job?” Amelia asks, like she peered right into my head and plucked out my thoughts. Before Amelia, I never believed in that kind of stuff, but when I’m with her, impossible things don’t feel so impossible anymore.

I sigh, spinning her around so I can cup her face in my gloved hands. “If the dean were a different kind of person, probably. But he’s an asshole who has never liked me for some reason.”

Amelia huffs out a laugh. “Probably because you’re smarter than he is, sexier than he is, and have way better hair than he does.”

I lean in and kiss her softly, smiling against her lips. “You think I’m sexy?”

This time her laugh is real. “Uh, yeah. You’re like the sexiest man alive.

Last night at book club, Jo, Hannah, and I were doing a definitive ranking of the Wyles brothers.

Jo obviously lobbied hard for Jordan in the number one slot, but you got Hannah’s vote.

It’s the hot nerd thing. She’s absolute trash for a hot professor.

If she didn’t have a boyfriend back home, I’d worry about her coming for you. ”

I smack a kiss to her cheek. “You’re the only one for me, Mystery Girl.”

She leans up and kisses her favorite spot on my jaw. I love that she has a favorite spot to kiss me. “You are swoon city, El. I like it. I’m not even sorry for objectifying you last night in a room with your mother and grandmother.”

“Objectify me any time you damn well please, baby, as long as I’m your one and only vote for number one in the definitive ranking of Wyles brothers.”

“Fuck yeah, you’re mine. You also got Cece’s vote.

Something about you embracing the universe, I have no clue.

Your mom voted, too, but she swore us to secrecy because she says anyone who thinks moms don’t have a favorite kid is lying through their teeth, but that she would also go to her grave with that secret.

So, I guess we now have to go to our graves with that information too.

There may have been some kind of blood oath involved.

Honestly, the third margarita put me over the edge, so I might have missed some of the salient details. ”

I snort out a laugh, loving the thought of Amelia having a relationship with my mom and my grandma, with Jo and with Hannah for as long as she’s here, that belongs to her and her alone.

She told me a while back that she has always struggled to make good friends, and I’m glad she has them now.

“I bet it’s Cooper. My mom’s always been a softie for the youngest.”

Amelia mimes zipping her lips. “My lips are sealed, my friend. So, about the dean?”

I sigh again, tossing an arm around Amelia’s shoulder and leading us off the bridge. “He’s not going to magically be all cool with it.”

“Probably not,” she agrees, her tone thoughtful as we push through the front door of the diner.

I wait for her to say more, but she doesn’t, so once we’re seated with drinks in front of us, I reach over and take her hand. “I’ll be honest, Ames. Being with you, all the way out loud, is worth whatever consequences there are for my job.”

Amelia’s eyebrow quirks up in surprise. “He could fire you.”

I shrug, taking a sip of my coffee. “He could. He might.”

“You love that job.”

“I love teaching. And doing cool shit with computers. There are a lot of places I can do that.”

She takes a deep breath, wrapping her free hand around her mug, her eyes studying me intently. “You’d give up your job for me?”

Without speaking, I leave my side of the booth and slide in next to her, turning so my body is angled towards hers, taking both her hands in mine.

“If you have to ask me that, I’m doing this wrong.

Yes, I would give up my job for you. In a heartbeat and without a single hesitation.

It’s just a job. There are other jobs. I love you, Mystery Girl.

You’re my world and my whole entire future.

There is literally nothing on earth I wouldn’t do for you.

If it’s in my power to do it, it’s yours. ”

Tears spring to her eyes, and I cup her cheek, wiping away one that escapes. “Why did that make you sad?”