Page 114 of This Kind of Forever

I want you, I need you—stolen words between kisses.

Hallie’s breath catches when I slip inside her. Her legs wrap around me, holding me there. And when I eventually begin to move, I relish the slow slide of our bodies coming together, over and over again.

After we’re both spent, we lie there, tangled together. We’ll have to move eventually, but not now. Not yet.

“I love you,” she says, unburdened.

“I love you. Forever.”

A little of Hallie is better than none of her. Butallof her? That’s everything.

FORTY

HALLIE

“A little more to the left.”

He moves to the right. “This good?”

I sigh. “No, Gabriel, yourotherleft. It’s not centered at all.”

He looks over his shoulder at me, still holding the painting against the wall. “Baby, I don’t even know which way is up anymore, we’ve been doing this so long.”

I roll my eyes, crossing my arms from where I stand on the couch, facing the wall behind it. “Don’t be so dramatic. What good are those muscles of yours if we can’t put them to good use?”

Gabe grins. “Man, you’re bossy today.”

“And you said you knew what you were doing!” I counter. “Do I need to text your dad?”

His grin falters, turning into a frown. “No.”

I suppress my laugh as he turns back to the wall. Thankfully, when he shifts the painting slightly to the left, it’s perfect. I tell him so, and he carefully removes his hands.

Gabe spins to face me. “Damn, my girl knows how to paint.”

I shake my head. “It’s not my best work. I’m still a little rusty.”

“If this is rusty, then you’ll be hanging in some fancy European museum before long.”

This elicits a loud laugh from me. “I’m hardly Louvre material, but I appreciate the confidence.”

His eyes bore into me, and once upon a time, the intensity would have sent me running. Not now. “You’ve always had faith in me,” he says. “Let me have faith in you.”

Warmth spreads over me, from my head to my toes. “I love you.” The novelty of saying it still hasn’t worn off, and I hope it never does.

“Love you, too.”

He crosses the distance between us, wrapping his arms around the backs of my thighs and throwing me over his shoulder. I shriek as I’m lifted off the couch, my head swimming as the blood rushes there.

“Gabriel!”

He smacks a hand to my ass. “I upheld my end of the bargain. Now I want my reward.”

We both know he would have put the painting up for me regardless. In fact, he’s the one who wanted me to start making art for the house.Ourhouse, he says. Part of me wonders if we’re moving too fast, but the bigger part of me has been waiting too damn long for this to tap on the brakes now.

As soon as his foot hits the bottom step, the doorbell rings. We both freeze. The chime sounds again, and Gabe pivots and deposits me back on the floor. I blink as I reorient myself.

Gabe heads for the door, peeking out the side panel. “It’s Kevin,” he says to me.