Page 25 of Too Sweet

Locke

I catch Joey’s wrist when she turns to follow the others inside. “Hey. Not so fast.”

Brows scrunched, she stops and looks back to me. “What’s up?”

I can’t stand the space between us. I take both her hands in mine and step as close as physically possible. Then I place a tender kiss on her lips. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“Nicky…”

I silence her with another kiss. This one feels more urgent, my soul desperate to atone for everything that just went down. I pour my apology into the kiss, caressing my tongue against hers in a solemn prayer the begs for forgiveness.

When I finally pull away, she’s breathless. Good. Now maybe I can get this out.

“The others only knew about your birthday because of me,” I confess. “I saw it marked on Kylian’s calendar two days ago, thenI went ahead and told Kendrick and Cap so we could try and salvage the weekend. But all I did was ruin things.”

Her fingers brush through the hair at my nape. “This isn’t your fault, Emo Boy. You’re not responsible for their behavior. If anything, I should be apologizing to you.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s not like I was going to be able to keep my birthday a secret forever. I should have known someone would figure it out, and I should have been proactive about the fact that I did not want to celebrate or even acknowledge the day.”

Sighing, I bury my face in her hair. “I guess we all could have done things differently.”

Joey scoffs, her shoulders shaking. “You can say that again. But things like this are going to happen. We’re still figuring this relationship out, but we’re all doing our best. My knee-jerk reaction isn’t anyone’s fault. I hate that I reacted the way I did. Thank you for loving me, even when I’m not that easy to love.”

“Always, Hot Girl. And you are easy to love. I might not get it right, but I swear I’ll always try.”

“I think that’s the secret. As long as we keep learning and stay committed to loving each other in the ways we want and need to be loved, we’ll all be okay in the end.”

“I love you,” I tell her, the words rolling off my tongue with such ease it takes my breath away. “And even if it’s not my fault, I am still sorry I caused you pain.”

“I’ll always love you, Nicky.”

And that right there is all I need to know. I might not always get it right. I’m bound to mess up when it comes to my girl. But I’ll never stop trying, and I’ll never tire of finding new ways to show her how much she means to me. Which reminds me…

“The birthday presents were a hard no, and I completely understand why.” I crane back so I can see her reaction to whatI say next. “But what if someone had a Valentine’s Day gift they really wanted to give you?”

With one eyebrow cocked, she hits me with an unamused look. “What is it?”

Well, shit. Now I really wish I would have just taken my shirt off last night.

“Let’s start with what it isn’t,” I hedge.

She’s already wearing my hoodie. That means there’s only a thin cotton T-shirt hiding my big reveal.

“It isn’t something tangible, and it’s not something that can be wrapped.”

Her pretty blue eyes narrow. I can see the wheels turning as she tries to figure it out.

“Is it expensive?”

I grimace. I won’t lie to her. “Technically, yes. But it’s the kind of thing I would have spent money on regardless of whether it was for you.”

Joey scrunches her nose, clearly still unsure.

I decide to change my approach. “How about this? Your birthday doesn’t mean shit to me, Hot Girl.”

Joey cackles, and a wave of relief crashes over me.