Page 30 of When We Fall: Part One

“Me too,” he murmured tiredly.

I pressed my lips to his. “Let’s get out and rest. We can watch a movie and fall asleep in one another’s arms.”

“Fuck, you sure know the way to a man’s heart,” he said, kissing me lightly before resting his forehead against mine. We stayed that way for a long beat, his hands on my waist, before he blew out a breath.

“Everything is OK, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to try harder.”

“I know. I will, too.”

He nodded. “OK. Well, let’s go snuggle and sleep. I’m exhausted.”

I shifted off him, and we quickly rinsed off beneath the shower head before drying. We didn’t bother with clothes, opting to simply slide beneath the sheets. I wrapped my arms around him as best I could, and he held me tightly against his body, my head on his chest.

“Tell me a wish,” he said, breaking the silence we’d fallen under.

“I wish… for your happiness.”

“Silly girl. Wish for something else.”

“No, I want that. I want us all to be happy. Tell me your wish.”

“I wish for that, too, but I’d also like Cole to stop putting cucumbers in my underwear drawer.”

“What?” I looked up at him in confusion.

He let out a little laugh. “Yeah. I don’t know why he does it, but he does. I think he just wants to make me smile.”

I settled in again. It sounded like a Cole thing to do.

“What else?” he pressed. “Another wish.”

“Um… I wish… I wish for more nights where we’re all together, and there’s nothing going on that distracts us.”

“That’s a good wish,” he said. “You keep taking the good ones. Let’s see. Aside from all the obvious things I wish were better or things I wish I could forget, I wish for shorter days and longer nights.”

“Why?” I let out a soft laugh.

“So I can hold you longer,” he answered before kissing the top of my head. “I love holding you. Feeling you. You’re still not real to me. How did I get so lucky, sweetheart?”

“I think I’m the lucky one,” I admitted. “I’ve done a lot of stupid things.”

“We all have. Our strength in all of it is that we learned, are learning, or desire to learn. We’ll get there. I keep that hope.”

I swallowed at his words and nodded against his chest. “Me too.”

“And just so you know, I wouldn’t mind.”

“What wouldn’t you mind?” I traced a little circle on his bare torso, enjoying how goosebumps popped along his skin.

“Your other wish. The one you don’t say.Anson joining us.I wouldn’t mind. I like him.”

I said nothing for a moment, my heart thudding uncomfortably in my chest. “Ethan, he can’t?—”

“I wish he would,” he said thickly. “I think he’d make you happy. I think he’d make me and the guys happy, too. He’d grow on Cole eventually.”