Page 67 of Your Last First Kiss

The kids are havinga sleepover on the family room floor, and I’m contorted like a pretzel on Penny’s sofa above them. The house has been quiet for a couple of hours now, but my thoughts are loud until Gage sits up.

“Dewey?” he whispers with an urgency that makes my gut clench.

I slide off the sofa, then walk on tiptoes through the mass of bodies. When I reach him, I have to crouch in a weird position so I don’t fall on anyone.

“Hey, buddy. What’s wrong?”

“Dewey?” he says again, and my heart does a pitter-patter it’s growing accustomed to around these little people.

“Yeah, Gage, I’m right here. What’s wrong, buddy?”

He rubs his eyes with the heel of his hands and looks at me. Then he does it again, and I try not to laugh.

“Are you okay?” I ask again.

“Yeah. I was makin’ sure you were still here.” He lays back down and is out in seconds.

I can’t breathe. I can’t move. I don’t even blink. But my hands shake, and my head pounds with his words. This kid just carved my heart straight from my chest and is now using it as a pillow.

It belongs to him now.

Standing, I stay perfectly still until I’m sure my legs have stopped trembling, and I can make it through the maze of limbs without hurting someone. Then I make my way to the sofa with my brain running at warp speed.

Ashton made a deal with Remy. A deal that obviously includes me, and once it’s done, he’ll leave Envision behind.

Is it possible he knew all along that this is where I belong?

Can I belong here in such a short amount of time?

Is it really that fast, though? I’ve been pining for Penny for years. I’ve gotten to know her. I’ve fallen for her in so many ways.

“Go to sleep,” Miller grumbles from his spot on the floor.

“Why didn’t you go across the street to sleep?” I whisper.

“Why didn’t you?” he chuckles softly.

We had both said the snow was too thick, and we were too comfortable to go out in the freezing cold, but I have a feeling we both had very different reasons for staying in our uncomfortable positions.

I didn’t leave because I needed Penny to know that I was here, really here. Especially after what we did in her bathroom. And I suspect Miller stayed to make sure she was okay too. He’s been good to her, and for that, he’ll always be a friend.

He did give me the side-eye when I returned to the living room. And he didn’t hold back a chuckle when she followed a short time after, looking thoroughly spent. But he also looked genuinely happy. For all the crap in her world, she’s always had Miller.

It seems like the entire town has Miller. It makes me wish I could do something to help him.

“That’s what I thought,” he mutters when I don’t answer. “Go to sleep, Dillon. It’s going to be a long and bumpy road.”

“I’m not afraid,” I say more to myself than anything. And I’m not. I never pictured a family, but now that I’m here? Now I don’t know what my life looks like without them in it.

CHAPTER21

DILLON

“Do you know how to use a plow?” Miller shouts over the engine of his truck a week later.

He wasn’t kidding about the snow, but I’m also not fooling anyone. I could have gone back to the city days ago. I just couldn’t make myself leave, especially with Penny working from home.

But why would I? Even sleeping on Penny’s sofa is better than my empty apartment. And I have to say, I never pictured myself as a cuddler before, but who knew? I can’t get enough of her plastered to me, which I do every chance I get.