Page 25 of Shiny Things

I was pretty sure I’d spent the last few years of my life falling in love with Kim, despite all her fears and protests. With the uncertainty of a future together, I hadn’t dared let myself truly think about it before. But there was no denying it now.

I loved Kim with a desperation that terrified me.

Instead of running away from it, I clung to her, never wanting to let her go again.

Neither of us spoke, and I wondered if it had been as monumental of a moment for her as it had been for me.

Fearing I would crush her, I rolled to my back and pulled her onto my chest.

Smiling, I kissed the top of her head and took a moment to breathe in her sweet scent. She smelled like cherries and jasmine. It would forever be my favorite scent.

She looked up at me, watching me closely.

When I saw her brain starting to function again, I silenced her with another kiss. I could stay right here in bed with her all day, hell, every day for the rest of my life, and be perfectly happy.

She playfully pushed me away.

“We shouldn’t have done that.”

“No regrets,” I insisted, hating hearing her say that.

That thought creeped into my mind like a dark cloud.

She reached up and touched my cheek. “I didn’t say I regretted it, just that we probably shouldn’t have done it.”

“I disagree. We should have done it a long time ago, and we should keep doing it.”

“You don’t know how badly I wish I could,” she said sadly.

“Hey, don’t.”

“Don’t what.”

“Don’t kick me out and pretend like this wasn’t a big deal.”

She snorted. “Elias, you have a reputation around town, you know. I know this wasn’t a big deal for you.”

She bit her lower lip in an uncharacteristically vulnerable moment.

“That was a long time ago. I was just a kid. There’s been no one else, Kim. Not since the first time I kissed you in Aunt Ginny’s garden during one of her parties.”

It had been several years earlier, even before Gia and David had met. And it was the truth. There’d been no other woman in my life since I first set my eyes on Kim.

“No one?” she asked.

“Only you, babe.”

“I’ve, um, never . . .”

“I know.”

She blushed. “Was it noticeable?”

“Not in the way I suspect you think, but yeah, I noticed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

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