Page 192 of After All This Time

“I love you.” She pauses. “I can’t wait for you to ruin me tonight.” She smiles into my mouth.

“I love you, too.” I return a smile into her mouth.

Everything about this moment is perfect, being here with Dani. How her head fits perfectly into the crook of my neck.

I never want to leave. I just want to stay here with her forever.

I can’t wait to see what life has in store for us.

I’m not going to lie when I say I’m slightly terrified, but there’s something I learned from these past two months that makes me feel a bit more at ease.

Life loves to throw horrible shit at us, but we can’t let that stop us from living. We just have to keep moving, even if it’s difficult and takes time. There’s always going to be someone who’s in your corner who supports you, loves you, and tends to your wounds—even if they aren’t physically visible.

After all this time, we made our way back to each other. I’m so grateful we did. I can’t imagine my life without her in it.

Danielle Hope Solomon has always been in my corner and I’m never going to let her go.

epilogue

TWO YEARS LATER

“You’ve been staring at your computer screen for hours,” Noah says, kissing my neck with his hands resting on my shoulders. “You deserve a break.”

“This book isn’t going to write itself, you know.”

“True, but it’s not going to be written at all if you burn yourself out.”

“I just need to finish this chapter.”

“That’s what you always say,” he says as his arms wrap above my chest area. “And you get sucked right back into your goddamn hole.”

Crazy how I’m sitting at my desk in my childhood bedroom with my former childhood rival turned long-term boyfriend standing over me.

We love coming back home for the summer and spending time with our mothers. For some reason, every time we come back to Sunset Cove, it feels foreign. It’s almost like we never lived here. It’s a strange feeling.

The last two years have been a whirlwind. I can’t tell if they actually happened or if they were a dream.

After six months of dating, I moved out of the apartment I shared with Bella and into Noah’s off-campus college apartment. The one he used to share with Grayson and Xander. I felt so bad for them when he kicked them out.

Three months after we graduated college, Noah and I moved to Cedar Springs. A small town located in the heart of Central Florida. We wanted a change from the salty ocean air and tall palm trees.

Noah wanted to be closer to his sister. Lizzie moved to Crescent Falls last year because she got an amazing job offer with the police department there. She wanted an escape when she regained her strength and mobility back after the accident.

When the one-year anniversary of Ben’s passing rolled around, we visited him at Sunset Cove Memorial Gardens. I visited my dad because it was the ten-year anniversary of his passing. It was a lot for Noah and me, saying goodbye to both of them all over again. We went to Loggerhead Beach afterward to clear our heads. It’s not just Noah’s safe place anymore, it’s our safe place.

I became a published author in August which was one of the main highlights of that summer.

Laura held a special event on release day at Sweet & Salty for my debut, Balancing Act. She advertised it like crazy months before on social media and the store’s website.

God, I remember how I was overcome with an abundance of emotions when I walked into the store. There are three that stick out to me: anxiety, excitement, and gratitude.

There was a table set up for me to meet readers and sign a copy of my book for them. It felt like a dream because there was a line that stretched down to Just One More Chapter.

It was insane to see my book in a bookstore and special because it’s in a bookstore very near and dear to my heart.

My editor texted me that my book made it to number five in the Sports Romance category and number eight in the New Adult & College Romance category. I cried for hours because I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

I can’t believe I get to write about flawed characters falling in love as my career every single day.

---