Page 87 of Goodbye Note

“To keep going. To never stop. To keep my eyes on the stars and go to them.” The last felt like he added for me, but I couldn’t prove it.

“I want my first tattoo to have as much meaning.”

“Are you going to get one?” he asked, opening one eye.

“I’ve always wanted to.”

“What’s stopped you?”

“Not very lawyer-like. My parents would freak out.” My fingers crept up to the crow on his throat. When he lifted his chin, it raised his head, and my touch brushed up and around his cleft. “This one?”

“It’s my animal embodiment.”

“Why?” I lifted up like he’d been hours before, on my elbow to look down at him.

“Because they are tenacious. They don’t give up. They find treasure in hidden places. I respect them.” He kept his eyes closed, but his breathing shuddered as my fingers traveled.

“I love how much thought you put into them before you got them.”

He laughed with his whole body. “I never said it was before.”

“Did you just make all that up?” I playfully slapped his chest.

“No, I did think about them, but you happened to ask about ones I did put a lot of thought into. I have plenty I got on a whim.”

“What’s the difference?”

“I tend to save bigger spaces for thought and let the in between be whatever calls to me.” His fingers drifted to my cheek, and he looked into my eyes like he was going to kiss me again. “I want to go with you to get your first.”

“Let’s go tonight.” My chest fluttered with every caress, and my lips parted.

“Slightly impulsive, but I’ll bite. Do you think we’ll have time before call?”

I closed one eye, trying to remember our schedule. “We should have a few hours.”

“Then let’s do it. I’ll get another too.”

My chest swelled with happiness. “What are you going to get?”

“I don’t know yet.” He grinned and winked. “I told you, some are impulsive.”

My attention dropped to his lips. Part of me thought last night was a passing fancy. A thing I needed to feel less lonely. A closeness born of the deep connection we’d found. But in my chest and my gut, I knew it was more. I wanted to kiss him just then.

I still didn’t know what it meant. Or how to figure that out.

“What’s in your head?” Varian rasped, a tone to his voice I couldn’t quite place.

“You.” For better or worse.

“What about me?” He always knew the questions to pry me wide open.

How could I possibly answer when I didn’t know myself?

“We have sound check in thirty minutes. All of you need to be up,” Kiernan called.

I groaned, locking eyes with Varian. “I don’t want to get up.”

“We have to.” He grinned wider. “What can I do to motivate you?”

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