Page 85 of Lost Love Found

“Is this your list?” He reads on. “Wow, you crossed almost everything off.” I watch as his facial expressions change as he goes down the list. The smirk as he gets to the lingerie and waxing line items. The smile as he reads about singing in public. Another smirk as he gets to the orgasm one.

“Did you… in the bath, did you?” I nod. He swallows hard. It’s amazing to me that the man who makes me come multiple times and dirty talks like he was born for it blushes as he reads about me masturbating. “What did you think about?”

“Oh my god, Adam. I thought about you, obviously, and I came in like 30 seconds. I forgot the snacks. Now, can you please focus?” I laugh and push his head back down towards the paper. Such a guy.

I can tell when he gets to the last one because his eyes fill with tears and his Adam's apple bobs, but he doesn't swallow.

I stand frozen still as he takes in the words on the paper. His expression is unreadable now, and I’m freaking out a little. Is this stupid? Does he hate this? I need to say something.

“I wanted to come home and think of something special to do for you, to show you how much you mean to me, and then I get here and you’re baking and cooking my favorite things, and now you went and did the most romantic thing ever and finished my office for me and it’s perfect. It was supposed to be me with the grand gesture.”

He walks over to my desk and takes a pen out of the cup. He sets the paper down and draws lines on it. “I just… I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to show you that you make me better. I don’t know how I can thank you. I’m still not entirely sure I deserve you, but I want to try to. Every day, I want to try.”

He walks to the corkboard on the wall and pins the sheet up and I keep going. “It just… it shouldn’t have been you doing all of this. I’m the one who fucked up. I walked away. I hurt you. I should be the one out there with the boombox, playing a sappy song.”

Finally, he walks back towards me, takes my face in his hands again and kisses me. Our tongues perform that perfect dance and my knees wobble. All thoughts are erased from my mind, and I wonder if this is normal. If everyone feels this when they kiss their person, except I don't have time to wonder because my brain ceases to function. By the time he stops kissing me, I'm convinced all the blood has rushed to my vagina, leaving me braindead.

“I need you to hear me, Elaina.” He keeps a hold on my face so we’re eye-to-eye. “There’s no ‘should’ with us. There’s no deserving. There’s no comparison. You have made me feel loved and heard since the first night we met. You’ve shown me what selflessness looks like. You’ve made me better just by being who you already were.” Great, now I’m crying again. “'It's easy to halve the potato where there's love', right?" Yep. Cue the ugly crying because he just quoted my dad's favorite saying. He sweetly wipes at my tears with his thumbs, his aquamarine eyes shining with a love as deep as the sea itself. "All I’ve ever needed is for you to love me.”

“I do. I do love you. So, so much,” I whisper.

“I know. And now I get to be one of those lucky people. Lucky to be loved by you. I don’t need anything else, Tornerose. Only you. Forever.” He kisses me one more time then pulls back just far enough for me to see his eyes. “Are you happy?”

This time I answer honestly, with eyes wide open and not an ounce of hesitation. “So happy, my love.” I can’t believe this is my life. I can’t believe this is my man.

epilogue

elaina

a few months later

“You know, you really are going to have to learn to not leave all of this to the last minute. For someone who’s always so punctual, this is the one thing you can’t ever seem to do ahead of time. And also think about better hiding spots. I found a polka dot scarf under the couch last week and Frankie nearly ate it!” I’m at Maeve’s helping her with her Christmas wrapping two days before the big holiday because she just cannot ever manage to have things wrapped on time.

“Oh, you found that? Thanks! That’s for your mum, actually. It’s cashmere! Should keep her well warm in those Massachusetts winters!” She walks over to the couch and pulls out the scarf box and I laugh. I fucking love her. “Are you all ready? You have a lot more people to celebrate with this year.” What a difference a year makes!

“Yep. I think I’ve been wrapping since October. I got Emma the cutest princess costume, and I had to wait in line to get Liam his new Lego set. I nearly fought a lady for it. I grabbed the last one, and she tried to claim it was hers when she already had one in her cart. Not a chance, lady. That shit was mine!” Maeve laughs as she sips her wine.

“Those kids are lucky to have an auntie like you, Bon. I can’t imagine ever getting into a fight over Lego!”

“I’m not their aunt!” I raise an eyebrow at her.

Adam and I aren’t married. We know it’ll happen eventually and that we both want kids, but we have this movie that will start shooting next year and that’s our baby for now. And I’m happy with that. He officially moved in with me about two weeks after I came back from Marblehead. The damage to his house ended up being a lot more effort than it was worth, and he sold it to someone who wanted to rebuild, anyway. It was fast, but we knew moving slowly and doing things the typical way was never much our style, so we took the leap. And we haven’t looked back.

“Not yet!” Maeve wiggles her eyebrows at me as she butchers the poor wrapping paper on the present she’s wrapping.

“And honestly, I had to do it. The kid has been talking about it for like four months! I can’t wait to see his face when he opens it!” And it’s true. I love Gwen and Callum’s kids. I babysit as often as possible, and I love every second. The old guest room is now a room for them to stay in.

“You’re adorable. You guys will definitely be back for the party, though, yeah?” She looks up at me hopefully.

“Oh, definitely. We wouldn’t miss it. We’ll be there early.” I wink at her, and she smiles. As if Adam and I would miss her New Year’s Eve party! It’s the one-year anniversary of the night we met!

* * *

After two Christmas celebrations, one on each coast and one with each side of our families, and a quiet birthday celebration for Adam, we’re back in LA for New Year’s Eve. Charlie opens the door to Maeve’s house as she hears me honking on the way up the driveway.

“Lainey,” she says, smiling. We haven’t seen one another for a few weeks. “I’m having a bit of déjà vu here.” We both laugh as we hug. “But it’s great that you can actually see this year! Let’s go in and grab a drink.”

I walk into the kitchen with Charlie, Adam is already here, helping Raf with something. Char bounces around, finding us glasses and pouring us some champagne. Before we have time to clink glasses and drink, someone calls her down the hall so she leaves the glasses on the island.

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