Page 87 of Her Pretty Words

Iblink away from the pages of my book when I hear Grayson’s voice. “Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

I sit up and cross my legs. I never went home. I waited on the hood of his car, assuming he’d come to his senses, but hours ticked by, so I went inside to grab my current read to pass the time.

He’s standing above me with a suitcase at his feet and a duffle bag in his hand.

“Do you want to know why I was in your bedroom the morning you found me holding the picture of your family?”

He doesn’t respond.

“Because I needed to see you,” I say. “I spent a month on this island trying to mend something within myself, so I could remember how to love my fiancé.” I look at the stars and the moon, and then at him. “Instead, I found you, and you showed me that there was nothing about me that needed mending in the first place.”

His eyebrows pull together, and his gaze doesn’t waver from mine.

I slide off his car and stand before him. “My heart calls to yours. Don’t you feel it?” I ask, pressing the palm of my hand tohis chest, which beats in perfect sync to my own. Fast like we’ve been running. As though he’s chasing me.But now he’s trying to run from me.“I felt it since we were kids, and again the moment I ran into you at the airport.”

“Please—” He looks down at his suitcase like he might make a run for it before he can hear another word from my lips.

“I hated you for it. I didn’twantto feel for you. I wanted to fall for the person who gave me a ring in an ugly parking lot. I wanted it to be simple, because loving you wouldn’t be.” I drag my hand up his chest and around the back of his neck. “I got a sand dollar tattooed on my skin because the memories I had with you are one of the only ones I felt alive for. I’ve hardly felt the blood in my veins for eighteen years, but now, every day is thrilling because you’re in my life.” I close my eyes for a moment, and then whisper, “It means something that against all odds, I found you again. Everything I’ve ever wanted, every dream I’ve dreamed isyou. How can you explain that every love story I’ve written feels like ours? Even the men I’ve created from my own thoughts are passionate, kind, and respectful like you.” I think for a moment, then whisper, “If you can explain all of this with reason, then I’ll let you leave.” I look into his eyes and say, “But you want to know what I’ve concluded?”

His gaze pours into mine, but he doesn’t move.

“I am yours, and you are mine.”

His duffle bag slams against the pebbled driveway and then I am wrapped in arms of steel. His warm breath touches my lips and something electric flashes down my spine. His grip slides up my back and around the base of my head. “I thought heaven was a place that couldn’t exist on Earth,” he says. A tear slides down my cheek and falls to the places we touch. “I despised heaven and hated how there wasn’t a staircase that could lead me there,” he breathes. “I know heaven is a place, but it can also be a person.” He steps closer until the backs of my legs arepressed against his car, and he holds me like he’ll never let go. “You are my heaven, Mace.” I lean on the tips of my toes and kiss the words on his lips. “A day never passes where I don’t think of them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished to be up there too, but I don’t anymore, because I’m happy where I am. Right here beside you.” He pulls away to say, “But I don’t deserve you.”

“You do.”

“I don’t.” He looks away and his jaw ticks. “I’m a wreckage and it’s only a matter of time before I take you down with me. I’m broken and you can’t fix me.”

“You aren’t broken,” I say in a sad voice.

“I am.”

“You were traumatized,” I say. “You losteverythingin a single day. You learned the very worst of this world, but I promise you, Grayson, I will show you the beauty. But you have to let me. You have to trust that I can lead you there.”

“I’m scared,” he whispers in a gravelly voice. “I can’t lose you too.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“What if something happens to you too?” He sniffs and says with eyebrows pulled together “I. Won’t. Survive.”

I don’t know my fate, and I certainly can’t promise it. “Be scared, Grayson, but live your life alongside it. Wouldn’t you rather have a lifetime of memories instead of wondering what your life could have been?” I take a moment to think, and then say, “Make memories with me. Be happy.”

“God, I love you,” he whispers in a sincere voice. His eyes widen and he tenses like he realizes what he’s just said. “You don’t have to say anythi?—”

I kiss him with a smile on my lips. “I’ve fallen in love twice during this lifetime, and both times it was with you, Daniel Grayson.” I pull back so he can see the words curling on my tongue. “I love you.”

With parted lips and glistening eyes, I know this is the real him. Without his protective mask. He’s purely himself when he says, “I loved you before you ran into me at the airport. Before I even saw your head in the crowd. I’ve fallen in love with you over and over for eighteen summers.”

The light from his front porch goes out at this very second, flooding us in darkness. I can’t see him when his lips press into mine. I let out a sound which he takes as an opportunity to deepen the kiss. I gasp at the feel of his hands on the back of my thighs lifting me on the hood of his car. He lays me against the hard surface and kisses me in all the right places. I gasp when he lifts my shirt and squeezes my breasts until I’m writhing beneath him. “I love the sounds you make,” he rasps.

It’s the middle of the night. No one is out here, and if they were, they couldn’t see us. It’s nearly pitch black. “Can I take these off?” he whispers, thumbing the hem of my jeans.

“Yes please.”

He pulls them down hastily, and I hear the ruffle of him removing his own. “I need you,” I say desperately. My back tries to arch to get closer to him, and he quickly lays his weight on top of me, which I fear will dent his car. Before I can give it anymore thought, he thrusts into me in one quick motion and presses his lips against my mouth to stifle the sound I release.

“Grayson.” I say his name like it’s a prayer. With his lips touching mine, we share the same breath. It’s like we’re one.

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