Page 128 of Not in My Book

A hint of a smile appeared. He cleared his throat. “Rosalinda, I don’t—”

“But I loveyou,” I interrupted him. The pages were empty after this line because I didn’t need to remind myself why I loved him. He looked up at me, waiting. “I love the way your hands find mine when we walk in a crowd, like you’re protecting me. I love the way your feet hang off the edge of my bed and how you’ve never complained once about it. I love that fucking peacoat.” He shook his head, rolling his eyes. But he was smiling. “I love you. It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve never had to second guess it. I shouldn’t have walked away from you.”

I reached forward and grabbed his hands. He interlaced our fingers.

“I’m scared too,” he confessed. His hands traveled up my arms until his hands cupped both sides of my face. “But I look for you in every crowded street, and when I see you, I smile in pure awe and relief. I wished upon every star and birthday candle for the idea of you, but when I met you last January, I wished foryou, Rosie Maxwell. The girl who loves romance. The girl who can’t go three hours without chocolate. The girl who gets so annoyed with me, I can see it in the way her nose scrunches up. I wished for you until I didn’t know how to not long for you anymore.” His eyebrows creased as tears pooled in my eyes, his thumb caressing my cheek to swipe one away. “We’re both learning. And we’re both going to make so many mistakes, and we’re probably going to fuck this up a million more times.”

I laughed through the tears, my eyes shining up to meet his.

“But know that every single time I fuck up, I’ll come home to you. We’ll work together to make it better because we won’t abandon each other. We’ll make mistakes, we’ll learn lessons, and we’ll be tested. But we’ll come out so much stronger on the other side.”

I nodded, pressing my forehead against his chest. His hand cupped the back of my head, holding me to him.

“I’ll come home to you too.” I hadn’t meant to cry, but tears began to fall anyway. “There’s no one I’d rather fight with. I love you, Aiden Huntington.”

“I love you, Rosie Maxwell. I love you more than any person has loved another.”

“Wrong again,” I whispered before his lips captured mine, moving slowly against mine.

It had only been a few weeks without him, but I felt for the first time in as many weeks like I could breathe. I clutched the collar of his shirt in my hand, and he wrapped his hands around both sides of my waist.

And it was just like a romance novel.

EPILOGUE

“No.”

I wanted to strangle him. I genuinely wanted to wrap my hands around his neck and shake until he complied.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to.”

“That’s a bullshit excuse,” I snapped.

“Rosalinda. I’m not wearing my peacoat at our wedding.”

“But you’d look so handsome,” I cooed, running a hand up his chest. We stood in front of Juanita’s truck, our last meal before we headed off to Tennessee tomorrow morning. “For me?” I batted my eyelashes at him, but he shook his head.

“Not going to work this time.” He kissed my forehead. “Your mother would have my head if I did that.”

“So what? You’re not marrying her.”

He snorted. “As if I’m going to risk disappointing your mother. I do that, then we can say goodbye to the alfajores she’s been sending us.”

I groaned. The wedding was only a week away, and Aiden had refused to grant my one bridal wish of him wearing his peacoat.

Aiden proposed a year after we got back together. I came home from work one day, and he had shipped roses from the shop in downtown Rogersville and scattered them all over his brownstone. He waswaiting for me in candlelight on one knee, Taylor Swift playing softly in the background.

“Did you send the latest revision to Jeanine?” he murmured, rubbing my arm. We had spent the year revising our novel before querying and striking luck with our agent.

“I thought you were supposed to do that.”

“No,youwere.”

I straightened, frowning. “I sent it last time.”

“No, you were supposed to send it last time and forgot. So I sent it and we agreed you were next.”

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