Page 170 of From Now On

Hunter raises his eyebrows. “I was kind of hoping for an agreement.”

There’s no way he could have known what Ben said to me. The exact words that officially ended my last relationship—I’m not sure we’re forever—are still burned into my brain. But they fade a little more as Hunter’s sink in.

“Weareforever,” I agree, rising on my toes so I can reach his mouth.

Hunter groans into my mouth as I nibble on his lower lip, his hands coasting down my back and settling on my ass. “Whyare we at a beach with our friends again?”

I giggle. “Because they’re our friends and it’s our last night all together.”

“I’m not feeling very social,” he murmurs, and then kisses me.

I kiss him back for a minute, then slip out of his hold and jog over to the spot where I left my bag.

“What are you doing?” Hunter asks, sounding startled.

I don’t usually take off while we’re kissing.

“You’ll see,” I reply, searching through my bag.

I locate the box, stand, and walk back over to him.

Hunter raises an eyebrow when he spots it. “Anotherdiploma?” he teases.

The shapeispretty similar.

“Not for two years,” I tell him, holding the box out. “Open it,” I urge.

Hunter unwraps the box carefully, folding the wrapping paper and slipping it into his pocket before lifting the lid.

He doesn’t react right away. He just stares.

I chew on the inside of my cheek, waiting for a reaction.

Nothing.

“You…like it?” I finally ask, peering over the side to make sure nothing’s wrong with the painting.

It looks the same as when I packaged it.

Thank God, because it took me forever. I sketched it ten times to get the positioning right before adding color to the canvas. In it, Hunter, Aidan, and Conor are standing on the blue line of Holt’s hockey rink, wearing their jerseys, facing the goal. I looked up Aidan’s and Conor’s numbers and photos of the jerseys, so I know they’re accurate. In the top left corner, you can see the championship banner that’s now hanging from the rafters of the rink.

When Thea saw it, she told me I should show it to someone in the athletics department. That surely they’d want to use it as a mural or for marketing material. That it deserved to be seen by a lot of people.

But I painted it for him.

“Eve.” Hunter’s voice sounds choked. “I can’t believe—it’s perfect. I seriously…I can’t believe you did this. Thank you. It’s the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me.”

“You’re welcome,” I say, relieved.

Hunter closes the box very slowly and sets it on the sand. Then he wraps his arms around me, tugging me back into him. “You know how I know we’re forever?”

“How?” I whisper.

“Because I don’t think it’s possible to love someone more than I love you.”

Salty streaks roll down my cheeks. Hunter wipes them away with his thumbs. “Don’t cry.”

“They’re happy tears. Because I love you too and I’ve been wanting to say it for a while and it—it feels really good to say it to you.”

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