Page 174 of The Perfect Love

“If I sayyouis that totally cheesy?”

He presses a kiss to my jaw. “More like sexy. And perfect. Because I want you as the center of my future too.”

I bite the inside of my cheek because now is the perfect opening to ask the question that’s been dancing in my mind for a while now.

“Does that mean you’ll move in with me next year?”

We’ve already talked about summer. We’ll be doing a mix of things from both staying with my family, to both staying with his mom, to staying separately at times. It’ll probably be chaos, but in this transition period of our lives, it makes the most sense. But next year… I don’t really want to live apart. He spends so much time here anyway, and—

“Yes. Fuck yes. I’d love to live here with you. Assuming Robbie’s okay with that.”

My cheeks heat a little. “When he asked me, I might’ve stumbled over some nonsense words before telling him that was the plan.”

He laughs. “So, all this was just your way of getting me to confirm what you’d already decided?”

I shrug. “I prefer to call it manifesting.”

His lips capture mine in a rough, hot kiss. “Whatever you call it, I’m in. I can’t wait to live with you.”

“Good.”

“So, besides us, what’s your future look like?”

“You know that songI Livedby OneRepublic?”

“Mhm.”

“That’s what I want from my future. Life is short and nothing is certain, and whenever my time comes, I want to know I lived my life to the fullest. Not jumping out of planes or traveling to far-off places. I want to live my truth and follow my heart and chase down all my dreams. For me, that includes having kids, continuing the type of work I do with Promise—wherever it leads me—being a mentor and role model to young women, and when I have kids of my own, raising them to be strong and compassionate and make the world a better place.”

Awe shimmers in his eyes. “I’d expect nothing less from you. I noticed one thing you didn’t mention, though. Marriage.”

“I thought you said what I wanted besides us.”

“Are we married? Did I miss that?”

I smack his stomach. “No, but… I don’t know. Would anything change—besides living together full time—if we were married? Would you care or love me more than you do now?”

“Of course not.”

“Then the way I see it, marriage is just a formality. A legal extension of our relationship.”

“You don’t care about the big wedding?”

I laugh and sigh. “I used to be obsessed with that idea. But over the years, it changed. I’d much rather have a marriage than a wedding. I’m open to anything, but for me, the wedding isn’t a big deal.”

“Hm. Good to know. So you’re saying I can wife you up on short notice?”

“Not if you continue to say things like ‘wife you up.’” I give him my sweetest smile and pat his cheek. “For the record, just in caseyou need to hear it, I want to do all the things I listed with the man of my dreams by my side… and he looks a lot like you.”

He pulls me close, hand tangled in my hair as he looks into my eyes. “I want to build that life with you, Chels. There’s no doubt in my mind you’re it for me.”

I don’t have any words to respond to that, so I kiss him. I kiss him with all the passion and love inside me, as my heart beats to the rhythm offorever.

22

Rage

4 Months Later

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