Page 123 of Closer

It takes a few tries, but I manage to get it threaded, the needle gliding smoothly once more.

Lil twists to look at me. “How did you do that?”

“Oh, it’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You just—”

“No, I mean…” She shifts fully in my lap, straddling me, her hands braced on my shoulders. “How do you know how to do any of this? You can’t have learned it all from one class.”

Damn. Can’t put anything past her.

I slide my hands up her back, toying with the ends of her hair. “Would you believe me if I said it’s my hidden talent?”

She raises an eyebrow.

“Fine. You got me.” I lean in, my lips brushing the shell of her ear. “I took a class in college, and maybe Gem taught me a few things.”

Her breath hitches, fingers flexing on my shoulders. “You what? In college, when?”

“The first time you told me about it.” I nuzzle into her neck, placing a soft kiss on her pulse point. “I thought maybe…” Another kiss, slightly higher. “Maybe I could help you overcome this. And as cheesy as it sounds, be your knight in shining armor.”

“Sebastian.”

I tense, waiting for the rejection. The reminder that I’m no one’s knight in shining armor. Not hers. That I’m the villain in her story, the one who broke her heart and shattered her trust. The one who—

“You did that for me?” Her voice is so soft, so achingly vulnerable.

I cup her face in my palms. “I’d do anything for you. Then. Now. Always.”

It’s the truth. The ugly, messy, wonderful truth. This woman owns me, body and soul. Whether she wants me or not.

Her eyes search mine, looking for the lie. The catch. But there isn’t one. Not this time.

“I wanted to surprise you. Wanted to be there for you in whatever way you needed.” The words spill out of me, a confession long overdue. “Before I fucked it all up.”

Her thumb strokes over my cheekbone, a feather-light caress. “Sebastian.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, resting my forehead against hers. “I’m so fucking sorry, Lil. For everything. I was a coward. An asshole. I let my pride and my ego get in the way of the best thing that ever happened to me. I should’ve trusted what we had was real.” My arms tighten around her, clutching her to me like she might disappear if I let go. And maybeshe will. Maybe this is all a dream, and I’ll wake up alone, aching for something I can never have again.

“I forgive you,” she says. “I forgave you a long time ago.”

My eyes fly open, locking with hers.

She already said those words once, but this time is different. She means them. Really means them.

I forgive you.Three words. Three simple words, but they heal something deep inside me, a wound I didn’t even know I was carrying and a wound that was destroying me from the inside.

“So we’re together again?” She shifts on my lap.

I brush my nose with hers. “I think that kiss at dinner was pretty obvious?”

“I don’t think it was obvious enough.”

“No?”

She smiles. “No.”

I surge forward, capturing her mouth with mine, pouring every ounce of longing and love into that kiss, one hand fisting in her silky hair while the other splays across her lower back, anchoring her to me.

She meets me with equal fervor, her arms locking around my neck, her body molding to mine. We were made for each other.

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