Page 107 of Cross My Heart

“You mean that?”

“I mean it,” he tells me. “It doesn’t—” He breathes in, and the hand on the back of my neck starts to tremble. “It doesn’t all have to happen right now. But I want it.”

“I want it too,” I reassure him.

Noah lets go of my neck and takes a step back, causing me to frown. He reaches into the back pocket of his jeans, and when he drops to one knee in front of me, I gasp. My heart squeezes tightly in my chest, and there’s a knot lodged in my throat. I can’t seem to breathe past it, and my body begins to shake. I trap my bottom lip between my teeth to keep it from wobbling, but it’s pointless. I have no control over myself right now.

“Tyler Levi Hayes,” Noah says softly, grabbing my left hand. I look down at him and squeeze. “I’ve wanted you from the first moment I laid eyes on you. From the first conversation we ever had, I knew you’d be the most important person in my life. I’ve wished for you for a decade, on stray eyelashes and shooting stars. I’ve relied oncross my heartsto bring you back to me. But I don’t want to rely on anything anymore. I want to know that this is a sure thing. That nothing will come between us ever again. So will you please seal this promise between us? Will you marry me?”

My heart skips a beat, then three more, and the tears begin to spill down my cheeks. His hand trembles in mine. He seems to be holding his breath, looking wildly between my eyes and my lips. Searching for something—I just don’t know what.

“Please?” he asks softly.

I nod. “I’ve wished for you too, you know.” I pause, and my breath hitches. “For ten years, I’ve wished for you. For sixteen, if I’m being honest. I just didn’t know what it meant back then. But I do now. And I don’t want to waste another moment. I want it all—the house, the kids, us. So yes, Noah, I’ll marry you. It’s us forever—us against the world. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“It’s always been us.” He grins.

He uncurls his hand from my grip and brings the ring up toward my finger. I eagerly thrust my hand toward him, and he chuckles. But when he slides it onto my finger? I feel butterflies raging inside of me—in my belly, in my chest. There’s nothing quite like it, knowing he’s mine, truly mine, forever.

And I’m never letting him go.

Epilogue

NOAH

Ican’t believe I just got engaged to the love of my life. If someone had said this would happen a year ago, I would’ve laughed. And yet here we are, happier than ever. We extended our engagement weekend getaway into a week-long vacation, and now it’s our last night here. We’ve spent all day in bed, and I plan on keeping it that way until tomorrow. I’m sore all over, and I bet Tyler is too, but I don’t even care. I welcome the pain.

Getting out of the shower, I wrap a towel around my waist and step out of the bathroom. The bedroom is cold, and I raise the temperature at the thermostat. Just as I begin to dry my body, Tyler steps out of the bathroom too with a glint in his eye. I watch the droplets cascade down his chest toward the towel slung low on his hips, and my mouth waters.

He knows exactly what he’s doing to me.

I’m insatiable, and it doesn’t even matter that we’ve been at it for hours. He’s definitely drained my balls, and yet here I am getting hard again. And all it takes is one heated look from him.

Tyler walks over to me and buries his face into the crook of my neck, kissing it, and splays one hand on my abs, while the other one plays with the towel wrapped around my hips.

“Again?” I ask him with a smirk, raising an eyebrow.

He smiles against my skin and bites my neck. “Always.”

His hand undoes my towel, and he lets it slip to the ground. My cock thickens further, begging for attention. Which he immediately provides, wrapping his fingers around my length. I close my eyes and let my head fall back as he strokes me, enjoying every second of it. But it’s not enough, it will never be enough when it comes to him. I’ll always want more and more and more.

Prying his hand off me, I turn around and face him. His pupils are blown, and his bottom lip is caught between his teeth. It makes my dick twitch, and I begin to push him back until his knees hit the back of the bed. He spreads his legs for me as his back hits the mattress, drops his towel, and puts himself on full display.

“So fucking pretty, Tyler,” I murmur. “So fucking mine.”

Tyler groans as I wrap a hand around his cock, stroking him to full mast, and I grin. This will never get old. But instead of shoving his legs apart and grabbing the lube under the pillow, I lie down next to him on the bed.

“What are you doing, Noah?” he asks, looking into my eyes. I wrap my hand around my cock and begin to jerk it slowly, and his eyes get caught in the movement. “Why are you all the way over there and not between my legs?”

I take a deep breath and look into his eyes, trying to convey all the emotions I’m feeling. “Fuck me, Ty,” I tell him, and his brows furrow in confusion. “I want you to own me. Show me how much you love me. I want it all with you, and it starts now. Our lives start now. Our forever.”

Tyler’s eyes widen, and his mouth drops wide open. “A-are you sure?”

“Yes.” I nod. “I want it.”

He nods, crawling on top of me, and spreading my legs wide. He positions me how he wants me, then dips down and takes my cock in his mouth. The warm, wet suction is enough to make my toes curl, and I grab the lube from under the pillow, the one I placed there when we first got to this room a week ago. I didn’t want anything to take us out of the moment, and it’s clearly paying off right now. Because when he pops off my cock and looks at the bottle in my hand, he smirks.

“Someone’s ready.” He grins, and I chuckle.

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