Page 127 of The Princess and the Fraud

He’d spoken the words simply, but they wrapped around me, another affirming embrace. The urge reared its head, too domineering to ignore. Tugging on his hand, I turned him around, all but pushing him up against the open car door, inching up on my tiptoes to press my lips to his.

The two-week Aaron drought had me kissing him hard, melding my mouth to his own. He made a soft noise low in his throat, surprised, before catching me by the waist and pulling me as close as he could. To anyone passing by, we definitely looked like an annoying couple who didn’t know how to keep their PDA at bay, but I’d quickly learned that people looked—and judged—a lot less on this side of the world. We were no longer confined by the stares of Alderton-Du Ponte, and kissing my boyfriend was mundane.

To everyone else but me, that is. Because each time Aaron’s hands trailed their way from my waist to my hip, sparks still skidded along my skin, catching fire in the wake of his fingertips.

I fell back onto my heels, and he chased the distance until I pulled back entirely. I was sure my face was flaming, and my lips were swollen, but I could do nothing but peer up at him and grin.

Aaron looked down at me, properly stunned. “Wow.” The corners of his lips turned up, and he blinked several times, as if trying to clear his head. “What was my name again?”

I nearly laughed, leaning in and letting my weight rest against his chest. “Aaron.”

“If you say so.” Aaron pressed a lingering kiss to the center of my forehead, over top of my bangs. His hands seemed to tremble as they touched my hips, his voice dropping to a low murmur. “Practice was over for everyone, right?”

I nodded.

“Want to go in and play a little?” Aaron wrapped his arms around me and grabbed his wrist, locking me to him as he leaned against the car. “You and me?”

My heart fluttered at the suggestion. It had been far too long since we’d played together, since I’d felt the quiet magic of his notes twining with mine. There was something sacred about it—how effortlessly we fell into rhythm, how our instruments seemed to echo the things we didn’t know how to say out loud.

“How about Elgar’s Concerto?” he asked, eyes scanning my face. “Since we have a certain anniversary coming up.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised that he remembered—this was Aaron, after all—but a soothing warmth spread through me, regardless. My mother’s anniversary was on Saturday, and that was when I realizedthathad been why he came home. He might’ve missed me as he’d claimed, but, without needing the reminder, he’d decided to come home early, remembering on his own.

I could’ve kissed him again, and would’ve, if he didn’t suddenly turn his face away. “Don’t look at me like that,” he said in a mock-scandalized tone. “Or we’ll never make it inside.”

I kissed the underside of his jaw anyway before slipping from his arms. “We have a dinner reservation with Annalise tonight,” I told him. “So we’d better get our playing in while we can.”

“Of course we do.” Aaron gave his head a small shake before turning back to the backseat, pulling my cello back out and threading his arms through the straps. “Annalise will have to learn to share you now that I’m back for good.”

“Have fun with that conversation.” I stretched my hand out to him. “Tell me how it goes.”

“You’re not going to be my backup?”

“Michael can be your backup.”

Aaron scowled, slipping his fingers through mine. “He’d refuse, too.”

“Smart man.”

We were a dramatically unlikely pair, a girl who was a server at a country club and an heir navigating life after being disowned by his family. Things still were rocky at times—like how CarolinestillDM’d me pictures to brag about her life without me, or how Aaron’s family still threw in a backhanded insult or two whenever their paths crossed—but Aaron and I went through everything together, every step of the way.

Life was full of choices, some harder than others, but choosing each other and the lives we wanted were simple ones. Choices we could make without even thinking twice. And as I leaned into Aaron’s side, the two of us walking back into the Rhythms of Hope building to create music together, I realized just how beautiful life was when you took a chance and jumped toward the dreams you wanted.

The sun was shining, and Aaron’s hand was soft around mine, and everything was perfect. “I love you,” I said, as calmly as if I’d said it a million times before, as if it wasn’t the first time.

Aaron’s footsteps faltered, and he pulled us to a halt only a couple feet from the glass door. His eyes were wide, as if my words hit him square in the chest. And then, without warning, he caught my face in my hands and kissed me. His fingers were gentle, fanning out on either side of my head. My lips curved against his, unable to fight off the grin that came with the almost desperation of his mouth on mine.

He broke away, scrunching his forehead. “Can we pretend I said it first? Because I was going to, but I didn’t want to rush you?—”

“You technically haven’t said it yet.”

He sucked in a breath. “I love you.” Aaron pressed another short kiss to my lips. “I love you.” And then another, eliciting a delighted laugh out of me, and I reached up to catch his wrists. “I love you, Lovisa Hahn.”

I laughed again at the sparkle in his eyes. Some might’ve thought it was too soon to say it, but there was no shaking the certainty I could feel in my bones. A certainty that, I knew now, had never been there with Grant. Once upon a time, Aaron had said,If that’s love, I don’t want it. And it hadn’t been.

But this? Definitely was.

I grabbed Aaron’s hand, tucking myself against his side. “Shall we?”

Aaron threaded our fingers together, lifting it to brush one last kiss across the backs of my knuckles. “We shall.”

And we headed into the music hall, hand in hand, eager to speak the other language the two of us knew. We’d lose track of time, and Annalise would call us five times, and we’d spend all of dinner apologizing while holding hands underneath the table. But with Aaron, there was no such thing as regret. There was simply happiness, peace, and love.

The two of us, just as it should be—together.

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