Page 73 of Anteros' Return

I snuggled into him. I didn’t know if it was an old habit or what, but it felt good. Being close to Beckett was something I had missed more than I let on.

“Goodnight, cupcake,” he whispered, enveloping me in his warm embrace.

“Goodnight.”

As the sun crept through the gap in the curtains, I turned to face Beckett, who laid beside me with his tattooed arm wrappedaround my waist. The warmth of his breath kissed my skin as he slept peacefully and without a care in the world.

I couldn’t help but admire him for a moment. Although it had been years, he still had that same boyish face I fell in love with. Without thinking, I pushed the hair that rested on his forehead backwards as he stirred and settled into my touch.

“Mmm, that’s nice,” he mumbled against my wrist, causing my heart to jump.

My mind wandered back to the tattoo on his leg. What was once a stupid doodle was now inked on his skin as if it were everything to him.

“I need to know something.” I whispered.

“What do you want to know?” He asked, propping himself up on his elbow, still half asleep.

“What was the bee for on that old doodle?” I questioned as he traced the faint freckles on my arm.

“A bee to me means: Beckett, Emily, Endgame—B, E, E.” He smiled sleepily. “It was a way for me to have a hidden message in there that only I’d know, and I got the cupcake because it was the last thing you gave me.”

“Beckett…” I didn’t know if he meant the doodle was the last thing I gave him or the actual cupcakes I gave him for the plane journey.

“There wasn’t a day where you weren’t on my mind. There wasn’t a match where I didn’t want you in the crowd to dedicate my celebration to every single time I scored.”

“And let me guess, there were a lot of goals?” I already knew the answer. I knew how good he was.

“How did you know that?”

“You’re an amazing footballer, Beck. You always were.” I let out a deep breath, letting the truth flow out of me. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t chase you to be in our lives… I didn’t want to ruin your career. I didn’t want you to resent us.” I searched his eyesfor a moment before continuing. “Maybe deep down I knew that if you’d have truly known, you would have come back and left everything for us.”

“Em, please tell me you don’t really think I’d resent you or that you’d ruin my career?” I practically saw his heart breaking as he spoke. “You could never have ruined my career. I was who I was because of your love and support.” He cupped my cheek as I nuzzled it into his palm, reminiscing the familiar feeling.

With one fluid movement, he hovered over me. My eyes met his and I remembered every single moment we shared. It was as if looking into them created a movie reel of all our best memories.

“You can’t mean that.” I trembled as I fought back the tears that threatened to fall.

“I mean every single word. I have loved you from the day I met you. I loved you then, and I love you now. I loved you every day for the years we were apart, and I will love you until my dying breath.” The tip of his nose circled mine as his hair tickled my forehead. “You are my endgame, Em, and if you ask me who I see beside me for the rest of my life, it will always be you.”

This man had been my person since the day we met, and until now, nothing had changed. Hearing him say the things I’d longed for on the lonely nights I was awake with Liam was all I wanted, but a part of me always knew words would never be enough.

“Do you regret last night?” His brows furrowed with worry that I would say yes, but that wasn’t the case. It never was.

“No, I don’t regret a thing about last night. I’ve never regretted a thing about us.”

A boyish grin played on his lips as he brought his mouth to mine. My heart quickened in pace. I was unable to control how my body responded when I was around Beckett.

“I’m sorry I took Mike’s word for it. I knew you too well and shouldn’t have even thought you’d leave me like that,” I whispered against his skin.

“I took his word too. I took everyone’s fucking word, and I was an absolute class A idiot to think you’d move on that quick. But what happened, happened, and yes, we lost years together, but I plan to make up for them.” His gaze dropped to my lips briefly. “No matter what it takes.”

“But—”

“But nothing, Em. Forget about Spain. Forget about everything else and let it just be us for a while.”

“Okay… Just us.” His lips met mine in a gentle kiss. A kiss that was so full of love for me, it made me realise he needed me as much as I still needed him.

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