Page 98 of Click of Fate

When I finally pull back, I can’t stop smiling. “Say it again,” I whisper, brushing her hair from her face.

Her cheeks flush. “Luke.”

“No,” I cut in, teasing now. “Not my name. The other part.”

She bites her lip, grinning. “I love you.”

I let the words settle, the truth of them rooting deep in my chest.

“I love you too, Trouble.” I press a kiss to her forehead, then one to her lips. “So damn much.”

She laughs through the emotion, tugging me back toward the couch cushions.

“Okay, one more time,” I say, half hovering over her, my voice low and rough. “For good luck.”

Her laugh turns breathless as she pulls me in again.

My mouth finds hers, and the kiss deepens, slow and sure, the kind that makes time feel like it’s melting around us. Her hands are in my hair, mine settling on her waist, sliding under the hem of her shirt, skin to skin. She arches into me like she’s been waiting all week to be touched.

We’re tangled up in each other, the TV forgotten, the only sound in the room the soft scrape of fabric and the hum of breathless laughter.

“Tell me,” I murmur against her lips, “you want to take this to my room.”

She nods once, eyes dark, voice low. “Yeah. I do.”

I pull back just enough to look at her, to make sure, because after everything… I need to be sure. “You gonna sneak out again?”

She smirks, but there’s a flicker of something softer there, too. “Actually,” she says, brushing her nose against mine, “I brought a change of clothes. Toothbrush.”

I raise a brow, surprised but undeniably pleased. “So you came prepared.”

“I’m trying to make better choices,” she whispers. “Starting with staying the night.”

The tightness in my chest eases, replaced with a slow warmth that spreads through every part of me.

“Good,” I say, brushing my thumb along her jaw. “Because I wasn’t planning on letting you go anyway.”

She kisses me again—hungrier this time—and when I stand, taking her hand in mine, she follows without hesitation. No walls. No fear.

Just her hand in mine, and the feeling that this time, she’s staying.

Epilogue

DAILY DOSE OF CHAOS

STELLA

Three months.

That’s how long I’ve been here at HEA Inc.—with a desk that’s mine, a nameplate that still makes me do a double-take, and a work calendar that somehow fills up faster than I can keep up with.

I didn’t think I’d stay in Indianapolis this long. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t think I could. I told myself this stop in Indy would be temporary. A stepping stone. A placeholder until I figured out what I actually wanted.

Turns out? I wanted this.

The late nights laughing with clients. The high-stakes photo shoots that leave me buzzing. The way Cassie still tries to plan my outfits like I’m one of her brides. The way Layla checks in with a clipboard in one hand and matchmaker mischief in the other. And the way Hazel always shows up when I need her most—with flour on her shirt and sweetness in her eyes.

Like right now.

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