Page 144 of Falling Into Gravity

“Guess I gotta marry your ass now, Dorothy.”

“Ugh!” She slapped his chest. “Don’t say it like that, Malik.”

He laughed. “I’m just fuckin’ with you, but I do wanna marry you…gotta get my paper up first though.”

“You proposing?” she grinned.

“Not now.”

She raised a brow. “When?”

“When you least expect it.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled him closer. “You so damn extra.”

“But you love it.”

“I do.”

He kissed her again. Gently, then deeper…then with everything. “Gotta give my baby that fairytale.”

“What happened to Oz?”

“You found out it was all a lie and the wizard was just a dirty, scary ass nigga from Crescent.”

Outside, the ocean rocked the yacht just enough to remind them they were safe…together, headed somewhere better.

chapter 25

. . .

They werethe last ones left in the restaurant, tucked in a corner booth with empty plates and half-sipped wine. The server had stopped checking on them twenty minutes ago. Soft jazz played in the background, but it was the way Malik looked at her that made Aku’s heart drum low in her chest. Slow…Steady…Heavy.

She leaned into the back cushion and crossed her legs beneath the table. Her heel brushed his shin and stayed there.

Malik’s hand found her knee again, his fingers lazy, tracing little circles. “You ever think about what you want outta all this?”

She tilted her head. “All what?”

“This life shit. Past the work, past the glam, just… you.”

Her eyes bounced around the restaurant. She sipped her water, setting the glass down before she looked him dead in the face. “I do,” she said, “all the time, but it scares me.”

“Why?”

“‘Cause I don’t know if I can have it all,” she admitted, her voice dipping. “I got big dreams and a big heart, and sometimes I feel like the world only lets women choose one.”

Malik studied her, his thumb still rubbing her knee.

“I want to be a boss,” she continued. “Run my shit, style the best, own buildings and stores. But I also wanna be barefoot in the kitchen on Tuesday mornings cookin’ with my man. I want babies crawling around the floor and a husband who still grabs my ass while I’m breastfeeding. I want both.”

Malik smirked but didn’t interrupt. He let her speak her whole truth, making mental notes on how to show up for her.

“I wanna take girls trips where we act up a little,” she went on, “but I also want family vacations where the kids got matching luggage and I cry while watching them play in the sand. I wanna cry over my blessings. I wanna love loud and rest soft. I want to be spoiled…but not so much that I forget how to hustle.”

Malik sat up straighter. “You can have that, Aku…all of it.”

She laughed under her breath. “You say that like it’s easy.”

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