Page 114 of All In Good Time

“How about some hot chocolate?” He pointed over at the edge of the rink, where a small concession stand had a line building outside of it. Thanks to the thickening snow, people were starting to exit the rink to head home.

Even if they were better at skating now, they weren’t ready to face an inch of snow too, so Becca nodded and tilted her head up to look at him. “I’d love some.”

Ten minutes later, they rushed across the large parking lot with their cups of cocoa in one hand as thick, heavy flakes of snow came down and rested on their eyelashes.

“You didn’t mention anything about a snowstorm,” Becca called over the roof of the Monte Carlo, before sliding into her seat. The car was cold, but more bearable than the assaulting snow and frozen breeze.

Derek didn’t answer until he was in his seat as well, and the both of them shook the powder from their clothes and hair. “I didn’t know until you did.”

Becca observed the sudden storm outside her window. The entire world was a white noise of snow blanketing the car. They were the last vehicle in the parking lot, and soon enough, all the windows would be covered, and it would be like their own little snowed-in shelter.

But neither of them was in a rush to leave. They sat in the comfortable safety of each other’s company, sipping cautiously at the sweet, hot liquid, trying not to burn their tongues by drinking too fast.

At this rate, they’d be home no earlier than ten or eleven. That was late for her on a school night, but it didn’t matter, because the thought of Derek would keep her up until morning anyway.

She glanced over to Derek, who leaned his head back and watched with a contented smile on his face, as the rest of the windshield covered.

This was it. This is something she could have for the rest of her life. A warm drink clasped in her hands, and the man she loved sitting beside her. They were in their own little world, content, happy. Oblivious to anything else outside of this car.

“I love you.” She didn’t mean to say it. The words had been threatening to slip from her tongue the entire night, and before she even realized it…there they were. Floating from her to him and then lingering in the cold air of the car as she waited for a reaction.

He didn’t move at first. His cup, halfway to his lips, paused in midair, and his eyes widened a fraction.

She wanted to avert her eyes, pretend she never said it, but she couldn’t look away from him. He was all she could see. Every breath was agonizing, every movement an earthquake.

She dreaded and craved what he would say.

He shook his head, just enough for her to sense, and her heart dropped.

“Don’t say that,” he said, his words incredibly quiet. A whisper that felt like a gust of wind.

Her courage died in the back of her throat, and she choked on it. It took all the effort in the world to speak again. “Why?”

He put the cup of hot cocoa back in the cupholder and turned toward her. His hands came up and rested on her cheeks, with his thumbs brushing under her ears. “Because I was supposed to say it first.”

Becca’s breath hitched, and her thoughts lost their coherency. All she knew was that Derek looked at her like there was nothing else to see.

“I was going to tell you how much I love your voice, and the way you say my name. I love your hair and those lines in the corner of your eyes when you smile. I love that you take walks in the cold, and that you love to give gifts, and that you learned to swim at seventeen. I love your handwriting, and lavender, and seeing you in the sun and in the dark. I love your laugh, and your heart, and how much good you have in you. I love the good you bring out in me. I loveyou,Becca. More than I’ve loved anyone else…more than I’ve loved myself.” He paused, and his eyes searched hers.

She saw it now. That look she could never place in his gaze, the one that had stumped her on more than one occasion. It had to be the same one he saw when she looked at him.

“You’re everything to me.Everything.”

He loved her.

He loved her like she loved him.

Her heart soared, and all inhibitions disappeared with it.

She was so fucking ready to love him.

Becca leaned forward and closed the space between them across the console. Derek’s reaction was slow, and by the time he blinked, her lips were already against his.

In that snow-covered car, alone in an empty parking lot, Becca kissed Derek Stokes.

And she knew, as a matter of fact, that it wouldn’t be the last.

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