Page 142 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

He grins. “I’ve been emotionally monogamous since you ate all my cereal.”

“Ireplacedit,” she argues.

“Withgranola, Aims. It’s not the same thing.”

“Hey! I’m health-conscious, alright.”

“...You bought it because it had chocolate chips.”

“Right. And I stand by that decision.”

We’re all laughing now, but there’s something else beneath it—something heavier, something steadier.

“Do we want to wait?” Jace asks quietly, leaning against the doorframe. “Plan something? Make it a thing?”

“No,” Aimee says immediately. “I don’t want fanfare; I just want you. And… And I want it soon.”

“Soon?” Cam repeats.

Aimee bites down on her bottom lip, then shrugs her shoulders. “I mean… Yeah. Why not?”

My chest tightens, but not with dread: with somethingheavier. Hope, maybe. The kind that sneaks up on you after years of telling yourself you’re not allowed to want this.

I’ve spent months,yearsconvincing myself that Aimee Saunders was a mistake; and now she’s sitting here, wrapped in Cam’s arms with her big dark eyes locked on mine, looking more certain than I’ve ever seen her.

“You sure you really want this?” I clear my throat. “All of us, all at once?”

She doesn’t flinch. “I amabsolutelysure, Wes. You don’t need to worry—I wouldn’t be saying it if I didn’t mean it. I don’t want ‘almost’. I wanteverything.”

The thing with Aimee is this: she knows me too damn well, and I also know her. Which means I know that this isn’t a heat-high, or a whim, or a way to fix something broken; this is her honestly, truly choosing us. Choosingme.

It hits me all at once—how badly I want this. How long I’ve wanted it without admitting it.

Cam gives a soft little whistle, the kind he does when he’s overwhelmed and trying to play it cool. “Well. That settles it. For me, anyway.” He beams down at her, all dimples and affection, and presses a kiss to her temple. “You already feel like home, Aims. Mark or not. But if this is what you want…”

“It is,” she says gently, reaching up to brush her fingers across his jaw. “You were the first one I ever trusted to stay.”

Jace groans dramatically, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe. “Okay, well, now I need to emotionally prepare. Maybe trim. Possibly exfoliate.”

Aimee snorts. “You’re exfoliating for a claiming?”

He lifts his brows. “I’m not showing up to my girl’s lifelong bite-fest with rough elbows. I have standards.”

Cam blinks. “You do?”

“Don’t act surprised. I moisturize.Religiously.”

“I know,” I mutter. “You labeled the products.”

Aimee grins and shifts slightly to look at me again, and god help me, I melt under it. “Wes?”

I clear my throat. “Yeah?”

“I mean it,” she says, her smile softening. “I want this.”

I inhale, then nod slowly. “Alright. Then yeah. Let’s do it.”

“Excellent,” Jace says, straightening against the door. “I have candles somewhere. Do we need ambiance? ShouldImake a playlist?”

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