Page 112 of Mr. Wrong Number

“Listen, I don’t know what you want from me here.” His voice was gravelly as he scratched his eyebrow. “I screwed upand you walked away. I told you that I loved you and you told me I was a joke. So now that I’m moving, you’re back...? What am I supposed to do here?”

I had no answer, so I just shrugged listlessly.

“This is great, Liv, that you’re suddenly mute, but I can’t do this anymore, okay?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and said, “I know it was my own fault, but losing you turned out to be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Everything sucked, everything reminded me of you, and I was so fucking sad all the time that I couldn’t even stand to be around myself. I can’t keep living like this, hoping to see you in the elevator or daydreaming like a lovesick puppy that we might run into each other at Starbucks. I love you, Olivia, but this is killing me. I have to get away from all of this.”

My heart was pounding. “You still love me?”

He shook his head. “Stop it. That’s not the point.”

“Oh, my God, it is, too.” I was flat-out crying now and I didn’t care. “I love you, too, and everything has been awful for me, too. Ask anyone. I punched Will the other day for saying I was acting like a pouty baby.”

He tilted his head. “You did not.”

“I really did. And my mother is probably going to show up here any second now because I ditched Thanksgiving dinner to come find you.”

“What?”

I rolled my eyes. “Jack said you were moving, so I just left. And we hadn’t even taken the family picture yet.”

“You ditched Thanksgiving dinner?”

I nodded and said, “I’d do it again if it meant stopping you from leaving.”

“Holy shit, Iwasright.” He stared at me, his jaw flexing, and it looked like he could see into my soul or something.

“About what?” I asked.

His mouth softened and he looked at me like he was figuring out a puzzle. “When we went to Fleming’s and you let that dog knock you down in the parking lot, I realized something. You aren’t a hot mess at all, Livvie. You’re just this... this... human tornado who is so alive, so filled with the energy of the moment, that there occasionally is a little collateral damage.”

I opened my mouth and had no words—for once.

“But all the damages are worth it. They’re but a small price. IwishI lived in the moment like you do.” He took his hands out of his pockets and stepped closer, and his palms slid over my cheeks. “You have no idea how much I admire that about you.”

“Colin.” I looked up at his handsome face and wasn’t sure any compliment had ever meant that much to me in my entire life. “Are you saying that I’m your hero? That I’m the wind beneath your—”

He stopped my words with a kiss, one of his Colin specials that left me grasping at his shirt while he reminded me how good it’d been with us.As if I needed reminding.He lifted his lips just long enough to say against mine, “Say it again.”

I felt like my heart was going to burst. “I love you.”

He grinned down at me. “Again.”

“I love you, Colin Beck.”

“I love you, too, Marshall.” He cupped my face and gave me the sweetest, hottest kiss, the kind of kiss that wrapped itself around you and made you feel foolishly, deliciously, unbearably loved. I let myself sink into it, no longer afraid.

I wanted to dive into every fathomless ocean with him.

And even after the smoke alarms started wailing because I passionately slammed Colin against the fire panel, he didn’t stop kissing the holy hell out of me.

Epilogue

Olivia

TWO WEEKS LATER

Mr. Wrong Number:Did you know that I picture you naked like 24/7? I can’t stop myself. It’s becoming problematic.

I laughed and pulled the blanket up under my arms. I texted:Same. The other day I think your mother saw me staring right at your...

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