Page 1 of Choosing Forever
PROLOGUE
FOURTEEN YEARS AGO
DARREN
“You need a shower.”
I snort a laugh and tug Delaney closer. The old bleachers are hard under my ass as I adjust myself, trying to get her on my lap already. There’s nobody here anymore but us, and any minute now, the floodlights are going to turn off, drowning the field in darkness.
My girl never risks it, though. No matter how many times I get her alone up here after a game, she keeps me on my best behaviour.
“Yeah, I do,” I reply.
She leans her head against my shoulder and whispers, “Not yet.”
“No, not yet. I’ve still got you for a while. Your grandma loves me too much to give me hell for bringing you home a few minutes late.”
“She’d love you even more if you followed her rules to a T.”
“You know that’s not true.”
Her giggle strikes the softest parts of me. “Alright, fine.”
“Did you see that the land behind the drive-in is still up for sale?”
“No. Have you been reading the newspaper again?” she teases.
I shrug, pushing forward. “I’ve just gotta keep an eye on things. We’re going to be graduating high school soon, and once we’re finished with university, I want to know where we’ll live.”
“And you think that land will still be for sale? In five years from now?”
“A guy can hope, Elle. I mean, it would be perfect for us. We could walk to the drive-in every weekend, and I bet we could hear the movies on the nights we wanted to just sit out on the porch. If you squint, you can see it from here. It’s behind the goalpost.”
“As long as we stay in this town and somehow convince our friends to stay here with us, I don’t care where we live.”
“Including the shack on Steele Ranch that Wade’s been trying to tear down?”
“If you put a water line in and fixed up the bathroom so I could have a hot shower every day, yeah, I’d move there with you.”
“I’m spoiled,” I mumble softly.
Delaney runs her hand up and down my thigh, her lips ghosting across my jaw. “Have I told you that I love you recently? Like, in the last fifteen minutes?”
“You have, but I could hear it again. Especially since I just won yetanothergame for you.”
“For me,” she echoes, squeezing my knee. “You’re sucking up for something.”
“I’m not sucking up. I’m being sweet,” I clarify with a smirk.
“You’re always sweet. It’s why I’ve kept you around so long.”
I laugh, the sound low and rough. “You’re my goddamn girl, Elle. You know that?”
“I think I’ve got a bit of a clue,” she murmurs, twisting on the bleachers to gaze up at me.
Cupping her cheek, I thread my fingers through her long, soft hair and bring her in for a kiss. Her eyes flutter closed, and then the floodlights click off. The dark rolls in, creating a shield between us and the rest of Cherry Peak.
I’ve never needed to keep her hidden in the dark, though.
