Page 153 of Meet Me in the Valley
It’s our time now. And I’m taking it, selfishly and without regrets.
Exactly like I said I would.
Chapter Forty-Two
LOGAN
There are endless versions of Tia where she’s at her most beautiful.
One of them is Tia on the back of my bike, arms circled tight around my waist, head thrown back as she belts the lyrics to a song. It’s carefree, a little wild, and wrapped in nostalgia. It takes me back to those early days of our friendship when we’d cram into her dorm room, spinning old records while pretending we were studying for an exam we both knew we’d wing.
Another is Tia with our friends. It’s where I witness her heart double in size—when she drops everything without hesitation, no matter the hour, no matter the chaos. She’s thebury-the-bodykind of loyal. The one who shows up expecting nothing in return, every time. Something I won’t ever take for granted.
But then there’sthisversion of Tia. Right here, right now.
Asleep in my arms with bare skin and soft curves, bathed in that hazy blue hour light that comes just before the sun climbs over the valley.
Her onyx hair scatters across the pillow, ends brushing my chest and chin. Her face is all peace. Just her, stripped down completely. Free of makeup. Long, thick black lashes resting against her cheeks. Naked skin, warm from sleep. There’s a faintsmile playing at the corner of her lips, like she’s dreaming of something good. Her breaths even and calm, cresting like soft waves.
And fuck, she’s never looked more perfect.
Just a few hours ago, I got lost in the bliss of her body. Everything she offered to me was like a precious gift. She was handing me trust with her heart, her mind. Parts of her she freely gave to me to protect. Pieces of her she surrendered, knowing I’d be the only one to piece anything broken back together.
And there I was—heart in hand, ready to offer the last part of myself. The part I never thought I could give away. The part I used to keep locked up because I didn’t think I deserved a love that stayed.
But I’d done the work. I’d faced the darkness without her, wrestled through the wreckage of who I was and who I wanted to be.
And every hard-won realization brought me here. To her. To this moment.
Tia was always the one.Myone. The woman who shifted the entire axis of my life by showing me how to face myself and love harder, without fear. Without running.
With her tucked against me, back to my front, I press a smile into her hair, breathing her in like it’s the first time. The scent of her hits deep, cutting through me as it fills every hollow space I used to carry.
A fierce swell of gratitude surges through me. A reel of memories flashes through my mind like the scrapbook she made me for Christmas, each one a snapshot of the life we’ve been building, even when we were apart.
Every laugh. Every fight. Every almost.
All of it brought ushere.
Bodies flush, I tighten my grip around her like I could somehow get closer—like I could plunge my soul into the depths of hers and never come up for air.
The early morning light spills across her skin, blue and soft, casting her in a glow that feels unreal. Like she’s not even from this world. Like we’re somewhere else entirely off the grid, on our own planet, where it’s just us.
And that’s what it feels like.
Justus.
I brush her hair off her shoulder and press a kiss there. Then another, trailing up to the bend of her neck. I nip her earlobe gently, and her body shifts instinctively against mine like her mind knows what it craves before it’s fully awake.
I fucking love that.
My fingers grip her hips as she moves with that half-asleep rhythm, pushing back into me, sighing in that way that unravels me every damn time.
I press open-mouth kisses along her neck, hungry but unhurried, worshipping her in the stillness of early morning before the rest of the world can reach us.
Tia hums again, her body pressing tighter into mine, hips undulating in that half-conscious rhythm like she’s still dreaming.
Tia doesn’t speak. She doesn’t have to. I feel it in the way she melts against me, in the way her fingers curl around mine as I slide my hand from her waist to her stomach, holding her there like she might drift away if I let go.
