Page 32 of One Hundred Lights
I splay my hand on her back, feeling the warmth of her body as we sway together, my chest filling with its own warmth.
“Six months ago, I was an idiot.”
She blinks. “No, I was. Not you. I shouldn’t have made such a big deal of things. I should’ve just...”
“Hush, baby, let me get through this.” I touch my finger to her lips, then gliding it down the curve of her neck, her shoulder, and grabbing her hand again. “I’d closed myself off so tight, blind to what was growing between us. You weren’t imagining it. You weren’t alone. I was just too stupid to realize what was happening.”
I take a deep breath, grounding myself in the moment.
“But you, Britt. You were so brave. You saw it when I didn’t. You tried to do the right thing. I know that.”
She chuckles and blows out air. “Maybe I should try harder in the future.”
I want to kiss her so badly, and my eyes drift to her lips. But it’s not time. Not quite yet. “That’s one of the things that makes you so incredible. And I have to tell you—Ineedto tell you—that I’m absolutely, completely, and overwhelmingly in love with you.”
Britt takes a sharp breath.
“I’ll do anything to be with you. Anything.” I rub the inside of her wrist with my thumb. The other hand remains on her back. I won’t let her go. Not until she tells me to get out.
This is where I belong. With her.
“I know there are complications. But we can overcome anything together. You and me.”
“Oh, god, Adrian.” Tears fill her eyes and her hand is shaking in mine. She’s not letting me go, either. “I don’t know. I don’t know...”
“We can light up a whole school gym by sheer will and determination.” I touch my finger under her chin and tilt her face up to me, placing my lips on hers for a brief kiss. I can’t resist. “You’re worthy of the most true and deep love out there. I will give it to you. I will give you anything and everything. Just tell me you’re willing to let me spoil you every single day.”
Her cheeks flush and I can see the switch in her face when it clicks.
“I’ve just done it all wrong,” she whimpers, but her body melts into mine, as if we are one person instead of two.
“No.” I kiss her again, this time for longer, with the slightest flicker of my tongue inside her mouth. “You’ve done it your way. Now we can do it our way. Together.”
Britt throws her other arm around my neck and drags me down to kiss her again and again.
Breathless, I pull away. “Did you get that I’m madly in love with you?”
She nods, her eyes flicking to my lips and back again. “I love you too. I’ve loved you for a long time. And now you’ve done this.” She looks around, eyes wide, an open smile lighting up her face along with the lights.
We kiss again, and this time, when I look up to see her cats supervising, it feels like we’re doing everything right.
15
BRITT
Sunday, December 24
This is the first year since my divorce that I haven’t had Jackson on Christmas Eve. In the past, we’d always spend the holiday with Reese, Adrian, and Chelsea. But not this year.
I’d been dreading it.
So back in the fall, when Jackson’s dad requested we switch holidays, I agreed. After all, our December 24 would be very different than what Jackson is used to.
And it is different. Wonderfully different.
Adrian’s also alone this year, since Chelsea is spending the holiday with her mother. He sits next to me on my couch, an open bottle of wine on the coffee table in front of us, a fire burning in the electric fireplace next to my towering tree, our hands linked. There are no screens, no distractions. Only each other.
Oh, and soft cats curled on either side of us.
