Page 178 of Moonlit Nights & Northern Lights
“Huh?”
“So is this a yes?”
“Is that even a question? Of course I want to live with you.” The grin that split my face felt like it might crack my skull in half. “But just so you know, I don’t believe in individual toothbrushes.”
“What?”
“Like, having your own toothbrush and stuff.”
Teddy groaned, tipping his head back towards the sky. “Why do I love you?”
Those words. I’d never get bored of hearing them, how they made all the colours of the world brighter, sharper, more vivid.
“It’s truly a mystery,” I said, but even as the joke left my mouth, a tiny sharp fragment of panic sliced through me. What if Teddy hatedliving with me? What if it ruined what we had, which was pretty damn wonderful. Pretty damn perfect.
“Stop that,” Teddy said firmly, cupping my face in his hands.
He kissed me then, soft and sure, before pulling me against his chest. His arms wrapped around me, rocking us gently whilst I pressed my ear to his heartbeat. Raindrops on summer pavement enveloped us, woven into the very fabric of our bond. The steady rhythm of his heart calmed the frantic buzzing in my head, chasing away the worry like sunlight burning off morning fog.
“I’ll move all my stuff tomorrow,” I said, still grinning like a complete idiot. The key felt warm in my palm, like it was already part of me.
“Half your clothes are at mine already,” Teddy pointed out, smirking.
“Um… I hate to tell you this, but that is nothalfof my clothes. Maybe, like, five percent?”
Teddy’s eyes widened, genuine alarm flickering across his face. “Five percent?”
“Maybe seven? At a push?”
He groaned, though he was fighting a smile. “What have I gotten myself into?”
“But anyway, Kit is going to be so happy I’m out of his flat!” I joked, though I wasn’t completely convinced. Kit had gotten used to having me around, hadn’t he? Though it wasn’t like I was moving to Mars—I could still pop round to annoy him whenever I wanted. Which would be often. Daily, probably.
“Yeah, well, he’ll want someone else in there with him at some point,” Teddy said.
Before I could ask what he meant by that, Felix appeared at the end of the path. He raised his hand in an awkward wave.
“Kit is inside wondering where you are,” Teddy said as he reached us.
“Umm, okay…” Felix said, giving him a strange look.
When he was through the door, Teddy laughed—a proper belly laugh that made his shoulders shake. I felt like I was missing something important, some sort of joke perhaps, but then Teddy pressed a kiss to the top of my head and suddenly Icouldn’t remember what I’d been wondering about.
His lips lingered against my hair, warm and soft, and our bond pulsed gently, contentment flowing through it like honey.
“Come on, then,” he murmured against my scalp. “Let’s go tell everyone the news. Though I suspect Priya already knows—she read my leaves yesterday.”
“Huh. That explains her cryptic text to me last night.”
Before I could respond, Priya appeared in the doorway, her face unusually serious.
I said, “So this is what you meant when you said—”
“Yes, yes, it’s all very sickeningly romantic and I’m very happy for you,” Priya cut me off, waving her hand dismissively. “But come back inside. Something’s happened.”
The happy bubble around Teddy and me popped instantly, my stomach dropping like a stone. Teddy’s hand found mine, fingers intertwining as we exchanged a look that said everything—here we go again.
“What kind of something?” Teddy asked, slipping straight back into detective mode, shoulders squared.
