Page 83 of The Boy I Once Loved

I don’t need telling twice. I fling myself across the room and onto the bed and into his arms. “I love you too. So much it hurts.”

He lifts my face, and he cups it between his hands, smiling down at me. “Say it again.”

“I love you, Dylan James,” I confess, smiling back at him as the tears fall down my face. Dylan leans in and kisses my tears away.

“Don’t cry, Ella bear. It kills me when you cry.” He looks at my lips and licks his own. “I’m going to kiss you now. Is that okay?”

I smile back at him. “It’s more than okay.”

His lips press softly against mine and I know that there’s nothing on this earth that feels righter than this. All those years we wasted worrying about how this could affect our friendship, convinced the other didn’t feel the same. We kiss each other like we are each other’s air. Until it becomes hurried and frenzied. Both of us pouring everything we’ve held inside into this kiss. When our lips part we’re both breathless and Dylan rests his forehead against mine.

“I could kiss you all fucking day,” he says with a smile and I can’t help but smile back at him. “Why do you think I had that umbrella tattooed on my chest, Ella? Who else could it have been for but you?”

I place my hand over his chest where the tattoo is. “I just always thought you didn’t see me in that way.”

Dylan laughs. “You mean you never noticed when I perved over your arse or when I’d look at you like I wanted to devour you. The boys have given me so much shit over the years about how much I’m hung up on you.”

I chuckle. “I honestly had no clue, and I was too scared to tell you how I felt and ruin our friendship. I’d rather have had you as a friend than not at all, so I told myself that was enough.”

Dylan leans in and kisses me again. “We have so much time to make up for.”

I wrap my arms around his neck. “We really do,” I reply as I kiss along his jawline and his breath quickens.

“Ella, baby, you’re going to have to stop that or I’m going to take you right here in this hospital bed.”

I lean back from him and I flush slightly. Him talking to me in this way is new, but I like it, a lot. I brush his hair off his face and cup his neck. “So, we’re doing this, huh?”

He smiles a smile that melts my insides and makes me weak at the knees. "We are so doing this. I'm not wasting any more time hiding how I feel about you, Ella. I love you," he says as he drops a kiss on my lips. "I love you," he says again before dropping a soft kiss on my nose. "I love you," he tells me again, grinning as he kisses my forehead.

I put my hand over his mouth. “Okay, I get the message, you love me. Now shut up and kiss me proper Dylan James.”

"With pleasure, my Ella umbrella," he teases before his lips press against mine and we forget all conversation and lose ourselves in each other.

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