Page 161 of Only in Your Dreams

Melody

“You don’t think it’s too sappy?”

I smooth down my shirt in the passenger seat of Summer’s car as we pull up to Zac’s house. It’s only been a few hours since we went out on our top-secret excursion, but I’ve missed the hell out of him.

Which is why this has to work. Ithasto.

I can barely make it an afternoon without missing him. Putting a permanent three hours between us would break me.

“Oh, it’s sappy as hell. There’s no getting away from that,” Summer says, hopping out of the car. “Trust me, he’s going to lose it when he sees it.”

“In a good way or bad way?” I ask, leading her around to the yellow front door.

“Good way, I think. I mean, the whole thing is adorable. Hearing how gone you’ve both been for each other since high school has me swiping right all over my dating app. Crappy first dates be damned.”

She pauses at the open threshold, scanning the hallway into the house. “Is it safe to come in? Will he maul you the second he finds out you’re back?”

I don’t blame the apprehension. Zac and I have made it a habit of leaving nights out with our friends within just a couple of hours of arriving. In my defense, it’s not easy sitting so close to him when I’d much rather be sitting on him. I don’t know how my body is functional at this point. We’ve had fourteen years’ worth of tension to blow off.

On our fourth round yesterday, Zac spent God knows how long between my legs, doggedly determined to make me come with his mouth no matter how long it took. It could have been an hour by the time I did—I wouldn’t know. He ripped the alarm clock off his nightstand and threw it across the room when I tried to take pity on him after the first twenty minutes.

I swear, he looked more pleased with himself giving me that orgasm than he did when the Huskies hit a four-game winning streak.

“You look like you’re spiraling deep into another sex fantasy,” Summer says.

“No, I wasn’t,” I say, snapping out of it. She gives me a look. “Okay, I totally was. I’m sorry, he’s a bit of an animal. I think he keeps trying to distract me with sex so that we don’t talk about the other stuff.”

“The moving away stuff?”

I nod. Zac refuses to let on about it, but I know him. I have every line and tilt of his smile memorized, and I know when it’s only halfway there. He’s been nothing but encouraging on the surface, but I know he’s been stressed since my first interview. And now that…

“This is going to work, right?” I ask Summer for the thousandth time. “He’s going to say yes?”

“The man’s been obsessed with you for half his life,” she says soothingly. “He’ll say yes, Mels.”

Inside, we listen to the sounds coming from upstairs. There’s a lot of shuffling around from somewhere near the bedrooms, and the kind of bickering only Zac and Noah could get into.

I drop my keys on the table by the door, and the noises stop abruptly.

“Clover?” Zac calls into the house.

“Clover, baby, love of my life,” Noah sing-songs. “Are you home?”

There’s a loud grunt, and I picture Zac digging his elbow into Noah’s side.

“We’re down here,” I call back, and two sets of footsteps make their way over to the stairs.

At my side, Summer pouts the moment Zac appears at the top of the stairs, beaming wide as he takes the steps two at a time, with Noah tailing him.

“He’s definitely saying yes,” she mutters as he hits the landing. She pats Zac on the shoulder, turning to Noah. “Take cover, kid. It’s about to get real mushy around here. I’m leaving before I get too nauseous to drive.”

“You have no idea,” Noah answers, reaching for his own car keys. “Every time I think they can’t get any worse, they prove me wrong. I’m right behind you.”

With a parting eyebrow wiggle, Noah follows her out and shuts the door behind him, leaving me, Zac, and our bewildered expressions behind.

“What’s Summer talking about?” Zac asks, reaching for me, picking me up so that I’m plastered against him.

We’d been sneaking around for months, have been official for a few weeks, and still, it feels so surreal having him to myself like this. It’s funny how it changes things, admitting you love someone. Confessing to your family and friends that it’s been you and him all along.

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