Chapter 29
Six Months Later
Iwake up in Knox’s bed on Sunday morning, sunlight warm on my skin. His arm is draped over my waist, his breath slow and steady against the back of my neck.
For the first time in years, I feel… safe.
He stirs, pressing a sleepy kiss between my shoulder blades. “Good morning,” he mumbles, voice rough.
“Morning.”
He rolls me onto my back, hovering over me, brushing my hair from my face with gentle fingers. “You’re beautiful,” he says.
I smile, cheeks warming. “You’re biased.”
“No,” he murmurs, kissing my jaw, “I’m observant.”
I laugh, and he kisses me again, slow and deep, like he has all the time in the world.
When he finally pulls back, he rests his forehead against mine. “Stay with me,” he whispers. “Not just today.”
He’s not asking for a night. He’s asking for something bigger.
Something real.
My chest swells. “I’m scared.”
“I know.” He cups my face in both hands. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
I search his eyes for doubt, hesitation…anything.
But all I see is certainty. All I see is love.
Slowly, I nod. “Okay.”
His breath leaves him in a soft exhale, like he’s been holding it for weeks.
“Yeah?” he whispers.
“Yeah.”
He pulls me into a kiss that feels like a promise. A beginning. A future.
Later, we walk together through the city, hand in hand, sunlight warming our skin. He buys me flowers from a vendor on the corner, white lilies, my favorite. He didn’t ask. He just knew.
We stop for coffee, talk about everything and nothing, and when he leans in to kiss me on the sidewalk, I let myself fall into him completely.
No fear.
No hesitation.
No looking back.
As the sun dips low, casting golden light across the buildings, Knox wraps his arm around my shoulders and whispers into my hair: “I love you.”
I freeze, not because I don’t believe him, but because the words hit me like something I’ve been waiting my entire life to hear.
I look up, eyes stinging. “I love you too.”
His smile is soft, perfect, devastating. He kisses me again, slow and sure, right there on the street where anyone can see.
And for the first time in a long, long time… I feel like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be. In his arms. In his life.
In our beginning.