EPILOGUE I
Rafael
Months Later
THE FIRST TIME Alessio had kissed me here, we were fifteen, the boardwalk busy behind us and sand beneath our toes. I’d gone home that night on a cloud, thinking that this was it, everything had fallen into place. My best friend was my boyfriend and life couldn’t get any better.
I was glad I hadn’t known then how much our lives would change. That there would be a day when I would make a choice that led me away from Alessio.
But standing here now, walking that same stretch of sand, our fingers lazily entwined, I realized it’d had to be that way. There was something to be said about coming back together after growing apart—it made you even more grateful for what you had.
I brought our hands up to my lips, pressing a kiss to his knuckles, and he looked up, giving me that gorgeous smile that made my insides melt, made me want to give him anything and everything he asked for.
“Something on your mind?” he asked, the wind picking up and blowing his hair across his face.
Pulling him toward me, I brushed the errant strands back behind his ear, though it was really just an excuse to get my fingers in his hair. Just another thing I loved from the never-ending list. “I was just remembering.”
“Yeah? Good or bad?” He wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me tight, and I was convinced that there was nowhere safer in this world.
It wasn’t just that he had arms that Lachlan joked were the size of boulders, though he wasn’t lying about that.
It wasn’t that he had access to every security measure there was.
It was the overwhelming sense of peace that came from finding your person, the one who knew you, loved you, would go to the ends of the Earth for you.
Alessio was mine. And I was his. There was nothing more certain in this world than that.
“Good, of course,” I told him, nodding at a spot down the beach. “Our first kiss was right there.”
“I remember. I’d wanted to do it before that. I thought about at the top of the Ferris wheel, but then if it went bad you might’ve tried to push me off it.”
I snorted out a laugh. “There was no chance of that happening. I’d been thinking about your lips too much to want to get rid of you.”
“It was the fried Oreos that did it, right? Couldn’t resist a taste.” He leaned in, teasing my mouth by barely grazing it, driving me so crazy that I grabbed the back of his head to hold him steady so I could kiss him.
This time he didn’t taste like sugar, but something even better. Just Alessio. My favorite flavor in the world.
He kissed along my jaw, uncaring of who might see us. “We should get some for later. I can think of a few places I’d like to eat them off…”
A shiver ran through me, and not from the slight chill in the air. “I think that might be one of your better ideas.” I tilted my head to the side to give him better access. “And coming here was a good one too.”
His breath was warm as he nipped at my earlobe, and it was wild how butterflies exploded throughout my body in response. “You’ve been so busy all week. You needed some fresh air. Hell, so did I.”
“Did you get everything taken care of?”
“Let’s just say there’s a man in New Jersey who won’t be making the mistake of using a shell company to try to breach government systems again.
” As he gave me a rundown of specifics, I nodded along, smiling faintly even though I understood a fraction of what he said.
The tech stuff was over my head, but we’d both meant it when we said we didn’t want secrets between us.
There were careful ways he and the Kings walked in the world, and it was fascinating to see it all unfold, the way they dismantled threats before they reached innocent people, and the discipline beneath what could’ve come off as just ruthlessness.
Beyond that, I liked hearing about things he was so passionate about, just as I was finding a newfound passion that looked a little different than priesthood.
“How did the outreach program go this week?” he asked. “Make any headway with Marco?”
“Actually, it seems an anonymous donor covered the cost of his tuition. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?”
“Huh. Sounds like the kid got lucky.”
“Or has a guardian angel looking out for him.”
Alessio let out a soft snort. “Hardly an angel. More like someone trying to score points from the Big Guy after stealing one of his priests.”
I held his face between my hands, making sure he was looking at me when I said, “You’re incredible.”
He rolled his eyes and nuzzled back into my neck. “Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
Things were still tied up in administration paperwork with the church, as they no doubt would be for another year, but I’d gotten a position teaching part-time at a diocesan school, working with teenagers who didn’t trust institutions, but still needed someone to listen and to guide them.
It didn’t replace the church, but it gave me a new path, a way to serve.
My faith wasn’t diminished by my choice to step down from leadership.
And it had brought Alessio back to the church too.
It was still hard to believe the way life had unfolded. If you’d asked me what I’d be doing with my life six months ago, it would’ve been vastly different to where I was today. But where I’d ended up was exactly where I was supposed to.
I was in Alessio’s life, really in it, not looking on from the sidelines where I’d spent the last several years, and this was what had been missing.
The church had been a peaceful sanctuary, the support I needed when faced with unbearable grief.
But as that darkness lifted and sunlight re-emerged, so did Alessio.
“I’m so happy,” I whispered as we continued along the sand, hands entwined, arms brushing against each other, perfectly in tandem. “Have I told you that lately?”
“Maybe once or twice,” Alessio said. “But feel free to tell me as often as you like. It’ll never get old.”
I bumped into his side. “I just never…never imagined my life like this, you know?”
He nodded and squeezed my hand. “Oh, I get it, trust me. I have to pinch myself every morning to make sure I’m not dreaming and that you’re really lying beside me, really living with me, really in love with me.”
I drew him to halt, reaching for his face and bringing his lips to mine. “It’s real, trust me. The closet full of new clothes next to yours can attest to that.”
“Well, as much as I appreciate your offer to walk around as God intended, I don’t particularly want the rest of my brothers to see you that way. They already think God broke the mold when it came to making you.”
“They do?”
“Why do you look so surprised? You’re hot.”
“I was their priest.”
“So?” Alessio chuckled. “You were my priest too—didn’t stop me from undressing you in my head. And those guys aren’t exactly the most moral bunch.”
I opened my mouth to protest that but didn’t have anything appropriate to say.
“See, not even you can defend them.”
“I just… I didn’t know that.”
“That you’re hot? Um, you didn’t think your services were always packed because of the good Lord, did you? I’m pretty sure word got out that there was a hot young priest giving the sermon and women and men flocked to see you.”
My cheeks warmed and Alessio busted out laughing.
“Oh no, you did think it was because of the sermons.” He grimaced. “Don’t be too upset. God more than likely made you so beautiful so he’d be able to reach more people.”
“Alessio.”
“I’m joking, kind of. But in all seriousness, who cares how you got them in? You were a draw.” He started up the beach again, tugging me along with him. “But since I stole you, I figure the least I could do is dona—”
“Ha!” I said, pulling him back to me and pointing an accusatory finger. “I knew it was you.”
Alessio narrowed his eyes and kissed the tip of my finger. “So? What are you going to do about it?”
I slipped my hand around the back of his neck and lowered my head to kiss him sweetly, pouring all the love and emotion I felt into it, before whispering, “I’m going to love you for the rest of my life.”
Alessio rested his forehead to mine and nodded. “Sounds perfect.”