I snake my arm around his waist and sink into his love. “Me too.” I know he’s not talking about sailing.
“So this is really happening?”
I stop and turn to face him. Looking up into eyes that beg me to give him the one word he wants to hear, I smile. “Yes. We’re really going sailing.”
His chest rises as he inhales a long breath. He then returns my smile. It’s not a smile I’ve ever seen. This is so much more. “I’ve been wanting to go sailing with you for far too long, baby.”
“I know,” I whisper. “Me, too.”
He steps close and catches my lips with his. Goosebumps flood my skin as he kisses me like a man starved
for kisses. I wrap my arms around him and twine one leg around his. I could spend eternity kissing this man.
When he finally lets me go, I say, “I love that we don’t do quick kisses, ever.”
His eyes fill with a burning intensity. “Callie, I won’t let you go again. Are you sure this is what you want?”
My heart thumps in my chest as I nod. Just the thought of saying no fills me with fear. “Yes.”
“What about your work?”
“I hate my job, and I can work anywhere with the job I’m going to pursue now. I want to publish books, and I can do that from a sailboat if I have internet. I can live anywhere, Luke, and I choose to live with you and Sean.”
His eyes search mine.
When he doesn’t say anything, I place my hand against his chest. “Besides, I already have my flight booked home to Brisbane. And I’m sitting right next to you on that flight.”
He frowns, clearly confused. “What?”
I grin. “I asked Estelle to book me a flight home to Brisbane rather than to LA. I was so unhappy over there. Thank God for Avery talking some sense into me, convincing me it’s okay to take a step back if you make a bad choice in life. I packed up my apartment and shipped what I wanted to keep home and sold the rest. And I quit my job. The last couple of weeks have been very busy to say the least.”
His hand slides around the nape of my neck. “We’re really doing this.”
I reach up and place my hand on his arm. “Yes, we are. You’re stuck with me now.”
“Baby, there ain’t anywhere else I’d rather be or anyone else I’d rather be with.”
Our lips meet again, and it’s like sunshine on a rainy day, when all the doom that’s been cast your way during the pounding rain finally clears, and you see those first rays of a rainbow mixed with glints of sun.
So many shades of colour.
That’s what Luke’s love gives me.
Epilogue
Four Months Later
Luke
Family.
I never imagined it could feel like this.
My family is my everything.
They’re my centre.
My heart.