“Ow!” he exclaims, but he’s smiling.
“Believe it, babe. You’re living the dream and you’re going to be a star. The world is going to go nuts for Reeve Lancaster, and I’ll be cheering for you every step of the way.”
His expression sobers a little, and his eyes flood with adoration as he cups my face. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Viv. I know I drove you insane rehearsing the audition scenes, over and over again, but you pushed me to deliver the best possible performance, and it showed.”
“I love running lines with you, and you’re wrong.” My lips glide softly over his. “Your true natural talent shone through, and that’s what won you the part. Don’t let anyone take the credit for your achievement. All I did was support you, just like you support me with my dreams.”
He rubs his thumb along my cheekbone, eliciting a wave of delicious tremors across my skin. Even the slightest touch does the most amazing things to me. “Your belief in me is everything.” He presses a firm kiss to my brow. “You’reeverything.”
“I will always believe in you, Reeve. I’ve always known you are destined for greatness. I’ve never had any doubt.”
“I fucking love you so much, Viv.” I’m surprised to see tears glistening in his eyes. “Sometimes I don’t think you realize just how much.” His hands land on my hips.
I press my forehead against his and clutch his ripped arms. “I know, baby, because I feel it too.”
Sometimes I wonder if this is normal. If this is what it’s like for most couples. Because the intensity of my feelings for Reeve are impossible to put into words. He has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and our souls are so entwined I can’t tell where he starts and I end. He is the oxygen that fills my lungs. The blood that pumps through my veins. The energy that fuels my body. I feel incomplete when we’re not together, and I am only truly whole when his essence is wrapped around mine. My skin prickles with awareness whenever he’s close, and my heart swells to bursting point the instant he steps into a room.
I never thought it was possible to be so attuned to another human being, but we are connected in ways I cannot logically explain. “What we share is more than love,” I whisper over his lips. “More than life. It transcends everything that humanity knows about existence.”
“That is beautiful,” he murmurs, brushing his lips against mine. “Just like every other part of you.”
We stay like that for an indeterminable amount of time, just holding one another. Existing in our own little part of the universe, sharing everything without saying a word.
We are both smiling when we separate, and contentment settles deep in my bones. I am so happy right now I could scream.
“This is just the beginning,” he says, starting the engine. “Everything we have dreamed of for our future is starting to come true.” He rubs my thigh as he glides out onto the road. “Everything is going to change now, babe. Just you wait and see.”
If only I’d known how prophetic his words would turn out to be, though not at all in the way Reeve had implied.