I felt it on the balcony too. It’s always there, the potential for him to grab me and kiss me hard, for the kissing to lead to other things.
I hear the wordtonightecho in my mind, and my core trembles as though in anticipation. Or nerves. It’s hard to tell.
We’re sitting in the limo, at the end of a row that’s inching forward.
Partygoers are stepping out, walking down the red carpet, and posing for the cameras.
“What if I freeze up?”
I look at him to find him smiling softly down at me.
It’s not so much a smirk anymore.
My body feels sore but in a good way, remembering what we did in the organization center. I can’t believe it was today, the kiss and everything, and maybe we’ll end the best day of my life with….
“We can leave any time you want,” he tells me.
Jane and Bryce are traveling in a separate car.
“This isn’t about us,” Bryce said before we left. “You’rethe ones the media’s clamoring for. If you’re up for it, Lucy, there’s lots we can do after this. Interviews….”
He cut off when Logan looked sharply at him.
Now, Logan squeezes my hands with even more support.
“I mean it. Whenever you want. Give me a signal.”
“What, something likeget me the heck out of here?”
He chuckles, leaning down and kissing my forehead gently. I hover in the moment, savoring it, really letting myself feel the affection blooming across my skin. Our limo inches forward.
We’re almost at the front of the line.
“That works,” he says.
“Won’t you be embarrassed if I mess up?” I ask.
He leans back, staring with those intense eyes, his strong jaw shaping a look of…of love. My instinct is to brand that as impossible, but what’s one more impossible thing added to the pile?
“Never,” he says. “I care more about you than a thousand PR opportunities. This isn’t about that. It’s about us…about me telling the world,fuck off, she’s mine.”
I laugh at the fierceness in his voice, but there’s also a glowing core of affection and want, a shining expanding feeling of belonging.
I can tell he means it. He wants the world to know I belong to him.
“It’s almost time,” I murmur softly, stating the obvious.
He leans down, kissing my cheek, his breath caressing me. “I could ask the driver to keep going. We could go anywhere.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Hell, no,” he says fiercely, his hand on my leg, squeezing as though letting go would be impossible for him. “I want to show you off to the world. I want everybody to know you’re mine.”
I laugh softly. “I think they already saw that.”
“They saw us kissing,” he says, nodding. “An opportunistic pap took care of that. But they don’t know we’re together,reallytogether.”
“Forever,” I whisper as the car comes to a stop.