I blinked past the tightness behind my eyes. For so long, I’d assumed that wasn’t in the cards for me—realhappiness, the kind where someone saw you, chose you, and stayed.
“She said not everyone gets to be with the love oftheir life, but some lucky people do,” Belle added. “And that I shouldn’t be afraid to take a chance on that.”
Her hand pressed gently to my chest, right over my heart. I wasn’t sure she even realized she’d done it, but it felt like she’d anchored me there, right in this moment.
I swallowed, trying to gather my thoughts. “I’ve spent a long time thinking that wasn’t something I’d get,” I admitted. “That maybe I would never get to experience what other people do.”
Belle looked up at me with light in her eyes and a smile so bright it almost hurt to look at her. “Maybe you just hadn’t met the right dance partner yet.”
I didn’t know how someone like her existed in the same world as me, let alone that she’d fallen (literally) into my life, that we’d kissed under mistletoe, and that now she stood in my arms looking at me like I was something worth holding onto.
“Belle,” I murmured, her name heavy with everything I couldn’t quite say yet.
The music kept playing, but I barely heard it. All I could see was her. All I could feel was the pull.
Our heads were moving closer, like some invisible thread had been tugging us toward this moment since the day we met. As if everything in our lives had been leading up to this moment in time, where the two of us would fall for each other so effortlessly, so instantly, so perfectly.
And when our lips finally touched, the dam I’d built inside of me to protect my heart burst. Years of holding back, of pretending I didn’t want this, didn’t need this,came crashing down. Every doubt I’d ever held—every lie I’d told myself about not needing anyone, about being fine on my own—crumbled under the softness of her mouth against mine.
I had spent years convincing myself that love wasn’t for me. That people left. That I wasn’t meant to be someone’s forever.
But here she was. Kissing me like I was worth staying for.
And for the first time, maybe ever, I let myself believe it. That I could have this. That I could be loved. That Ideservedit.
The kiss deepened, slow and tender, and I felt something I hadn’t in so long. Hope.
Her hands slid up my chest, fingers curling around my lapels, and everything inside me went still and alive all at once.
I wasn’t just kissing her. I was handing her the pieces of me I never thought I’d give anyone.
Eventually she pulled back just an inch, her breath mingling with mine, her eyes searching. But neither of us spoke right away. The moment felt too full for words. Like speaking might shatter whatever bubble we’d been in.
Another beat of silence passed before she whispered, voice barely above a breath, “That didn’t feel like just a kiss.”
I swallowed, my heart thudding hard in my chest, grateful she was feeling the same thing I was. “No, it definitely didn’t.”
Her lips curved slightly, but her eyes stayed serious. “So what do we do now?”
I reached up, brushing my fingers lightly along her jaw, memorizing the shape of her. “We figure it out.”
“You live in Saint Paul,” she said softly. “I live in New York.”
“I know.”
“And this wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I gave a small dry laugh. “Tell me about it.”
She leaned her forehead against mine again. “But I’m so glad it did.”
“Me too,” I said. I let the silence sit for a second before I said what had been burning in my chest all day. “Belle…I don’t know how this works. I’ve never done this. I’ve neverwantedto do this. But I can’t walk away from us…” I paused, my voice rough. “Fromyou.Not now. Not after this week.”
Her hand found mine, her fingers lacing with mine like they’d always belonged there. “I don’t want to walk away either.”
My chest cracked open with those words. Relief. Joy. Fear. The emotions all tangled together.
“There’s a lot we still have to figure out,” she said, her voice shaking just slightly. “And I don’t want to pretend that it’ll be easy.”
