I patted my thigh as she approached the swing, and she sat her fine ass down right into my lap. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close, breathing her in. She smelled like a mix of that strawberry lotion she loved to put on and old remnants of my cedar aftershave still on the shirt she was wearing. Strawberry and cedar, my new favorite smell.
“How long have you been up?” She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. An action that was so casual and second-nature for her. Something I would never forget to appreciate.
“Since six. Hook and I went for a run and enjoyed the sunrise—something you know nothing about,” I teased.
She scoffed. “Okay, you know I’m not a morning person.” She flipped her hair back behind her shoulder in a small show of defiance that had me silently chuckling. “But Icouldbe convinced by the promise of a good sunrise.”
“Noted,” I said as I leaned in to kiss her, the need to feel her lips on mine overpowering me. She was so fucking radiant in the morning, all doe-eyed and still sleepy. Absolutely edible.
This. This is how I hoped to always remember us when, someday, I looked back on our beginning—on the first chapters of our happily ever after. Amelia, with the warmest damn smile I’d ever seen in my entire life, and a touch so intoxicating that it could drop me to my knees. She was the sweetest nectar of life, as bright as the sun, as stubborn and wild as a hurricane. I didn’t know how in god’s name I ended up with the right to call her mine, but it was the honor of my life. One that I’dnevertake lightly.
The kiss we shared was lazy. Unhurried. And I loved that it felt like we had our entire life to kiss each other like this.
After a moment, she pulled away and looked up at me, catching me in the vise of her gaze, and within seconds, the rest of the world faded away. Her beautiful green eyes were burning with a look as she traced her fingernails along my arm. “Happy birthday, baby,” she whispered as a smile played on her lips.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” I said, and kissed her again. I couldn’t help myself. I knew I didn’t deserve her, but I would spend the rest of my life fucking trying to.
“Are you excited for your party?” Her eyes were already full of excited anticipation.
I chuckled. “I’m still not sure how I let you convince me to invite people over here,” I responded, teasing her.
“Well, it’s your birthday. And technically, I live here now too . . . so if I want to throw a party for my insanely hot boyfriend’s thirtieth birthday, I’m not really sure that I actuallyneedyour permission.”
A burst of emotion welled up within me at her words. Life really had a funny way of changing just about everything in such a short amount of time. For so long, I hung suspended in such darkness, incapable of allowing myself to be honest with Amelia. And now, her clothes were hanging in my closet, her fancy girl shampoo was in my shower, and there was more love in this home than Hook and I could have possibly mustered on our own.
“You sure have a smart mouth, woman,” I rebounded in mock-disapproval. I watched as she bit her bottom lip and I almost threw her over my shoulder and carried her into the house right then. “In all honesty, I’m pretty amazed that you’re doing all of this for me, Mills.”
I saw a softness come over her as she looked at me thoughtfully. It was a look she’d given me so many times throughout our lives. One that reminded me that she was here with me, no matter what. “Of course I am, Logan. And you better get used to it.” She leaned forward and kissed my nose.
“What time are people coming?”
“I told everyone to come around noon, but you know Adam. He’ll probably be showing up any minute now to start the party,” she said, her sarcastic tone causing her to giggle at herself. She was right though—Adam was never one to show up late to a party, and to him, on time was late.
I had to admit, as much as I was looking forward to having everyone here today, I wasreallyhappy that Adam was coming. Even after we’d gotten over our fight—the only fight we’d ever had in our entire lives—work kept us both pretty busy, and I hadn’t seen a whole lot of him in the past few months. I missed my best friend and, while it might have been a little awkward at first, I wanted to share more about my life with Amelia and make sure he knew how serious I was about her.
A large, black box truck suddenly turned down our street and, to my surprise, pulled in front of the house and stopped along the curb. Amelia jumped out of my lap. “Shit, they’re already here. I need to go get dressed!” She raced through the screen door and back into the house.
“Wait,” I called after her. “Who’s here?”
“The rental company!” I heard her yell from somewhere in the house.
I watched as a man jumped out of the truck and walked to the back, reaching for a handle that slid the rolling door open. “What rental company?” I hollered back.
“For the tables and chairs!” Her voice was muffled, and I could picture her wrestling to get a shirt over her head.
“Where do you want this?” the driver of the truck called from the street as he looked over at me, waving his arms toward whatever was in the back of that truck. Fuck if I knew, sir.
The screen door swung open again as Amelia came flying back outside. “Hi!” she yelled out, smiling down at the driver with an enthusiastic wave.
“He wants to know where we want it,” I told her.
Amelia’s eyes cut to me before they were back down on the man in the street. “We’re going to set it all up out back!” she yelled down.
I turned back to Amelia. “We rented tables and chairs?”
“Yeah, how else will we seat thirty people?”
“Thirtypeople?”
