“Five!”
“Four!”
“Three!”
“Two!”
“One!”
“Happy New Year!” Lana shouts a bit too loudly, causing all of our heads to snap toward Grace, who is sleeping against Julian’s chest. Lana grimaces as she whispers, “Oh thank god.”
From inside the house, we hear fireworks explode somewhere in town and watch as the bright colors come in through the expansive windows around the house.
Lana and Christian are lost in each other at the moment. Everyone else is hugging it out and kissing cheeks—even Julian, as he holds a sleeping Grace and everyone presses kisses to her precious head.
I hug Nat closer and kiss her cheek. She giggles, blushing, and leans closer into me. Her hazel eyes lock onto mine and my lips part.
“Happy—
Natalia gasps as she’s lifted from my lap, her sentence unfinished. The girls have her in their arms and she gives me an apologetic smile as she hugs her friends. I toss her a wink.
I should have been quicker about our midnight kiss. Maybe it’s a foolish thing—a silly superstition and tradition—but there’s no better way to ring in the New Year than with her.
So I go on to wish my best friends, my brothers, a Happy New Year—the first we finally get to spend all together again since before Christian left. I hug each of them, not taking thismoment for granted. I’ve grieved many things, many people, and I would never want to grieve these guys.
As Natalia talks to the girls, she peeks over their shoulders and into my eyes. I dip my chin to reassure her of whatever she’s thinking, and her eyes finally soften.
Finally, when all is said and done, Natalia and I find each other—best for last.
“Finally,” I breathe, my arm wrapping around her waist until her chest is flush against mine.
She breathes a soft laugh. “Finally.”
Next New Year’s, she isn’t leaving my side.
I kiss her forehead, then her cheek, and she hums.
“I really want to kiss you,” I say in her ear.
“Then kiss me, you idiot.” She pokes the center of my chest, hard. “But next year, the kissing better start at eleven fifty-nine.”
“Deal.”
I take her face in my hands and fireworks inside of me go off, spelling out her name in bright colors.
She gasps quietly before my lips crash into hers. I move past the brief clash of teeth and kiss her soft and deep. This is the best New Years kiss of my fucking life—theonlyand thelastof my life. All of them, from here on out, will be hers.
Natalia’s arms are thrown around my neck, her fingers raking through my hair as she pulls me closer, hard enough to send her staggering back. I catch her, and we don’t separate.
I nip at her lip and she nips at my tongue.
Natalia takes a sharp breath and says my name, her fingers pulling at the strands of my hair. “Rowan.”
I pull away slowly, hating that I have to at all. “Yes, sweetheart.”
She pants, shifting her head into my neck. Her lips brush a line up my jaw and, in my ear, she whispers, “Happy New Year, Rowan.”
My hand wraps around her jaw and she peers up at me with those hazel eyes, a smile on her lips. I angle her face just right again and her eyes flutter closed. I brush my lips over hers.
