“Anywhere?” I asked, that hope faltering as I wondered if this was his way of letting me go.
“Anywhere,” he confirmed. “But you should know that while I’ll always support whatever decision you make, there’s no way in hell I’m not going with you if you decide to leave. I love Starlight Cove, but it’s not my home. You and Laurel are.”
Tears blurred my vision as the reality of what he said crashed into me. He was choosing me—choosing us—no matter where that led. As long as we were together, it would be perfect.
“That was a lot of words for you,” I said through a clogged throat.
“Don’t expect it all the time. But it was worth it if you take at least one of the keys.” He cupped my face, leaning down until we were eye level. “I want you to bemine, trouble. For real. No more bullshit excuses about how this was supposed to be fake. It hasn’t been for me for a long time. I was just too fucking scared to admit it.”
“You’re not the only one who’s scared. But I need us to be scaredtogether. I can’t handle it if you push me away again.”
“I won’t. I swear. It’s going to be hard as hell sometimes, but you’re worth it. You’re wortheverything.”
I smiled, unable to hold it back a second longer. “See, I told Laurel you needed to figure this part out on your own. It would’ve ruined everything if she’d admitted that we’re staying.”
“If she—” His words cut off, his eyes intense as he darted his gaze around my face, trying to get a read on me. “You’re staying? In Starlight Cove?”
I reached up, wrapped my hands around his wrists, and nodded. “We’re staying. In Starlight Cove.” I tossed the blank key over my shoulder before holding up thehomekeychain between us. “With you.”
He exhaled a heavy sigh and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me straight off my feet. With his face buried in my neck, he murmured, “Thank fuck.”
I breathed out a laugh, wrapping my arms around him and holding him as tightly as I could. “If you’d given me the choice of keys before showing me the library and I’d chosen the blank one, were you just going to keep this library from me?”
He pulled back and met my gaze, giving a quick shake of his head. “No, trouble. I was going to build you one wherever you let me follow you to.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
SUTTON
It turnedout the mountain of a man who’d been immovable in so many ways could surprise me after all. Between the library he’d built for me, the future he’d given me with those keys, and, most importantly, his words, Atlas had crashed through every defense I had.
The way he held me to him, his mouth soft but urgent against mine, reminded me of exactly what we’d almost lost. Exactly what I was so desperate to reclaim. And he was right there with me. He didn’t break the kiss as he strode with purpose toward his bedroom—ourbedroom—clearly feeling this need just as intensely as I was.
“I broke my promise to you,” he murmured against my lips.
I tightened my arms and legs around him, loving having him this close after being without for too damn long. “What promise?”
He set me down on the bed and braced his hands on either side of my hips. “I’ve spent more than a day without being inside you. I’ve spent more than aweek.”
“Try two.”
“You don’t have to remind me, trouble. I’ve been thinking about it every goddamn day, barking orders at Ford to move fucking faster.”
“So that’s why Quinn was grumbling about her husband never being home this week?”
“I’m not sorry about that,” Atlas said without an ounce of fucks to give. “He’s going to be able to take her on a monthlong vacation to a private island with how much I paid him to make this happen.”
I cupped his face, making sure he saw the sincerity in my eyes. “I didn’t need the library, Atlas. I just needed the words. Needed to know you were in this with me. As deeply as I’ve been.”
“I am. And you may not have needed the library, but you deserved it. Hell, you deserve a library in a dozen houses across the world if that’s what you want.”
“What I want isyou,” I said, tugging his shirt from his body. Needing to feel him, skin to skin. “And what I deserve is a partner who’s going to fight for me. Who’s going to open up, even when it’s scary. Who’s in this with me until the end.”
“For the rest of my life,” he swore, his words feeling like a promise. An oath.
The weight of his declaration hung in the air between us, the raw emotion in his voice giving way to pure need. He moved with deliberate purpose then, stripping away my clothes with the same intensity he’d stripped away my doubts.
There weren’t any more words as he sank to his knees at the side of the bed, yanked me toward the edge, and tossed my legs over his shoulders.
