Her eyes started to well with tears, and he couldn’t have that. He couldn’t have her thinking that this was only about sex.
“I didn’t reject you,” he said.
“Um, yes, you did,” she said, taking her hand back, foldingher arms across her chest. “I was drunk, but I remember that much. You said, ‘Dani, I can’t.’ Pretty hard to forget that part.” She rolled her eyes.
“You’re right. Dani, youweredrunk,” he said, staring up at her. “Wasted even. Slurring your words. I’ve been in love with you for half my life, and I wasn’t going to take advantage of you like some douchebag opportunist. And I was still with Giorgina. Regardless of my feelings for you, I couldn’t take things further until I broke things off with her. I know you—you never would have respected me if I’d done that. I wouldn’t have respectedmyself. And to be completely honest, I wasn’t sure you even meant those words. I’m not sure if you recall, but seconds later, you literally threw up on me.”
She recoiled a bit, seeming to remember that part.
“Look,” he continued, “I’m not saying that to make you feel bad—” But she cut him off.
“If all that is true—”
“Itistrue,” he interrupted.
But she furrowed her brow and kept going. “If all that is true, then why did you leave?”
He sighed. He’d asked himself the same question so many times. “Because I’m an idiot.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I know it was shitty to leave you there without saying goodbye, but I didn’t sleep all night. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I immediately drove back to Chicago and broke up with Giorgina. I told her that I didn’t think we were looking for the same thing, but she knew it was because of you. I didn’t deny it.
“But I couldn’t come right back to you. We needed time.Ineeded time. I wanted things to be right—to be perfect. I’dbeen waiting for this my entire adult life, and I didn’t want to fuck it up. So then what did I do? I fucked it up.”
“How didyoufuck it up?” she asked, finally sitting next to him again.
“Fries and micheladas, remember? I’d made a plan. I was going to come home and tell you everything. But then your dad mentioned Beau, and I saw you out with him, doing thesamethings we’d done a few weeks before, and I thought you’d already moved on. Instead of asking you about it like a grown-up, I left. Instead of meeting up for fries and micheladas, I hopped on a plane like all I had to do was get some distance to get you out of my system. I wanted to be irresponsible. To go back on a dig, exactly what my parents wanted me tostopdoing, so I could forget about you. And now look at me,” he said, motioning to himself. “I’ve lost a year of my life because I was too scared to tell you how I felt.”
“When did you get this?” she asked, putting her hand on the tattoo.
“The weekend before I came home that last time. I had this whole speech planned out. To tell you how it had always beenyou. I felt foolish about it once I thought you were with someone else. But in the moment, when you spoke those words? I felt like it was real.”
“Itwasreal.”
“Was it?” he asked, not really sure what to think anymore.
“Yes, Theo,” she said, scooting closer. “My God, I was lost without you. After they…after they announced your presumed death,” she said, barely able to choke out the words, “I felt like a piece of me had been ripped out of my soul. Why do you think I’m even here?”
He tilted his head to the side, trying to figure out what she was talking about. “I thought you were here on vacation?”
“Right, but I could have gone to any number of places. Thailand, New Zealand, Chile…or any of the other countries that I’d always talked about visiting. But out of all the places in the world, I came here because…” She paused and bit her lip, fighting to keep the truth inside. “Because I…I…I wanted to be close to you, as close as I could get even if you were no longer here. I missed you so fucking much.”
He crashed his lips against hers, pulling her body flush with his. Years of tension and longing unraveled between their lips. Words that had gone unspoken for far too long. They wanted this. Both of them wanted this.
He pulled his mouth away, holding her beautiful face in his hands. Never wanting to be without her ever again. But he needed his intentions to be clear.
“Juicy, I don’t want there to be any question. I don’t want my fear to get in the way ever again. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’m sorry it took me so long to say that. But if we’re going to do this, I need you to know that I’m all in. I don’t want to half-ass this.”
“I love you, too. It’salwaysbeen you. One hundred percent.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“This isn’t the emotions talking, is it? This crazy situation?”
“Theo, I’m infuckingGreece because of you. And as you very well know, I had multiple opportunities to escape on my own. But I didn’t. Because I didn’t want to leave you. It’s not the situation for you, is it?”
“Daniela, I got afuckingtattoo of the last words you spoke to me.”
She smiled. “You never call me ‘Daniela.’ It feels weird.”
