He nods a little, then says, “I think I have some idea about the less-than-sexy aspects of your life.”
“And…would it kill you to be part of it? Notallthe time, but some of the time?”
“Do you mean like an on-again, off-again relationship?”
“No, I meant we could split our time between my world and yours, if that wouldn’t be totally suffocating for you.”
“It wouldn’t be suffocating at all.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, my voice thick with emotion.
“I am,” Will answers, wrapping his arms around my waist.Mmm…that feels so good.“These last couple of months, I’ve realized it doesn’t matter where I am, I won’t be happy unless you’re there too.”
He leans down and brushes his lips against mine. I close my eyes, then fear grips me and they fly open again. “I thought you weren’t cut out for long-term?”
“That was just a lie I told myself. And it was working, too,” he says, his mouth hovering over my lips. “Very well, until I met you. But now, I’m…in a lot of trouble because I don’t believe the lie anymore.”
“You don’t?”
“No. Turns out I’m exactly like everybody else on the damn planet—I want the boring, stable, every-day-with-the-same-princess life.”
I laugh and stare into his eyes. “Well, that’s too bad because I’ve just handed in notice to my family that I’m giving up the boring life in favour of independence and excitement.”
“You’re going full Megxit?”
“NotfullMegxit, but I’m done letting everyone tell me what I can and can’t do. I’m a total hardass now.”
“Are you?”
Nodding, I say, “I’m going to take on causes that really matter to me, even if they’re sad and I cry openly, or they make me angry and I yell. I also took money out of my trust for the first time and bought a yacht, if you can believe it.”
“Really? You? A yacht?”
“And I’m going to marry whomever I choose. Or no one,” I say with a shrug. “I might decide I never want to get married. Now that I’ve broken free of my domestication, I may want to run wild for the rest of my days.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Well, how about you let me be the guy by your side while you decide?”
“That sounds nice.”
And finally, we’re kissing. And, oh, wow, it’s a good thing he’s holding onto me, because I’m not sure if I’m capable of supporting my own weight at the moment. I reach up and cup his cheeks with both hands (the ones on his face—for now). And we hold each other and stay like this, letting our mouths and bodies make promises we intend to keep.
When we pull back, he grins down at me. “Did you decide yet?”
“All right, you kissed me into it. I think I would like to get married someday, so long as I can still be wild.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he says, resting his forehead on mine. “I like you when you’re wild.”
“Thanks, I like you when I’m wild, too.” Narrowing my eyes at him, I say, “Wait. Tell me more about that interview. I have a feeling I’m going to need to know about it.”
“It was nothing, really. I just told the world that I’m the one who got myself into that mess, and I needed you to save me,” he lowers his mouth over mine again and gives me a toe-curling kiss. “Oh, and I may have also said you were the most brave and beautiful person I’d met.”
I smile up at him. “You didn’t.”
Nodding, he says, “Oh, I did. And that if I got to spend any time with you at all in the future, I’d consider myself the luckiest man alive.”
