I tucked myself around his arm. “Maybe the point of this life—our branch of the universe—is to make the best of whatdidhappen and not regret what didn’t. We have to hope the other versions of us found happiness too, even the ones where we never reunited.”
He brushed a lock of hair from my cheek. “I hope that they did.”
I inhaled again, my heart crashing against my chest. “But I refuseto believe that in all the infinite infinities there is even one universe in which we never came together.”
“No?”
“No. It was the great physicist, Alexander Ford, who once said, what happens to you, happens to me. Because we’re entangled by that mysterious force that cannot be seen, measured, or understood completely, but is very real nonetheless. It’s love. And, Xander, I—”
Before I could say another word, Xander kissed me softly, then took my face in his hands that were warm and gentle. “I love you, Emery.”
I stared, conscious that a little gasp escaped me. “You do…?”
“Yeah, I do. I almost said it a hundred times, but I was scared. Iamscared—that the end of the year is going to race toward us and we’re going to get smashed. But I had to say it first. Iowedit to you to say it first. To be brave like you and not leave you waiting or wondering for one more goddamn second.”
Tears stung my eyes.
“I love you, Xander,” I said. “I love you so much. I almost said it a hundred times too, but I didn’t want it to be too much or too soon. But how can it be too soon when it feels like we waited forever to get here?”
“I don’t know. But…I feel that too. Something unexplainable that defies any logic or reason.” His thumbs brushed my cheek. “But I know I love you, Emery. You make me believe in magic.”
***
Xander took me to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean, all the while a hot, heavy haze of expectation thickening every breath, every word, every bite of food until I felt drunk.
We took the ferry back and drove home into a deepening night. His house was dark and quiet as Xander took me by the hand and led me up the stairs. No sooner had he shut the door to his room than I was in his arms. My back pressed against the door as he kissed me withdeep sweeps of his tongue. Demanding. Devouring. And me offering myself willingly. There was no hesitation. Nothing stopping what felt inevitable. A coming together that felt so perfect and right it must’ve been written in the stars. All I knew was an electric hum of anticipation everywhere he was going to touch me.
We stumbled farther into his room, stripping out of jackets and sweaters. He lifted me onto his desk and moved between the V of my legs, our hands roaming, tugging at clothing, mine carving through his hair, his tangling in mine. All the while, Xander kissed me with a possessive need that stole my breath and ran just as hot as my own.
He took off his glasses and set them beside me so he could bury his face in my neck, kissing the delicate skin beneath my ear and grazing his teeth so that shivers skimmed down my spine. I tugged at his shirt, lifting it up and off, his magnificent torso bare to me in the lone light of his lamp.
I placed my hand on his heart, felt the rapidthumpof his pulse beating against my palm, then let it drift down, my fingertips grazing his warm skin over the hard lines and ridges of his abdomen. Xander made a sound in his chest as my fingers moved over his jeans to the hard bulge of his erection. I undid the buttons while he moved in, kissing me, one hand cupping my jaw, the other in my hair—a fist, sending tiny licks of pain over my skin to add to the electric tingles that were fast growing into a heavy ache.
He took off my sweater, then the shirt beneath, filling his eyes with my breasts spilling out of my bra. The hunger in his gaze stole my breath.
“Take it off me, Xander,” I said, and he complied, unhooking it at my back, then slowly drawing it off my arms and casting it aside.
“Jesus, Em.”
His eyes were hooded, both colors darkened. He took my breasts in his hands before putting his mouth on one nipple, sucking and biting, then kissing the bites with soothing, velvety sweeps of histongue. Every touch made sparks; every spark added to the burning desire in the center of me—drawing it in tighter, heavier, waiting for Xander’s touch in the deepest places to set it loose.
I tugged his jeans off his hips. He moved away from me long enough to strip mine off of me, then came back, his erection straining against my dampened panties as I wrapped my legs around his waist. He ground his hips against mine, plundering my mouth with a kiss, then moving down my throat.
“Please…” I managed. “I need you…”
Xander carried me to the bed, then lay over me, kissing me slowly, deeply. But so much bare skin on bare skin, our bodies aligned and ready, only served to fan the flames higher. Within moments, our hips were rising and falling again, grinding, seeking connection.
“Wait, wait, wait,” he breathed, pulling himself away from me with effort and bracing himself on his forearms. “We have to slow down. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I trust you.”
The way his face softened at those words…his eyes full of love and pain because I knew it hurt him to love this much. And the fact that he did anyway, that he lovedme…
“I just want it to be perfect for you,” he said.
“It’s already perfect because it’s you.” I pushed him onto his back and straddled him. “But this is your night too.”
I bent over him, took his lips in mine with a sucking kiss that made him groan. My hair fell down around us, blocking out the rest of the world. I kissed him again, a licking, biting kiss, then took his lower lip. He made a sound deep in his chest, a sexy, pained sound of want, his hips rising, his erection pressing into me.
