April pulled back to look her in the eyes. “You are. You’re a wildling. You’re a fuckingLeo.”
Daphne laughed but nodded. “I know that now. And part of being strong even when I’m scared is admitting that I want to be with you. I wantyou.”
“Me,” April said. It wasn’t a question, but it wasn’t declarative either. More like a whispered word to the stars, some language that hadn’t been defined yet.
“You,” Daphne said, cupping April’s hands in her face. “If you’ll have me.”
“I’ll have you,” April said, tears swelling and overflowing quickly. She laughed, took Daphne’s face in her hands too. “I’ll have you, Daphne Love. For as long as you want me.”
She kissed Daphne then, their tears mixing together, both of them laughing as they cried, hands tangling in hair and then roaming down backs to waists and back to each other’s faces.
“I love you,” April said against her mouth. “I’m so proud of you.”
“I’m proud ofyou,” Daphne said. “I want to hear everything. How the trip has been, if you’ve heard from any agents, how your deck is—”
“Wait,” April said, tilting her head and smiling. “I didn’t tell you about the agents and querying.”
Daphne fought her own smile. “Well. I might have…”
“You’ve been talking to Sasha about me.”
“Guilty.” Daphne grinned.
“You could’ve asked.”
“I didn’t want you to feel like you had to tell me things. If you…” She took a deep breath. “If you didn’t feel the way you had at Cloverwild.”
“Well, I do.”
Daphne tucked a piece of hair behind April’s ear. “I know that now.”
“I might have plied Sasha for information too,” April said. “Just a little.”
Daphne laughed. “Oh, did you?”
“She didn’t tell me about painting number six though,” April said, growing serious.
Daphne’s smile vanished too, but her eyes were shining and soft. “She didn’t know. No one did except Nicola.”
“It’s incredible,” April said. “You’reincredible.” Then she kissed Daphne hard, whispering “I can’t believe you’re here” against her mouth.
“I’m here,” Daphne said, and deepened the kiss, their limbs entwining again, tongues exploring. April grew warm, desperate to be out of this ridiculous costume, desperate to peel Daphne’s dress from her body, desperate for a bed they didn’t have to leave for days or weeks or months.
They came up for air, and April sighed, resting her forehead against Daphne’s as they held each other. She knew Daphne had gotten a ton of commissions from the Devon’s show. She also knew her own savings were running low, that she wanted to start some freelance work, maybe get a job in a tattoo shop somewhere while she worked on her deck and built up her illustration portfolio. She knew Daphne was here by her side right now. And she knew this was exactly where they both wanted to be.
And she knew she loved Daphne Love.
But that was all. There was so much else she didn’t know. Wasn’t sure about. But somehow, none of that scared her. And even if it did a little, deep in her bones at her most vulnerable moments, she knew she had Daphne. She had Ramona and she had Dylan. She had Sasha. She had her people.
“What do we do now?” she asked, her hands in Daphne’s faded lavender hair.
Daphne pulled her closer, tighter. “Anything we want.”
Chapter
Thirty-Four
Two Months Later
