“Figured you knew. Every time I hold you. Every time I kiss you.”
“That’s not the same as saying it.”
“No.” He spins me. “Guess it’s not.”
My hands fist in his soaked shirt. “So say it.”
He chuckles and drops his forehead to mine, noses brushing. “I love you, Dakota. Love how you sing when you think no one’s listening. Love that you still check on Sienna before you sleep. Love that you survived your father and still chose kindness.”
Warmth spreads through my chest, and I’m smiling even as tears slip down my cheeks that can’t be seen because of the rain.
“Love that you’re dancing with me in the rain even though you’re probably freezing.”
“It is kind of cold.”
His mouth curves against my temple. “Love that you stayed.”
“I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“You could’ve gone with Ramirez. Could’ve struck out on your own. You stayed because you wanted to.”
“Maybe I just like the cottage.”
“Maybe you love me too.”
“I-I’m terrified of losing you.”
“Not what I asked.”
Amelia wanted me to live. To fall in love properly, she said. To choose things for myself.
I choose this man.
This moment.
Meli, I think I found my place.
I throw my arms around his neck. “I love you. So much it scares the shit out of me.”
He wraps his arms around me. “Good.”
“Good?”
“Means you won’t leave.” His lips find mine, the kiss tasting like rain and relief and promises. “Means I get to keep you.”
I kiss him back, pouring everything I can’t say into it. All the fear, the love, the desperate need to believe we might actually survive this.
“We’re doing this.” His eyes flick between mine. “You and me.”
“Dancing in the rain?”
“Everything.”
It won’t last—grief never fully retreats—but for now, dancing in the rain with the man I love, I feel something like hope, like I’m finally living instead of existing.
We stumble through the bedroom door, lips never breaking contact, bodies slick with rain and want. Julien kicks the door shut behind us. His hands are everywhere—in my wet hair, gripping my waist, gliding down to cup my ass—each touch leaving fire in its wake despite our chilled skin.
“Need you,” he growls against my mouth. “Right now.”
