I reached up, sliding my hand along his jaw, feeling the faint rasp of stubble. “I’m sure about you.”
His breath hitched.
We stayed like that—hovering, charged—until I said, softly, “There’s one more thing I want to do.”
He searched my face. “What is it?”
“I want to go back to the Ravenel Bridge,” I said.
He stilled, instantly alert. “Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it scared me,” I said. “And because I don’t want to start my life here avoiding something that matters.”
His expression shifted—concern, respect, something fierce and protective all braided together.
“I don’t want to do it alone,” I added. “Will you come with me?”
He didn’t even pause.
“Yeah,” he said. “Of course.”
I smiled, heart full, body still humming.
“Okay,” I said. “Then let’s go.”
I slipped off the sofa reluctantly, every inch of my body protesting the loss of contact. Wyatt’s hand caught my wrist before I could get far, tugging me back just enough to steal another kiss—slow, lingering, all promise.
“You sure you want to leave this room?” he murmured against my mouth.
I smiled, brushing my nose against his. “Very sure.”
“That didn’t sound convincing.”
“It’s convincing,” I said, even as my fingers traced the line of his jaw like I might need to memorize it before we stepped back into the world. “If I don’t do this now, I’ll keep finding reasons not to.”
His thumb brushed my lower lip, gaze softening. “Then we’ll do it now.”
We dressed without fully detangling—his shirt ending up on me for a moment, my dress half-zipped while he pressed another kiss to my shoulder, my collarbone, the corner of my mouth. It felt impossible to stop touching, like our bodies had decided proximity was nonnegotiable.
At the door, I hesitated, glancing back at the suite.
It already felt like something more than a hotel room. A placeholder for a life forming in real time.
Wyatt noticed. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Just … realizing Beth and Natasha are probably wondering about me.”
He smiled. “You want to warn them we’re not dead?”
“They can wait,” I said lightly. “They’ll get the full debrief later.”
“Good,” he said. “Because I don’t think I’m ready to explain myself to an audience yet.”
I smiled, then paused. “Actually—wait here for one second.”
