Months Later
THE FIRST TIME Alessio had kissed me here, we were fifteen, the boardwalk busy behind us and sand beneath our toes. I’d gone home that night on a cloud, thinking that this was it, everything had fallen into place. My best friend was my boyfriend and life couldn’t get any better.
I was glad I hadn’t known then how much our lives would change. That there would be a day when I would make a choice that led me away from Alessio.
But standing here now, walking that same stretch of sand, our fingers lazily entwined, I realized it’dhadto be that way. There was something to be said about coming back together after growing apart—it made you even more grateful for what you had.
I brought our hands up to my lips, pressing a kiss to his knuckles, and he looked up, giving me that gorgeous smile thatmade my insides melt, made me want to give him anything and everything he asked for.
“Something on your mind?” he asked, the wind picking up and blowing his hair across his face.
Pulling him toward me, I brushed the errant strands back behind his ear, though it was really just an excuse to get my fingers in his hair. Just another thing I loved from the never-ending list.“I was just remembering.”
“Yeah? Good or bad?” He wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me tight, and I was convinced that there was nowhere safer in this world. It wasn’t just that he had arms that Lachlan joked were the size of boulders, though he wasn’t lying about that. It wasn’t that he had access to every security measure there was. It was the overwhelming sense of peace that came from finding your person, the one who knew you, loved you, would go to the ends of the Earth for you.
Alessio was mine. And I was his. There was nothing more certain in this world than that.
“Good, of course,” I told him, nodding at a spot down the beach. “Our first kiss was right there.”
“I remember. I’d wanted to do it before that. I thought about at the top of the Ferris wheel, but then if it went bad you might’ve tried to push me off it.”
I snorted out a laugh. “There was no chance of that happening. I’d been thinking about your lips too much to want to get rid of you.”
“It was the fried Oreos that did it, right? Couldn’t resist a taste.” He leaned in, teasing my mouth by barely grazing it, driving me so crazy that I grabbed the back of his head to hold him steady so I could kiss him.
This time he didn’t taste like sugar, but something even better. Just Alessio. My favorite flavor in the world.
He kissed along my jaw, uncaring of who might see us. “We should get some for later. I can think of a few places I’d like to eat them off…”
A shiver ran through me, and not from the slight chill in the air.“I think that might be one of your better ideas.” I tilted my head to the side to give him better access. “And coming here was a good one too.”
His breath was warm as he nipped at my earlobe, and it was wild how butterflies exploded throughout my body in response. “You’ve been so busy all week. You needed some fresh air. Hell, so did I.”
“Did you get everything taken care of?”
“Let’s just say there’s a man in New Jersey who won’t be making the mistake of using a shell company to try to breach government systems again.” As he gave me a rundown of specifics, I nodded along, smiling faintly even though I understood a fraction of what he said. The tech stuff was over my head, but we’d both meant it when we said we didn’t want secrets between us.
There were careful ways he and the Kings walked in the world, and it was fascinating to see it all unfold, the way they dismantled threats before they reached innocent people, and the discipline beneath what could’ve come off as just ruthlessness.
Beyond that, I liked hearing about things he was so passionate about, just as I was finding a newfound passion that looked a little different than priesthood.
“How did the outreach program go this week?” he asked. “Make any headway with Marco?”
“Actually, it seems an anonymous donor covered the cost of his tuition. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?”
“Huh. Sounds like the kid got lucky.”
“Or has a guardian angel looking out for him.”
Alessio let out a soft snort. “Hardly an angel. More like someone trying to score points from the Big Guy after stealing one of his priests.”
I held his face between my hands, making sure he was looking at me when I said, “You’re incredible.”
He rolled his eyes and nuzzled back into my neck. “Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
Things were still tied up in administration paperwork with the church, as they no doubt would be for another year, but I’d gotten a position teaching part-time at a diocesan school, working with teenagers who didn’t trust institutions, but still needed someone to listen and to guide them. It didn’t replace the church, but it gave me a new path, a way to serve. My faith wasn’t diminished by my choice to step down from leadership. And it had brought Alessio back to the church too.
It was still hard to believe the way life had unfolded. If you’d asked me what I’d be doing with my life six months ago, it would’ve been vastly different to where I was today. But where I’d ended up was exactly where I was supposed to.
