“Yeah, baby?” I whispered back.
It took him a second to say anything, one of his fingertips drawing shapes into my skin. I waited, barely breathing, as he gathered himself. “I’m ready to share my heart with you.”
I paused, letting what he was saying actually process in my mind. His finger stopped drawing shapes on my chest just as I stopped petting the back of his head. I felt his muscles stiffen, as if he was about to run, just as I finally let myself smile. “And how do you mean that, exactly?”
He turned his head further into my chest. “I mean that I love you. I’m in love with you. I’m ready to share my stupid heart with you, but if you don’t feel the same, then?—”
“Finally.” I cut him off.
“What?”
I laughed, just a short, brief exhale of a laugh, and wrapped my arm tighter around him. “You’d be an idiot to think I didn’t love you. I’ve been waiting for you, Moon. I’ve been waiting this entire time.”
“Wait, hold on.” He struggled for a second, lifting himself on his elbow to hover his face over mine, peering down at me. “You’ve been waiting?”
“Moon, baby.” I reached up, holding his face in my hands. “My heart has been yours since before I ever asked you to be my boyfriend. I have been in love with you for a long time. I’ve just been waiting for you, and I would’ve kept waiting for as long as it took.”
There was just enough moonlight peeking through the window that I could see the barest hint of a smile on his face. “You love me?”
I pulled his face close to mine, touching our noses together. “I am so incredibly in love with you. I swear my heart has grown just to accommodate how much I love you.”
“Fuck, Em.” He sniffled. “Don’t you dare make me cry again. I’m so sick of crying. But I’m so fucking happy.”
These tears, I found myself not wanting to wipe away. If they were evidence to how he felt about me, I wanted them to stain the skin on his cheeks forever. “All I ever want is for you to be happy, Moon. That’s all I’ll ever need. And I swear, with every square inch of my heart, that I will do anything possible to make that happen. Just love me, and I’ll love you back.”
“Promise?”
I pressed my lips against his, tasting the tears that’d fallen onto them. When I broke away, I gave him everything I had. Everything he could possibly need or want. I gave him my soul. The missing piece of the puzzle we called life. “I promise.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Freedom.A noun meaning the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. It was an odd concept to think about in terms of myself. There was still a weight in my chest, but the door had opened, and suddenly, I could let things in. I could let emotions, people, and new life experiences in without fear they’d get locked up with me.
And who did I have to thank for that? My Daddy. Well, him and maybe Iris, too, though I refused to admit that.
Emerson was at work, whereas I had the day off, so of course he told me to crash at his place after I finished my stained-glass piece I was working on. I’d planned on having Elio, Crescent, and Star over at my apartment, but Daddy being Daddy, he told me to invite them to stay at his house as well. It would be a Millerfamily get-together at Emerson’s house, excluding the parents. I was an anxious wreck, honestly.
I’d originally planned to beat around the bush as much as possible and probably never get to the point I was hoping to get to. Unfortunately, keeping the truth in made me far more nervous than just blurting it out all at once.
Star and I had been talking on the phone more often, but this would be the first time in a long time that we spoke to each other in person. Her agreeing to come over gave me just a little bit of hope for repairing our relationship, especially with the true, genuine apology I was about to give her. It’d been long overdue for all of my siblings, really.
The doorbell rang, making me jump a little. I hopped up to open the door, meeting Crescent and Elio’s smiling faces. “Hey, thanks for coming.”
Crescent stepped over the threshold first, patting me on the back. “Yeah, man. Officer Blake has a nice house.”
Elio filtered through next, followed by Star. I led them into the living room, letting them pick their seats. “You know you can just call him Emerson, right?”
“Yeah, well.” Crescent shrugged. “I like teasing you about your cop boyfriend. What can I say?”
Star pulled her legs up onto the couch cushion, pointing a finger up. “I just wanna say that I never in a million years would’ve thought you’d date a cop. Like, out of every profession possible, that wasn’t one I thought about.”
Elio was nodding along with her. “Yeah, dude. I thought maybe a bartender or something, honestly. You look like you’d date a bartender.”
“In a club, or in a fancy place? That’s the real question here,” Star added.
“Definitely a club.” Crescent shifted, moving to look at them rather than me. “One of those shitty dive bars they have inthe city, you know? I always imagined a really tall, intimidating woman who wore five-inch heels. Oh, and older. So I guess I got one part right.”
Five-inch heels? Why that specifically? Shaking my head, I interrupted the riveting conversation they were having about me, like I wasn’t sitting right in front of them. “Guys. Seriously? I didn’t invite you over to talk about how unlikely a pairing Em and I are.”
