To kiss me in return.
But he wouldn’t. He pulled back, putting several inches between our faces. Far enough to pin me with an unblinking, intense stare. And he spoke in a low, taut voice. “Say it, Paige. You have to say it, or it’s not real. What page are we both on?”
My breath was coming too fast. But if I didn’t say it now, I never would.
“What if I’m in love with you, too?” I whispered.
Seb inhaled sharply.
For a moment, I didn’t know how to read his reaction, but then he reached for me and pulled me into his arms, and we collapsed against each other.
We slowly dropped to the bench, pulling apart a little but still clutching each other.
He wiped tears from both my cheeks, blinking with dewy lashes as he studied my face. “Paige? What about all the other stuff?”
“There is no other stuff. We’ll figure it out. The past never has to dictate the future.”
“Are you sure?” he asked in a broken voice. “When we were kids and I fucked up, you didn’t want anything to do with me and now...”
“I’m sure,” I said, and with a start, realized I meant it.
“You’resuresure?”
I nodded rapidly, absolutely certain.
For a moment, he looked so dazed, I thought he might pass out. Maybe I would, too. Then a slow smile lifted his cheeks. He cupped my face with his hands, looking at me like he’d just won the lottery. And he kissed me.
Tenderly.
The softest of lips nuzzled mine. I opened my mouth to him, and we kissed like we both meant it. Like we were explorers who discovered a secret door to Shangri-la, and nothing but bliss was in our future.
Like we forgave each other for all the hurt in the past.
It was almost too much for me to handle. When we pulled apart for air, chests heaving, unable to stop smiling, he said, “Sort of forgot we were in public.”
“Wish we weren’t,” I said, fisting the front of his shirt.
“Yeah?” Oh, the delight in his eyes. “Gotta figure out someplace, because some asshole got rid of two tents.”
“If you don’t take me somewhere and touch me, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“You have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of you saying that.” He held my face in his hands and gave me several quick kisses. Then he grinned at me, dimples on display before looking around the dark campground. “But where? Pavilion?”
“With the dirty showers and that awful lounge?”
“Nope. Well, what else? Going out in the woods at night in a public campground seems like a bad idea for so many reasons.”
“So bad,” I agreed.
His brows lifted. “Land Rover?” Instead of being parked at our campsite like it was earlier, it sat in a parking space near the pavilion after Seb’s ice run, due to an RV temporarily blocking the road to our campsite. “Not ideal, but...”
He didn’t have to convince me further. I grabbed his hand, and we raced to the pavilion’s parking lot like we were bank robbers, running from the cops and looking for a place to hide. Seb clicked off the car alarm, and we slipped into the back seat and shut the door. The Land Rover’s black windows blocked out the parking lot light, leaving us in darkness as we shoved things Jaz and I had left back here on the floorboards. I could barely see anything, only the whites of his eyes.
“I feel like I’m in high school again,” he said.
“Just don’t think about what Benny and Lulu have been doing back here.”
Seb laughed. Then he tugged my arm, urging me closer. “Are you still cool?”
