And he was. At last, AJ could sense him.Noah.AJ could hardly get her bearings. The lake of ash had been churned up, as if by a tornado. There was no order now, the plan lay in disarray. The dome was gone, its inhabitants loose in the miasma. He didn’t know which way was up.
She had done this. She gazed up at him in remorse.
He bent forward and kissed her gently, telling her it was okay.
“I’ve been living this way for so long, I don’t know anything else. I can’t promise this will work. But I’ll give it my best shot,” he said. “Thisisreal. It was from the start.”
He pressed his lips to hers, and AJ felt a feeling as big as the sky. It had been there from the very first day they had connected, so much a part of him AJ had taken it for his essential self. She could feel it bright now, as if a current had been switched on. This feeling was woven into everything he was. This feeling was what made him.
And he told her, “I love you.”
AJ pulled back and looked into his eyes. They were wet with emotion.
“I love you,” he repeated. He drew breath, tears rolling down his cheeks. “I always have.”
AJ was crying now too. She touched his face. “I love you so fucking much.”
They both laughed at the visceral relief of getting to say it. It had been on the tip of AJ’s tongue every time she’d looked at him for the last thirteen years. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
Then, he kissed her, this time in hunger, and AJ was watching him do it, watching his shoulders curve above her, watching the moonlight on his clavicle. He thrust once into her, and AJ felt a tremor of pleasure that arched her back. His lips caressed her neck as he thrust again, this time deeper, and both of them gasped. AJ leaned forward so that their noses were touching.
“Noah.”
“I’m here,” he whispered.
AJ took the expanse of his shoulders in her hands. As she arched against him again, she caught a draft of his energy, violent and deep as the ocean. There was no end to what he wanted from her, no way to slake his need. The longer he had suppressed it, the more powerful it had grown, and it was free now, and he could not put it back.
AJ wanted all of it. Here was the rain, here was the flood. She kissed him hard until he gasped.
He eased her back down, one of his arms curving under her back, the other taking her hand in his. Then he began to move inside her, masterfully, then wantonly, and AJ’s cells cried outIt’s youas her body fused with his. His breath was labored now, his features transmuting into something so beautiful it was almost inhuman. AJ trembled.
“Noah—”
He kissed her, and she convulsed around him. He groaned from deep in his throat.
“I’m here.”
Their eyes met, and there he was, the boy with whom she’d danced a thousand dances, and here she was, the girl who had loved him so purely. For just a brief moment, they were back in each other’s arms, whole and intact and perfect. Then pleasure sent them into oblivion.
After, they lay peaceful by the light of the sconces, AJ’s head on his chest. She loved the sound of his heart. Its rhythm was slow now, calm. Gradually, Noah’s hand grasped her shoulder blade.
“Question for you,” he said.
“Shoot,” said AJ, not lifting her head.
Noah cleared his throat. “What are you doing this summer?”
AJ stilled. “I was thinking about making a few lanyards.”
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm,” said Noah. Then, “Can you do that from here?”
A warm light flooded AJ. She nodded into his chest. She was too happy to speak.
The next day, theydrove into the city to collect some of her belongings. Noah was eager to see her space, so they left the car parked in a loading zone and went up to her apartment together.
As AJ threw a pile of T-shirts into a duffel, Noah perused the spare, sunny one-bedroom with a critical eye. When AJ emerged with her bag, she found him assessing the kitchen cabinets.
“This is a bachelor pad,” he announced, holding up her single mug.
