“Before, or after you almost got me arrested for public indecency?” I asked.
I knew what he meant, but I was afraid this was about to turn into a goodbye.
I didn’t want to say goodbye.
“Before,” Iggy said. “And it wasn’t public indecency.”
“Notquite,” I allowed, looking at everything Iggy had set up again. “Are we camping out?”
Iggy shrugged. “I was kind of hoping we were, I guess,” he said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Not if you don’t want to.”
“I want to,” I said. “Where’s Theo?”
“Safe at home,” Iggy said. “I wanted… just the two of us. I didn’t want my attention split tonight.”
I’d never thought of myself as competing for attention with Theo, but I understood what Iggy was getting at. This wasn’t just stargazing.
We were both hovering nervously, and I didn’t want the whole night to be like that. Iggy had done his part to make this magical, now it wasmyturn to stop being awkward.
“C’mere,” I said, reaching out to him, tilting his chin up when he stepped close enough.
“This is incredible, Ig,” I murmured, looking him in the eyes for two, three heartbeats before the urge to kiss him took over.
It was soft, and sweet, andachingthis time, so tender it hurt, but I didn’t want to stop.
I only had a little more of Iggy, and I wasn’t about to waste it.
“Hope there’s more of that coming,” Iggy said as we broke off.
“As much as you want,” I said, leaning in for another kiss.
Soon enough I had him nestled among the pillows, giggling between kisses, hands stealing under my sweater to roam over bare skin as the sun disappeared below the horizon, night birds starting up a chorus.
“You’re missing the stars,” Iggy murmured between kisses, lips swollen and cheeks flushed.
“Mm, no,” I said, kissing the tip of his nose. “I can see them in your eyes. They’re prettier that way.”
Iggy snorted. “I didn’t mean for this to turn into a makeout session.”
“And yet,” I said, running the tip of my nose along his, finishing with a soft bite to his lip. “Here we are.”
“Guess it makes up for all the times we didn’t do this when we were teenagers,” Iggy smiled wryly.
“We could’ve been coming up on our ten-year wedding anniversary now,” I teased, grinning at him. “You and me, an old married couple. Could you imagine?”
“I… w-well… w-would it have been s-so bad?” Iggy stuttered.
He only did that when he was nervous, and I hated the thought that he might be nervous around me. I’d always wanted to be safe for him.
“No,” I said, a lifetime of this playing like an old reel of film being run through a projector in my head. “No, I don’t think it would’ve been so bad at all.”
Iggy grinned, threading his fingers through my hair and pulling me down for another kiss.
I laughed as we rolled over on the pillows, smiling up at Iggy’s flushed face and dark eyes. He was so beautiful tonight.
He’d always been beautiful to me.
“I’ve had so much fun, Harv,” Iggy murmured, leaning on his elbows and bending down until the tips of our noses touched. “I wanted to thank you. For everything. For being my best-ever fiancé. Even if it wasn’t real.”
