Except for Harvey. Harvey was still, and calm, and safe. The anchor I’d always needed.
“Please don’t.” Harvey stood, moving closer to me. “You scared the hell out of me last time.”
He set the ukulele down at his feet and took both of my hands, thumbs brushing back and forth over my knuckles. “I can’t imagine living without you, Ig. Not anymore. I’ve lived without you long enough. I loved you more than anyone when we were seven, and I love you more than anyone today. I wanted to kiss you when we were thirteen, and I still wanna kiss you today. I wanted to be with you when we were sixteen, and I still want you today. I wanted to be your fiancé last week, and I’d still—if you’ll have me—like to be your fiancé today.”
I was probably meant to say something in response to that, but all I could think to do was surge forward and kiss him.
Harvey grunted in surprise, backing up until he hit the shop window, grabbing at my hip.
Theo barked. Dante wolf-whistled from the doorway.
I didn’t care. Not as long as I could put my hands on Harvey, breathe in his aftershave, feel the warmth of his body seeping into mine.
He was right about one thing—well, he was right about a lot of things—but the point was, he felt like home. Like the home I was so ready to have. With him.
“Is, umm. Is this a yes?” Harvey asked when I broke for air, eyes dark and cheeks flushed.
He reallywaspretty.
“It’s a yes,” I said. “No more pretending. Let’s be engaged for real.”
The corners of Harvey’s eyes crinkled as he grinned, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to watch those lines etch deeper and deeper every day until they were permanent, because neither of us ever stopped smiling for long.
“I love you,” Harvey said. “Wanted to say that a while.”
“I love you, too,” I said. “In case jumping on you wasn’t clear enough.”
Harvey laughed, letting his forehead rest against mine, noses brushing together.
“Are you really back?” I asked, fingering his sweater nervously. “Like, for good?”
“I quit my job,” Harvey said. “So I don’t have anywhere else to go. But I figured you wouldn’t have given me the house key if…”
“My home is your home,” I said, pulling back to look him in the eye. “It was nice of you to help Liam out. He’s taking your job, isn’t he?”
“You spoke to him?” Harvey raised an eyebrow.
“He dropped by to say goodbye. And to tell me you’re stupid.”
Harvey snorted. “He’s right, I wasn’t being smart about this. You mean more to me than anything else ever has, Ig. Just took me a little while to figure it out. I’ve been the biggest butthead of all time.”
I laughed at that, the trembling in my fingers settling down a little. “Sometimes, Harv, you are the world’s biggest butthead,” I agreed. “But you’remybutthead, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Harvey grinned, darting forward to kiss me, laughing as he caught my lips, nipping at the lower one, a tiny surge of need hitting the pit of my stomach.
“You think we could go home?” he asked. “I think the next part of this proposal fantasy involved marathon sex.”
I chuckled.Hell yesit did.
“I’ll ask Dante to open tomorrow morning,” I said, pecking Harvey’s lips one last time before backing off. “Then we can go home.”
29
Harvey
We didn’t get allthe way home before Iggy pinned me to a tree, pressing his whole body against me and kissing me breathless, fingers tangled in my hair and gripping the edge of my coat.
As always, my hands went straight to his butt.
