She looked back at Sloane and slipped her hand into hers.
“Good,” Reese said quietly. “Because having somewhere to come home to sounds pretty great.” Sloane squeezed her fingers, her smile easy and certain. “Especially if it’s with you.”
Sloane was quiet for a moment after Reese finished speaking. The city hummed below them, but the space between them felt strangely still.
“Reese,” she said softly.
Something in her tone made Reese turn fully toward her.
“I need you to know something.” Sloane rested her forearms on the balcony railing, then reached for Reese’s hand like she needed the contact to say the next part. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the future lately. About what this life looks like for you, and what it means for me to be part of it.”
Reese’s chest tightened slightly, but she held Sloane’s gaze.
“I know racing is chaos,” Sloane continued. “Flights, time zones, pressure, the whole world watching. And I know there will be hard moments. For both of us.” She paused, her thumb brushing slowly across Reese’s knuckles. “But I’m not here temporarily. I’m not dipping a toe in to see how it feels.”
Reese’s heart kicked hard, and her palms tingled.
“I’m in this,” Sloane said quietly. “For the long haul. For the messy parts, the scary parts, the incredible parts. All of it.” She took a breath, her voice softening even further. “I’ve never beenthis certain about anyone before. But I am about you. I love you that much.”
For a second, Reese couldn’t speak. The words settled over her slowly, but when they did, they landed deep. She’d spent years moving forward at full speed—career first. Relationships tried to keep up, but never quite could. She’d told herself that was just the price of the life she’d chosen.
But Sloane wasn’t trying to keep up. She was choosing to stand beside her.
Reese squeezed her hand. “Good,” she said softly.
Sloane’s brow lifted slightly. “Good?”
“Yeah.” Reese smiled, a little crooked but full of something steady and real. “Because you should probably know something too.”
“And what is that?”
Reese looked out toward the Mediterranean for a moment, gathering the right words, before turning back to her.
“I’ve experienced love,” she said. “But never like this. Never with someone who makes everything feel … clearer. Like the rest of my life actually makes sense with them in it.”
Sloane’s eyes softened.
“You’re it for me,” Reese said simply. “However long this crazy career takes me around the world, however many races are ahead … I know, with absolute certainty, that I want you at the end of every one of them.”
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Sloane leaned forward and kissed her, slow and certain, the kind of kiss that you remembered.
When they pulled apart, Sloane’s smile was softer now, but brighter. “Well,” she said, “in that case …”
Reese squeezed Sloane’s hand, the decision settling into her chest faster than she expected. It didn’t feel reckless or rushed.
It felt right.
Sloane bumped her shoulder lightly. “Looks like I’m going to have to clear out some closet space.”
Reese smirked. “You’re the one who fell for a woman with a designer jacket problem.”
“That wasn’t a problem.”
“Oh?”
“That was one of the selling points. Because you know I’m going to wear them.”
