“A year and a month.” The rumble of his voice vibrated between us. “And it wouldn’t all happen at once. We’d just… start talking. Then a relationship. Moving in together. It was supposed to take years.”
I caught his hand and laced our fingers together, drawing it against my chest. “What if I was in a relationship?”
“What?” he scoffed softly. “Like you cared when I was in one?”
I let out a short laugh. “That’s not fucking funny.”
“It’s really not.” His chin settled over my shoulder.
I hesitated, then, “I tried to talk to Luca. Apologized for being a dick to him. He told me to fuck off.” My gaze dropped. “Which… fair.”
“You did?”
I nodded. “Charlotte made me realize that, even if you were mine first, it wasn’t called for. Plus, it brought up all the mess with my parents, and I just… I didn’t want to be that guy.” I shook my head slightly. “But I was.”
Sebastian stayed quiet, probably processing what I’d just said.
“I reached out too,” he finally said. “Tried to apologize again, but he wouldn’t listen. Not that I blame him.”
The weight of it settled between us.
“I fucked that up,” he added after a second, his voice low. “And I get that it’ll make it harder for you to trust me too.”
My fingers tightened around his.
Sebastian’s ability to stay—to actually commit—had always been a concern to me. But what we’d done to Luca, as fucked up as it was, had been collateral damage from us finding our way back to each other.
If everything Sebastian had said tonight was true—if that ring meant what he said it did—then he’d always chosen me. Above anyone else. And that changed something big, pulling my doubtsaway from him leaving me for someone else and toward whether he could truly let me in.
“I do trust you, Ash,” I said, quieter now. “I get why this spiraled out of control—for both of us. Just promise you won’t keep things from me, and we can make it out of this mess.”
His hand tightened in mine, holding a little firmer. “I won’t.”
The moment lingered, heavier than before. I kept staring at the gold band—at the promise of what that future could be.
“And then what?” I asked, trying to push past it. “We’d ride off into the sunset?”
Sebastian sighed, like he was attempting to do the same. “We’d move here if you wanted to. Travel together. Find our rhythm.”
“Did you picture kids in this fantasy?”
Sebastian went still. “Is that… something you’d want?”
“It’s something you probably should’ve asked before planning entire lives for us.”
He stayed quiet.
“But no,” I said. “I don’t think I do. It’d be a conversation if you wanted them, but I’m fine being the cool uncle. I figure Henny’s going to have five kids. That’s enough for all of us.”
Sebastian chuckled, tension easing as he relaxed back into the sheets. “That works for me too.”
“Anything else?”
He kissed along my jaw. “Spend the rest of our lives like this—doing whatever we want. Only I’d get to spoil you, like I’ve always wanted to.”
My mouth curved as I tipped my head, his beard brushing my neck.
Then it was there again—the question that had lived in my head ever since that first article came out. “Do we have to hide this time too?”
