Her arms wrap around my neck, and her lips come close to mine.
“I’m going to be really selfish with you, Jake Cooper. I want you all to myself—forever. No matter the mess. No matter the consequences. I wantyou. All of you. Always.”
My lips are on hers in the next breath. Her hands run through my soaked hair as I wrap my arms around her and pull her flush against me.
The world narrows to the warmth of her mouth, the steady beat of her heart against my chest, the way she sighs into the kiss like this is where she was always meant to be. My hand cradles her neck as rain drips from my lashes, down her cheek, and back onto me. I’m not cold anymore—not when every part of me is swimming in her love.
I kiss her like a vow.
Like a choice she was always worth making.
Like there’s no undoing this—and there isn’t.
When we break, I bury my face in her neck, inhaling the scent of her. I trail kisses from her chin, down her neck, and along her collarbone. She tips her head back and tilts her face toward the sky, arms stretched out wide as the rain falls. I just watch her, a downward grin tugging at my lips as I hold her body and let her fall freely.
She tips her head back to me, her fingers trailing the nape of my neck.
“I told you rain was romantic,” she teases.
My smile only deepens. “Veryromantic,” I agree. “You were right.”
“Ooh, I like the sound of that. Say it again.”
I chuckle. “Don’t get used to it, woman. You’re still walkin’ a fine line. It’s very suspicious how you knew where I lived.”
“One, I prefer the termresourceful. And two, I’m not the one who looked up your brother and told him how in love with you I am.”
My eyebrows hike. “Oh, is that what you got from it?”
“What else was there to get?”
“I think you read it wrong.”
“Is that so?” She smiles and my whole world shimmers blindingly, despite the cloud coverage hanging above.
“Yes.” I nod, water dripping down my face. I lean closer, my mouth brushing her ear. “I told him you were my entire world. My very reason for being. Love wouldn’t evenbeginto cover it.”
Epilogue
“Nature Boy” Nat King Cole, 1961
Today–JAKE
THE GREATEST THING you’ll ever do is love.
For a long time, I thought that was bullshit. Thought it was just another pretty lie wrapped in the lyric of another stupid love song. Something people clung to so they didn’t have to admit how badly love can break you down.
Part of that might have been true. But there’s so much more to it than that.
There is something brave about falling in love. Something terrifying and feral and undeniably rich. Because loving someone means walking into the one thing that can absolutely destroy you. It means loading the gun yourself and passing it to the other person while they aim it directly at you. Eyes open. Heart exposed. No armor left to hide behind.
Love isn’t safe. It isn’t neat. It doesn’t come with guarantees or easy escapes. It asks you to give pieces of yourself awaywithout knowing if you’ll ever get them back. And that’s exactly what makes it courageous.
There is nothing weak about choosing to be vulnerable in a world that teaches you to only protect yourself, hide all your wrongs, and run before you ever expose them.
Love doesn’t save you in the way fairy tales promise. It doesn’t erase your past or make you whole overnight. But it does something better—it changes you. It forces you to feel more deeply than you ever thought possible. It teaches you who you are when everything is on the line and who you're willing to be for the sake of someone else.
Love takes, yes, but it also gives. It gives moments so bright they burn themselves into your memory forever, branding themselves onto your soul. A hand reaching for yours in the night. A voice that grounds you. A feeling so big it rewrites your definition of life and everything in it.
