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“It’s okay.” He tightens his arms around me and kisses my hair.

“It’s not.”

“Vix, it’s okay. I’ve waited this long for you. I can wait another eighteen months before we get married.”

I stare at him. “Married?”

He kisses me. “I want to stand next to you and promise to love you forever. The difference is, I’ll mean it.”

My eyes fill with tears. It’s a little harsh on my previous marriage, but I know he wouldn’t have meant it like that. The thing is, he’s right. Jayden did promise to love me forever, and sometimes I’ve wondered if he was even in love with me when he said the words.

I have no doubt he was fond of me. He must have had feelings for me to marry me. But I think whatever he felt for me, those feelings faded fast.

And all that time, this man continued to want me from afar, steadfast and loyal.

I wrap my arms around him, and we kiss, and kiss, and kiss, as the sun sinks below the horizon, and the stars pop out on the evening sky.

He makes love to me slowly again, taking time to arouse me, making me come with his mouth before he finally slides inside me. Then he places kisses on my lips and face while he moves, waiting for my body to start stirring again.

It’s heavenly, this slow, sensual lovemaking, because I have no doubt that’s what we’re doing. He’s making love to me, trying to show me how he feels with his body, worshipping me, making me feel loved and cared for.

This time, he doesn’t change position. He stays on top of me, looking into my eyes, the muscles of his gorgeous body moving beneath my fingertips. While he thrusts, he whispers things in my ear, telling me how beautiful I am, how much he likes being inside me, and how he wants me to come and cry out his name, and I sigh and drift up into the night sky, an out-of-body experience that leaves me sighing and, yes, saying his name as I come.

Only then does he let himself go and take his own pleasure from me. I look up into his eyes as he thrusts hard, running my fingers up his arms and across his chest, enjoying his stunning body, until he finally stops and shudders, closing his eyes and giving a fierce frown that brings tears to my eyes as I think about the sensations he’s feeling, and knowing that I gave him that pleasure.

Afterwards, he curls around me, turning me to face the window, and we look out at the moon rising in the sky, shining like a silver Christmas bauble.

There’s so much to talk about. Is he going to resign from his job before Christmas? He’ll have to go back to Wellington to pack up his apartment and organise having his stuff moved up here. How much furniture does he have?

And where’s he going to live? Here with me and Millie? My stomach flutters at the thought. I want to protect her from the future, but of course I can’t, not from everything anyway. But what if she gets used to having him around, and then things go wrong between us, and he has to move out?

There are no guarantees where love is concerned, he said. We have to take a leap of faith.

It seems like such a big thing to ask. I want a guarantee. Written down on parchment and sealed with wax. But of course, that’s never going to happen.

Tomorrow, I’m going to have to call Jayden. Part of me wants to accept Mitch’s offer to be there, so I don’t have to do it on my own. But that’s cowardly. I’ll try to do it early, so I don’t have to spend all day worrying about it.

Mitch kisses my hair. “Are you okay?”

“Mm. Getting sleepy.”

The fairy lights in the bedroom cast us in a warm, Christmassy glow. I feel a surge of happiness, clean and innocent and true. It’s fanciful, but it comforts me to think of it this way, as if this were meant to be, written in the stars.

For so long, I’ve thought of myself as a failure in my marriage, unable to keep my husband happy and healthy. But Mitch feels like a reward, and it gladdens my heart to think we might have a future.

He pulls me tighter against him, wrapping his arms tightly around me. “I love you.”

It’s the first time he’s said it in so many words. It makes me glow, but the words stay on my lips, unsaid. Do I love him, too?

I’m in love with him; I have no doubt about that. Seeing him, being with him, makes my heart beat faster. The heat in his eyes turns me on. His lovemaking sets me alight. But that’s different to saying I love you, right? What does it mean, exactly?

I have loved him as a good friend for a long time. I’ve always trusted him and felt comfortable with him. He makes me happy. Maybe that’s what true love is, when it’s accompanied by passion. I thought I loved Jayden. But I never felt like this about him.

Mitch lifts his head to look at me. “I lied,” he says.

“About what?”

He brushes hair from my face. “I do believe in soul mates.”