Page 116 of Forever Mine
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“I missed you, E.”
“I missed you, too,” he breathed out, his voice suddenly going all deep and wispy.
Did he feel the electric energy surging between us? How it swirled and grew hotter and brighter in its intensity? It was magnetic and undeniable. And I couldn’t resist its pull any longer.
And you know what? Fuck it. Fuck my worries and fuck my fears. I was tired of waiting. I was tired of making him wait. I was tired of putting my life on hold while everyone else around me lived theirs.
I took another step closer until all I saw, all I felt, and all I heard, was Elijah.
“Remember when you told me that when I was ready, you’d kiss me?” I asked him.
Elijah’s eyes went wide, and I could hear him swallow thickly.
“Yes.”
I gripped the back of his neck with my hand and pushed him up against the tree behind him.
“I’m ready.”
“I, Julien Jayden Jameson, take you, Elijah Michael Barnes, to be my husband…”
I glidedone hand from his hip and skated my fingers up his chest. “I have a confession to make.”
He canted his head to the side.
“When Marshall and I were staring each other down, all I could think was—no one messes with my boyfriend.”
Elijah’s face showed shock, then settled into an expression of pure happiness. “Is that what I am?” he asked hopefully.
I gripped his neck, pulling him in so our foreheads touched. My thumb ran lazy circles under his chin. “It’s what I really hope you’ll be.”
“God, yes, Julien. I’ve been falling for you for years. I want to be yours more than anything.”
I was falling for him, too. I thought I had been since the first moment I saw him.
“You’re mine, Elijah.”
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“E,I don’t want you fighting my battles for me.”
Elijah stood up from his kneeling position, frustration clear in the way he was pacing back and forth.
“I’m not trying to fight your battles, you stupid man. I’m fighting for you. I’ll probably get suspended if he goes to the principal, but I don’t care. I’d do it all over again.”
He stopped pacing, his chest heaving and his hazel eyes blazing. He looked like an avenging angel come to earth.
“You’re my boyfriend too, you know. It’s not a one-way street. We’re in a relationship together. Me and you. What hurts you, hurts me. Your fights are my fights. And dammit, Julien, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m completely and totally in love with you.”
My heart lurched. I felt my stomach literally spasm. And the throbbing in my head faded away until all I could hear was Elijah breathing and the pulse of my heartbeat.
“What did you say?”
“You’re a stupid man.”
“The other thing.”
