Page 118 of Forever Mine

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“I missed you, E.”

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.

“I missed you, too,” I breathed out, my voice suddenly going all deep and wispy with need.

Need for him. To touch him. Kiss him. But he wasn’t there yet. He said he needed time to figure things out. I didn’t care how long it took, I would wait for him.

Julien took another step closer to me until all I saw, all I felt, and all I heard, was him.

“Remember when you told me that when I was ready, you’d kiss me?” he asked.

My eyes went wide with uncertainty. Was he saying…

“Yes.”

He gripped the back of my neck with his hand and pushed me against the tree behind us.

“I’m ready.”

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“Doyou think I care more about that than you? Fuck soccer. How could that thought ever cross your mind? You are my world. My everything. You’re the future I see every fucking morning when I wake up. I want a life with you. A family. You’re my goddamn forever.”

I was speechless. No sound came out. That was the first time Julien had ever talked about our relationship being long-term. I knew he loved me. But he wanted to marry me? Start a family?

Those words were every dream come true, and something I so desperately needed to hear after months of doubting.

Fresh tears leaked from my gritty, swollen eyes. “I love you, Julien.”

He sweetly kissed my tears away. “I can promise you that I love you more.”

“…for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part…”

SexyBoyfriend:Thinking of you. Missing you. Loving you always. Forever Yours.

When I opened the attachment, I recognized the location immediately. His special place on top of the hill. He had his camera pointed toward the sunrise. Birds chirped in the distance, welcoming the new day, and then I heard Julien.

“Wait for it.”

My lips wobbled with a smile, then parted in amazement as the sun crested, big and beautiful. Its light refracted off the thin clouds stretching across the blue sky, turning them pink and yellow.

“I want to experience every sunrise with you,” he said.

The phone turned, and his face came into view.

“I love you, Elijah Michael Barnes.”

The video cut out.

I touched the screen, still seeing him.

“I love you, too.”

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Our lips gravitatedto each other’s, our kiss a reclaiming. An affirmation. A promise.

He gripped the sides of my neck and touched our foreheads together. It was kind of our thing.

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