Page 150 of Face Off With Fate

I kissed her, slow and unhurried. Her hand found the front of my shirt without looking, fingers curling into the fabric.

I pulled back just enough to see her.

“I love you,” I said. I told her those three words at every opportunity, never wanting her to doubt what she meant to me.

She looked up at me, a soft curve at the corner of her mouth. “I love you, too.” She turned back toward Goldie, smoothing a strand of hair off her cheek. “Even if you can’t pronounce albóndigas.”

I scoffed. “I was close.”

“Not even,” she teased.

I pressed my mouth to her temple again, and she leaned into it, her whole body settling into my side.

The string lights buzzed softly overhead, and I leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You’re still wearing the dress…”

I let the rest of what I wanted to say hang between us.

She pulled back, eyes shining with those little flames. “And if you want that to change, you’d better go put her in her bed.” She nodded toward the kitchen. “And then start saying goodbye to everyone. Because with this family, the goodbye process is like an hour-long event…minimum.”

I shot out of my seat and scooped Goldie up, already halfway to her room.

“Hurry up, Princess Graciella. I want you in our bed before midnight rolls around.”

Her laugh tinkled through the air, warming that spot behind my ribcage I used to think was meant to be a block of ice forever.

And now it’d never be that again.