My forehead dropped to hers, and I exhaled with all the weight of the last six months behind it. The last six years, really.
I took her hand, pressed a kiss to her palm, and led her inside.
Emmett
We only made it as far as my entryway, but we didn’t stop for the reasons I would’ve imagined.
It wasn’t tearing at each other’s clothes, or some irrepressible violent urge to take her against the wall or on the stairs or on the floor. Those were the urges that we’d allowed when our time together felt abbreviated.
And now, everything rolled out in front of us slowly. Her fingers trailed over mine, tickling the palm of my hand where we sat on the first landing of the stairs leading up to my bedroom. My back was against one wall, hers was on the other, her bare legs dangling over mine. I’d shed my jacket just inside the door, her dark eyes tracking my shirt-covered chest and arms as I tossed it over the bench by my front door.
As we sat on the floor and talked, I played gently with her fingers while she told me about her conversation with Tim on their back porch. Her eyes were shining with tears, but she didn’t cry.
“You are the least selfish person I’ve ever met, Adaline.” I kissed her knuckles, and she trailed her fingertip over my bottom lip. “I hate that you felt that way.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know that I ever thought about it, you know? He doesn’t take up a lot of my brain space every day. It was more like … when I had something truly pulling me away, it was the first time I’d ever put words to it.”
I nodded. There was a weight on her background that I didn’t understand. A father who left because he wanted something else. And the debt she felt to a dad who stayed when he didn’t have to.
“But you’re here,” I said.
She smiled. “Remember that jet you mentioned? It’s about to get a workout in the next few months. You sure you can afford dating me?”
With a laugh, I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her waiting lips.
“Yeah. I can afford it.”
We were still smiling when I kissed her again.
Neither of us deepened it. Not yet. It was enough that she was here.
I didn’t fully realize just how important it was that she chose me too, until we sat on the stairs and talked about the big things that shifted in order for us to be there. We both made choices that led us here. Mine affected our relationship just as heavily as hers. But now that we were here, it felt like all those choices just made us that much more certain of how right we were together.
“We can do it,” I told her.
“We can.” Her eyes were soft and happy. “I know you won’t be able to travel much during the season. And that’s okay.”
“Speaking of the season.” I shifted to face her more fully. “I should probably tell you about my evening.”
Adaline’s eyes widened, her mouth falling open as I recounted the night and what Allie did.
“Holy hell,” she breathed. “I bet Ned was shitting himself.”
I grinned. “I’ve known it since I was a kid, but if anyone messes with the women in my life, they will regret it.”
“I have such a girl boner for Allie right now,” Adaline said. “I wish I could be like that.”
With a hum, I leaned forward to sweep the hair off her neck and place a gentle kiss underneath her ear. “I distinctly remember someone using a champagne bottle with terrifying accuracy.”
Her eyes gleamed bright when she smiled. “Oh, yeah. That was one of my finer moments.”
“How long can you stay?” I asked quietly.