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“I should have reached out to you. I know that now. I wasn’t good at handling myself back then, and I wasn’t good at doing it for the last couple of weeks. For days, I was selfish. I locked myself inside and shut out the entire outside world. My phone died and I didn’t bother to charge it, I didn’t watch a single game of hockey, and I quit working entirely, leaving all responsibilities to my team. All those days, I sat in my feelings and hardly made any progress. I was stuck in a loop of blame, denial, and guilt.”

Picking my head up from his shoulder, I looked into his eyes, reading his raw emotions for the very first time.

“It wasn’t until Carter stopped by that I realized I needed to shift my perspective. If I refused to accept what had happened, I’d be stuck in my own mental hell. I could either allow myself the chance to be happy while still dealing with the past in a healthier way, or I could let the pain and guilt eat me alive. I wanted to reach out sooner, I swear. But I made a promise to Carter that I’d go back to therapy first, and I know now that was probably what was for the best.”

Hunter glided his finger along my forehead, tucking stray hairs behind my ear.

“So, what you’re saying is⁠—”

“I’m saying, I choose you, Andi. I choose to let you all the way in. I’m choosing my happiness, and I’ve never been happier than when I’m with you.”

With my eyes wide and full of shock, I could feel the pieces of my heart slowly coming back together. Like a magnet, they connected like pieces to a puzzle, and the rhythm of each beat returned to normal.

Now, all that was left was…

“I love you, Andi. I’ve never told another woman outside of Sarah those words before, and I’ve known it since the moment I first laid eyes on you; I was just too chicken shit to admit it out loud. I should have told you earlier, and I never should have allowed you to walk out of my house without knowing how I felt about you. I’m done living in the past and thinking about what should have been.”

My hand was pressed against his chest, feeling his heart rattle through his ribcage. The vibration of each beat grew harder and harder as more time passed that my response stayed buried in my throat.

I’d been dreaming about him saying those words to me. Oftentimes at night, I’d dream about what would have happened if that video never came on. Would he have told me he loved me, too?

That night, I told him I loved him because I couldn’t bear to hold it inside any longer. There wasn’t a single doubt in my bones that I’d fallen for this man. Even with everything that happened, that still hadn’t changed.

Hearing him finally return those three words, I couldn’t help myself when I stood from my seat and sat on his lap. With my legs on each side of him, I straddled his thighs in order to face him head on.

“I love you, Hunter. I’ve fallen in love with you even more every day since I last told you. Even being apart from you, I still love you.” My fingertips grazed along his jaw as my eyes shifted back and forth from his mouth to the golden flecks in his gaze.

“Kiss me,” I whispered just centimeters from his lips.

Suddenly, I was transported back to that old shitty motel room when our lips met, feeling like the first time all over again. His large hands wrapped around my waist, pulling me into his body.

To feel his hands on me, touching me, roaming my back, and even lower, the heat of his touch lit me on fire from the inside out. Feeling him this close to me, hearing his whimpers into my mouth as our tongues danced along each other’s, was the feeling I’d longed for every single day since I last saw him.

Hunter Wolfe was finally mine.

Mine to hold and kiss.

Mine to lay next to.

Mine to pour out my heart to when I needed him the most.

Mine to finally love out loud and not alone in my quiet thoughts when I feared I wouldn’t be loved in return.

Kissing Andi again felt like I was finally coming up for air. With her lips locked on mine, I was accepting happiness into my life and admitting she was the sole reason I could breathe again.

Surging through my veins was the intensity of just how powerful her kiss alone was. It was as if she was giving me mouth to mouth, bringing me back to life for the second time. Andi was the oxygen pumping through my body, keeping me alive one breath at a time.

There wouldn’t be a time when I’d ever take kissing her for granted. Not when it made me feel like the fog had finally cleared, and I could tell her without a doubt that I loved her.

I was so fucking in love with her that each time those words flickered through my mind, I was bursting at the seams with need.

I needed Andi like I needed to breathe.

Sinking her hands underneath my shirt, her fingers clawed at my abs in desperation, giving back the same energy currently flowing through me.

“Fuck.” I ripped my mouth from hers and groaned, completely out of breath. “I love you. I need you.”

“I love you so much.” Her lips brushed against mine. “Take me,” she moaned before covering my mouth with hers. This time for a longer, more bruising kiss.