“That sounds perfect. We’d be able to run wild whenever we wanted to.”
“Exactly.” As I traced his collarbone, he said, “Do you know how many times I sat out on this deck and imagined you here with me, just like this?” When I started to apologize again for all the years I resisted our bond, he silenced me with a kiss. Then he said, “I’m not saying that to make you feel guilty. I just wanted to let you know I’m very grateful and happy right now. Happier than I’ve ever been.”
“Me, too.”
We both watched the sea and the sky for a while, and then he asked, “Would you be willing to travel with me? There’s so much I want to show you.”
“Where would we go?”
“Central America, maybe? There are some beautiful spots I know of, totally wild and unspoiled. We could make love under a waterfall, and sleep under the stars.”
“I haven’t traveled in years, but that sounds heavenly.”
“Yeah? You think you’d be up for it?”
I nodded. “It’s time to get back out there and remember what it means to be alive, instead of just existing. I let my world get very narrow, but with you by my side, I feel like I can take on anything.”
He tilted my chin up with a light touch and kissed me. Then, as he traced my jawline, he told me, “I love you so much, Mateo.”
“I love you, too.”
He looked away, suddenly vulnerable, and murmured, “You don’t have to say that, just because I did.”
Now it was my turn to tilt his face toward mine with a gentle hand on his cheek. He met my gaze, and as the ocean breeze stirred his hair, I whispered, “I said that because it’s the absolute truth. I love you, Elias. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, my perfect other half.”
His smile was glorious. He held me close, and for the rest of the morning, we talked excitedly and made plans for our future.
Epilogue
Five Months Later
West Coast of Costa Rica
Central America
“You’re never coming home, are you?”
Griffin grinned at me from my phone’s screen, and I told him, “Of course we are. Eventually. Our home won’t be done for another two months anyway, so there’s no hurry.”
“Speaking of which, Ari and I just went by the construction site, and your house looks incredible.”
“That’s good to hear. The architect keeps sending us photos, and it seems to be exactly what Eli and I envisioned.”
After we’d decided to build a place to suit both of us, Elias and I had spent a few weeks designing our dream home, which evolved into a beautiful, Mediterranean-style villa that was under construction in the hills north of Malibu. It was very private and surrounded by several acres of land, so we could run wild any time we wanted to.
“It definitely looks like the drawings you showed us,” Griffin said.
I asked, “Are you visiting August and Tinder?”
“Yup. Ari’s just pulling into their driveway.” He tilted the phone toward his husband, who waved at the screen before turning his attention to parking the car. “August’s brother and brother-in-law just got back from Europe, and our friends Nate and Nikolai are joining us for a—well, not a dinner party, since they’re all vampires. But a get-together, anyway. It’s nice that your new home is less than half an hour from August and Tinder’s place, by the way. It’ll make it easy to visit, if you ever return from Central America.”
I smiled at my friend. “Like I said, we’ll come back eventually. But just take a look at this place, and you’ll see why we’re in no hurry to leave.” I panned the phone around to show him the white sand beach on the edge of a lush, green jungle.
Up ahead, Elias and a man in a Hawaiian shirt were waiting for me outside a tiny, emerald green chapel, and Griffin said, “Hang on. Why are you and Eli dressed up?”
We were both wearing white, button-down shirts and tan linen pants, and I grinned at my friend and said, “This isn’t exactly dressed up, but we thought we should get married in something nicer than T-shirts and shorts.”
Griffin yelled, “Holy shit, Matty! Why didn’t you tell me you’re getting married?”
“I’m telling you now,” I said with a smile. “Will you be my best man?”
“Of course!” He tumbled out of the car, and I glimpsed August and Tinder’s house in the background. Ari was all smiles as he appeared beside his husband, and Griffin yelled, “Get out here, guys! Mateo and Eli are getting married!”
I reached my fiancé just as half a dozen vampires crowded around Griffin and Ari, and Elias held up his phone and said, “I’ve got Carter and Desiree on a conference call, so we’re all set.” Then he waved at my phone and said, “Hi, everyone.” He’d asked Carter to be his best man, and the demon looked uncharacteristically emotional as he smiled at me. It was nighttime wherever he was, while the sun was just beginning to set here in Costa Rica.