Thick as Thieves (Aster Valley 4)

But in the end, I didn’t get to do any of those things, because Julian didn’t pause and he didn’t hesitate. He didn’t stop to greet Erin or her parents or to even say hello to me. Without breaking stride, his hands came up to cup my jaw, fingers sliding over my stubbled cheeks to grab my thick hair and pull my mouth to his.

My breath came out in a soft mmmph that was all acceptance, no protest, and I slid my arms around his back to hold him more firmly against me. It didn’t matter how he’d gotten there; it mattered that he was in my arms where he belonged, claiming me with lips and tongue in a kiss I probably would have found way too raw and hungry for public consumption… if I’d been capable of thinking, which I wasn’t.

After a long, grounding moment, he pulled back just far enough to meet my eyes. His lips were kiss-swollen and wet, and his thumbs stroked the hair at my temples, like he couldn’t bring himself to stop touching me.

“I love you, Parker Ellis,” he said, possession ringing loud and clear in his voice. “There is no one in this whole world who will ever love you as much as I do. No one will ever be more committed to you or more devoted to your happiness. No one will work harder to be the sort of person that an amazing man like you deserves. And I—”

“Oh my gosh!” Lorraine exclaimed in an excited whisper.

Julian blinked like he was coming out of a trance, and his eyes darted from side to side like he’d only just realized where we were and who was around us.

He cleared his throat, dropped his hands, and took a half step back. “And I thought that was something you should know,” he concluded lamely. Splotchy red stained his neck and climbed up his beautiful face.

I had never loved him more.

I took a half step forward, keeping us locked together, not caring one iota whether anyone saw us, but pitching my words low so only he could hear them. “So you flew all the way to Mexico to tell me that, huh?”

“I flew here because I realized I’m an idiot,” Julian said just as softly. His reddened lips tilted up in a half-smile. “Because all this time, I’ve had the best thing I could have ever possibly dreamed up right in front of me. And I almost let my fears hold me back from claiming it.”

I recognized the words I’d spoken in front of our friends the night before, and my chest squeezed.

“I thought you already claimed me,” I whispered. “I seem to recall a conversation in bed last night…”

Julian nodded. “Yeah, but when the real world intruded, I got scared. I told myself not to cling to you too hard, to let you make your own choices, that I didn’t want to hold you back from doing what you wanted to do.” He pulled one of my hands from behind him so he could thread our fingers together, like we were slow dancing right there in the bar. “It didn’t occur to me until after you left that holding you isn’t the same as holding you back. And that trusting you means being honest about what I’m feeling, even when I know I’m being ridiculous. And that maybe you need someone to tell you that you don’t have to go jetting off to Mexico to save your friends if you don’t want to, because you’re loved unconditionally anyway.”

“Baby,” I whispered, touching my forehead to his. Nobody had ever spoken to me like that. I’d known that Julian loved me unconditionally—I’d felt it, but hearing it spoken aloud hit differently.

Julian’s eyes were bright, filled with unshed tears. “So I came here to tell you that I’m going to try to get over my insecurities—”

“It’s been two days, Julian. It’s new.”

“—but I might always have them, Parks. I might always be a little jealous—”

“I’m very okay with that.”

“—I might push you away because I want to pull you close so badly. But I love you. And I trust you. And… I’m not giving you up. You’re it for me, forever.”

“Thank fuck.” This man was my life, my past and my future. He was everything to me. “I love you. I’m so fucking glad you’re here.”

He hiccuped. “Really?”

Instead of answering him with words, I leaned in to kiss him again, only this time, I kissed him with the kind of tender adoration no one around us could mistake as anything other than the deepest love and devotion.

The vulnerable whimper sound Jules let out was too soft for anyone else to hear, but it shot straight into my heart and lodged there forever. I would take care of him with my whole self and make sure he never doubted me again ever.