Only One Forever (Only One 8)

My hand goes to my mouth as the tears pour down my face. “Dylan, I beg you,” I say, my voice giving out on me as the sob comes out. “Please.”

He takes a step toward me now, closing the distance. My head goes down as I try not to crumple onto the floor. “Alex,” he says in a whisper, and I can see his feet right in front of me. I can feel his heat over me. “My beautiful girl,” he says, and I finally look up at him, and his hands come up to grab my face. His thumbs rub the tears away from my cheeks, and I shiver. “On the beach, you told me to choose New York,” he says, trying to smile, but the tears just run down his face. “And just the thought of not being able to be with you caused me to collapse on the beach. I couldn’t even run after you if I wanted to because my legs felt like there was concrete in them.” He smirks. “Also, I knew you wouldn’t listen to me.”

I laugh, the speed of my heart calming down. “You are probably right.” I don’t even try to lie to him as I laugh.

“I chose Dallas,” he tells me, and I nod my head.

“I heard,” I say softly, his hands trembling softly.

“I chose it for you,” he says, and I gasp. “And for me. Because I wouldn’t have been where my heart was if I chose anyplace else.” He moves even closer to me, and Mac just lies by our feet as if nothing is going on. “I want to kiss you.” My eyes go big as he says the words. “I wanted to kiss you at the aquarium, but I thought that you would freak out and think I was a freak.” He swallows now. “The whole vacation was my private hell. I would sit out on the balcony and just look up, waiting for someone to tell me what to do. Every night, I would say if you came to join me, it was a sign.” He shrugs now. “You never did.”

“I was too afraid,” I say the truth. “Afraid you would see what I was thinking. Afraid that with one word, it would ruin everything.” My hands come up as I place them on his. “Afraid I would lose you, and I don’t know if I could survive that, but that walk on the beach.” I smile. “I knew that I had to let you go.”

“No,” he says, shaking his head. “You aren’t letting me go.” He dips his head down as his forehead rests against mine. “I’m not letting you go that easily.”

“Dylan,” I say so softly, just the two of us can hear it. “Kiss me.” I look into his eyes as he lowers his lips to mine. We both keep our eyes open, his hands pulling my face to his, my heart hammering so much in my chest I’m surprised I’m not having a panic attack.

The only thing going through my mind a million miles a minute is that he’s going to kiss me. The kiss I’ve been waiting for since I fell in love with him when I was seventeen and he took me to prom because my date took someone else instead. I knew then that I felt differently for him, but I pushed it away because it felt wrong. I pushed it away, and it was like a bomb, and it ticked inside me until it finally exploded. “Alex.” He says my name right before my breath hitches and his lips touch mine, and if my eyes weren’t open, I wouldn’t have felt it. It takes one second before his tongue slides into my mouth, and my eyes close. We swallow each other’s moans as my hands fall from his, and I step into him even more. My arms go around his neck as his hands move from my cheeks, and he buries them in my hair.

My stomach flutters while he rolls his tongue with mine, his head tilting to the left to deepen the kiss. My chest presses into his and I swear this is what heaven feels like. Here in his arms, it’s heaven. Everything that I thought a kiss should be is right here. Every dream I’ve had about this moment is nothing like it.

I’m lost in him, so lost in him I don’t hear the phone ring until Mac barks. I let go of his lips, and my eyes slowly open. I’m afraid to look into his for fear that he might regret it. But my eyes don’t listen to my head or my heart. His eyes have a glimmer to them, and the smile on his face is so full that his cheeks have moved up. “That was …” He looks down, suddenly shy.