"Well, tomorrow is a new day without any mistakes in it yet."

By the time "Dare You to Move" fades out, we've circled town twice, ending up back at the lake house. The silence between us crackles with electricity, every breath charged with unspoken words. Under the porch light, she's ethereal—her cheeks flushed rose-pink, eyes dark with something that makes my pulse sprint. She bites her lower lip, gaze dancing between me and the door like she's wrestling with the same magnetic pull I am.

I can't let her just walk away. Not when everything in me is screaming to hold on.

My fingers circle her wrist, tugging her back before she can reach for the door handle. She spins into me, soft curves colliding with hard muscle, and the gasp that escapes her lips shoots straight through my body. My free hand finds the small of her back, pressing her closer until I feel her heartbeat thundering against my chest—or maybe that's mine. Maybe they're the same now.

"Nate…" My name on her lips is half-whisper, half-plea.

I tilt her chin up, and time suspends. The porch light catches the gold flecks in her eyes, turning them into their own constellation. Years of wanting, of denying, of running—it all comes down to this moment. Her fingers curl into my shirt, anchoring herself, tethering me.

The first brush of my lips against hers is feather-light, a question. Her answer comes in the way she rises on her tiptoes, pressing closer, demanding more. The kiss deepens, and it's like touching a live wire—electric, dangerous, absolutely necessary. She tastes like promises I want to keep, like every fucking dream I never let myself have. My fingers thread through her hair, tilting her head to deepen the kiss, and the soft sound she makes nearly breaks me.

When we finally part, her eyes flutter open slowly, like she's waking from a dream she doesn't want to end. She's looking at me like I've rearranged her universe, and fuck if she hasn't done the same to mine.

"Happy birthday, Leni," I whisper, voice rough with everything I'm not saying. Everything I want to say.

"Goodnight, Nate." Her words ghost across my lips, one last temptation.

I watch her disappear inside, my body still humming with her touch, my lips still burning with her taste. My heart pounds with absolute certainty—it's her.

It's always been her. It will always be her.

The moment feels perfect.

Almost too perfect.

But in my world, happy endings don't exist.

42. Sorry On Repeat

CHAPTER 42

SORRY ON REPEAT

NATE