I didn’t think it was possible for my body to produce another tear, but at least this time, the tears don’t fall from sadness.

I roll from his grip, turning so we’re facing each other. “Thank you for staying.”

“I’m not sure you’ve realized this yet, but I really like you, Drew.” The faint light from outside my window filters in through the small crack in my curtains, just enough so I can see the shadows and lines of Jasper’s face soften. “I always want to stay with you.”

“Careful.” I bring my hand to the side of his face. “Those are the kinds of things a man says to make a woman think they’re in a relationship.”

“I know.” He pushes his cheek into my palm, a slow and lazy smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Is it working? Because there’s nothing I want more than to be able to call you mine and me yours.”

Holy shit.

Okay.

Maybe I do need to read his books because wow.

My breath catches in my throat, but not for long. After falling apart in his arms, I thought he would run for the hills, but instead, he’s lying in front of me, asking me to call him mine.

And I realize that’s all I want too.

“That sounds good to me.” I don’t wait for his reaction before I pull his face to mine, pushing my lips against his and tangling my tongue with his as we explore this new dynamic between the two of us.

One where we are each other’s and I’m not so alone after all.

CHAPTER 21

We shouldn’t have left our bubble.

After I’d spilled my heart out to him and we became an official couple, we stayed locked in my apartment for days. I called out of work and Jasper set an autoresponder for his email. The only place we went was to my couch and the front door to get the food we ordered.

Jasper sat with me as I went through the box of papers and pictures I had from my grandma, never judging me as I tried to start processing my grief against the new information Connor had told me. It wasn’t pretty a lot of the time, but it was real, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m on the road to healing.

Oh . . .

And we had a lot of sex.

Like, loads of it.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask Jasper before he hands his keys to the valet. “This is your last opportunity to back out.”

“I’m sure.” He aims a smile my way, and despite my anxiety about tonight, my insides turn to goo. “This is going to be great, stop worrying.”

“Fine.” I climb out of the car. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”