Spreading it across us, he slips one arm around my shoulders, and starts the movie.

I steal glimpses of him, only to find him looking at me.

“What?” I ask after the third time I catch his eye.

“I like looking.” He cocks his head. “I’d like to be kissing you, but this will have to do.”

I shrug. “I wouldn’t say no.”

His eyes search mine for a second before he leans in. I cover the gap and our lips meet. Kissing him takes me back, and I don’t want to stop. Ever.

He pulls back. “You’re supposed to be watching my movie.”

Laughing, I turn back to the screen, leaning my head against his. “I was, but someone distracted me.”

“Good distraction, I hope.”

“Always.”

Josh is amazing in the movie. He’s a good man undercover, and pretending to be bad is hard on his character. I find myself in tears when we reach that point of the movie.

He holds me in his arms, kisses my tears away, and his care of me during that tiny little scene is what finally makes me believe this is real. All of it.

Everything I’ve felt for so long—the hurt, the sadness over Melly not having her dad in her life, the loss I felt for the man I’d come to love—that will never change. But it’s in the past because I finally start to see a future.

A future with Josh.

I’m sorry when the movie ends, but still resolved to not spend the night. I hate being away from Melly. And there’s still a lot of ground for Josh and I to cover.

“What did you think?” he asks.

I smile. “You were amazing. I should have seen that movie a long time ago.”

“I understand why you didn’t.”

“It would have left me feeling foolish, but I would have guessed at the truth.”

He’s back to searching my eyes, and my vulnerability is probably written all over my face. I want what we had, and so does he.

“We can’t recreate the past. It’s too late for that,” I say.

“I don’t want to do that. I want to start over.”

His lips twitch, like he’s fighting a smile. “I was so nervous about our first night together. All I cared about was making sure you wanted more. I even googled to make sure I knew where the clitoris was. I know now.”

My heart leaps. “I was nervous back then, too. But that was a long time ago.” Wait. “What? You did what?” I clamp my lips together to stop myself from laughing, but it’s too late and despite my best efforts, I let out a choked laugh.

“Don’t. I mean, I was sure I knew where it was, and you weren’t the first girl I’d slept with, but …”