“I can’t believe you went to Hampton,” I murmur as I smooth a hand down her hair. I let my other hand skim along her low back, the urge to touch her everywhere drowning out all reasonable thoughts.

“Let’s sit down,” she insists as she reluctantly peels herself out of my arms. She must sense that I would have spent all night awkwardly standing in the middle of this coffee shop holding her if I could. I miss her touch the moment we part.

We take our seats, and I slide over the dirty chai I ordered when we arrived. She smirks at me as she takes a sip, then gives up a little moan when the piping-hot liquid hits her lips.

“This place is my favorite,” she confesses. “My apartment’s two blocks from here.”

She takes another sip of her drink, then gets quiet, eyeing me like she has a million questions but doesn’t know where to start. I reach across the table and take her hand, then wait for her to take the lead.

“What are we doing, Dem?” she asks, her voice soft and timid.

I inhale and sit up straighter, preparing to deliver the speech I’ve rehearsed in my head for the last two weeks.

“I don’t know. For the first time in a long time, I don’t have a plan. I’m so out of my depth here, princess. But I need a fresh start. And I’d like to make it out here, with you. Or, at least in close proximity to you, if you’re really willing to go all in.”

She raises an eyebrow and opens her mouth, but I don’t give her a chance to sass back.

“I should never have let you leave the way you did. I should have realized when you were still mine just how good we had it. But I let my concern for my brother cloud my judgment. I let my love for him suffocate every other emotion I dared to feel.”

I run my thumb over her knuckles in a way that I hope comes off as reassuring. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.

“Fielding’s the reason I’m here. He’s the one who told me to come. I’m so sorry I had to wait for him, of all people, to knock some sense into me… but you’re where I’m supposed to be. What I said to you a few days ago is true—I’m committed to making this work. I’m all in with you.”

She grins at me from across the table and squeezes my hand, inspiring a confidence in me that we’re on the same page and that this is going to work.