“I love the way you love your family. I love how protective you are, of me and of everyone you love. I love how into me you are. I love how you seem to be able to give me everything I need before I even know I need it. I love that you say you’re sorry straight up when you feel those words. I love that you’re beautiful to look at. I love that that beauty runs so deep, even when I have it for eternity, I know I’ll never find the end. I love the way you touch me. I love the way you smell. I love the way you dress. I love the feel of your hair. I love the sound of your laugh. I love that you’re smart. I love that you’re fierce. I love that I know I have thousands of more things I love about you, and I love that you’d stand there, holding me and listening to me, even if it took a year for me to say them.”

“Yeah, ’cause you’re tellin’ me how awesome I am,” he replied, his voice gruff, and lifted his head when hers tipped back. He caught her eyes. “Any guy would stand here for a year and listen to that.”

She kept whispering, her heart in her eyes, her love for him etched in her expression, and it was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in two hundred years.

And he knew right to his gut that it would be the most beautiful thing he’d see for eternity.

“And I love it when you’re a smartass.”

He’d had enough. More than he could take. He’d never known beauty needed limits, but he now knew that if you took in too much, like all Delilah was giving him, you might explode.

So he had to stop her.

He did that by slanting his head and dropping his mouth to hers, drinking deep, taking all he could get.

And as usual, Delilah, his temptress, his mate, his woman, the love of his life, the only love he’d had, the only love he’d ever have, held on tight and gave him everything she had.

When he broke the kiss, he didn’t move away.

He stayed close, looking in her milky-green eyes, eyes he hoped like fuck he’d be able to look into for eternity, and it was him who was whispering.

“I love you too, bao bei, with everything I am, and I’ll do it until the sun falls from the sky.”

He saw tears glisten in her eyes so he slid a hand up her spine, curled it around the back of her head, and shoved her face in his chest.

They held on to each other and they did it a long time.