shoulder. "I don't know what terms to use, Sonic. Fate or destiny or a curse, all I know is that once I met you, there'd never be anyone else. Not ever."
"That's why you asked me out even though we'd barely spoken," I said, my brain furiously trying to replay that day in the community center more than five years earlier. It wasn't cemented in my memory, not like it was for him, I had to assume. For me, it was the day I met my best friend, and some snippets of it were clear, and some were fuzzy. I rubbed a hand over my heart, that organ currently flopping around in my chest like a gasping fish.
"Are you freaked out?" His thumb traced the knuckles of the hand he was still holding.
I was shaking my head before I'd really processed my answer. "No. Not freaked out."
With a laugh, he cupped my face and pressed a sweet, sweet, lingering kiss on my lips. "Good. Because I kinda like living with you."
"I love you," I told him, my mouth brushing against his as I spoke the words. "I'm really glad that your wacky family curse exists."
He laughed. "Me too, Sonic. Me too."
We kissed again when I abruptly pulled back. "Dude, you're going to be late. What are you doing?"
"Dude," he repeated, "I've got plenty of time."
Our house was about thirty minutes north of the Wolves training facility, and he was supposed to be at work in forty-five minutes.
"You're not even dressed, Levi."
He rolled his eyes but stood from the bed, dropping a kiss on my head as he did. "It'll take me four minutes to get ready."
"Men," I muttered. "You don't even know how easy you have it."
Levi was still laughing as he grabbed some athletic pants and his black Washington pullover. His phone buzzed from the top of our dresser, and I turned my chair so I could grab it for him.
Grady: Tell me that moving to Green Valley is a good idea because I think I'm trying to talk myself out of it.
With a grin, I handed him the phone, watching his smile broaden as he read his cousin's text.
"So obviously Grady hasn't been cursed yet," I said.
Levi typed out a response before looking up at me. "Not yet, but they were raised by their mom out in California, so I don't think they ever actually thought it was true. She and my uncle Glenn had a nasty divorce when I was little; I don't even remember them being married because they met at college out west. Kinda makes it hard to believe in love at first sight if your parents are the example, you know?"
I nodded. "Are he and Grace really moving to Green Valley?"
Levi shrugged. "I don't know. I told him they should. Uncle Glenn would love having them around more and so would my parents. And I think it would be good for both of them. Grace hates her job in LA, and Grady's whatever the hell tech job he does is going to send him to an early grave. I told him he should start a new business in Green Valley. Guided hikes and camping trips and stuff, bring in companies to do employee retreats and morale building stuff. He could make a killing if he found the right partner."
"I think they should too," I said, thinking about my conversation with Grace at the wedding. "Besides, that town could use some new Buchanan blood now that you're gone."
"I suppose it could."
"And," I added, "maybe the Buchanan curse only works in Green Valley. They might move there and find their person right away."
Levi froze, glancing over at me with a speculative gleam in his eye. "Why, Miss Abernathy, I think you may have just figured out something that no one in our entire family ever has."
I snagged the front of his shirt and dragged him down for a kiss. "That's because I'm a freaking genius."
"My humble little hedgehog," he said against my mouth.
"You're going to be late." I shoved at his chest.
"Love you," he called out as he left the room.
I didn't respond, waiting until he paused at the end of the hallway to look over his shoulder at me.
"Don't you have something you want to say to me, Joss?"
"Move the boxes, Levi, then I will."
"Stubborn, crazy-ass woman," he muttered.
"And I love you too," I shouted right before he left.
When he passed the bedroom window on the way to his truck, I caught the wide smile on his face.
If figuring out what I wanted was the biggest, scariest, most beautiful part of living, then I was in for the biggest, scariest, most beautiful life, because this, exactly this, was what I wanted.
The End