the other side of the bed, flopping down on the mattress.
Beads of sweat glistened on his skin in the moonlight, and I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my life than Wes catching his breath, satisfied.
He fumbled for my hand, gripping it tight when he found it, squeezing hard with clumsy fingers, and I felt the squeeze all the way to my heart.
“Hey,” I rolled over, covering his body, bending my head to lick the sweat off his collarbones.
I’d meant to say something comforting about this not being the end, about what boyfriends meant to me, about how we’d see each other again soon and we’d make this work and he didn’t have to be sad, but my voice caught in my throat.
“Hey yourself,” Wes murmured, holding my gaze as I looked up again. “We need a shower.”
“Not yet,” I said. “Or we’ll just need another one. It’d be a waste of water.”
Wes snorted, and the worry and uncertainty faded back again. “Very sexy of you to be responsible about water waste,” he said, grinning.
I loved him so much it fucking hurt.
“I am very sexy,” I said, licking a stripe up his neck.
“You are,” Wes agreed. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re not.”
I smiled at that, moving to kiss him, taking my time now that we were both satisfied for the moment, indulging in the feel and taste and scent of the man I loved.
“Telling me I am is your job, now,” I said, rolling off him again and raising his hand to my lips, kissing his knuckles. “That definitely falls under boyfriend duties.”
“You don’t have to—”
I cut Wes off by pressing my finger to his lips, kissing his knuckles again at the same time to ease the sting. “Too late,” I said. “You agreed to be my boyfriend, you’re stuck with me. Okay? You’re stuck with me. We’re not losing this.”
I wanted to sound confident, but who knew what’d happen to this delicate little fledgling relationship when it had to spread its wings all the way to the other side of the country?
Wes’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, and I could see he was putting on the same brave face I was.
“Okay,” Wes said. “Yeah, okay.”
I kissed him again, because I could, because I wanted to, because I needed to.
We weren’t losing this. We weren’t.
My phone buzzed at a little after six a.m., and I fumbled to pick it up one-handed, refusing to let go of the grip I had on Wes just yet.
Your flight has been moved to 8pm PDT tonight, check email for details.
I blinked at the notification, heart sinking.
I’d had until tomorrow morning. Dad had agreed to take me down to the airport for my nice, sensible late morning flight.
Now I’d lost almost a whole day.
I opened the email and checked frantically for a way to move the flight back, or catch a later one—but there was nothing available at such short notice.
The airline’s website was also unhelpful—I wasn’t sure why I’d expected anything else—and I’d promised Marissa I’d meet her for dinner Monday night, so we could figure out how to reopen Tuesday.
She was under enough stress as it was, I couldn’t make it worse.
I was halfway through checking other airlines to see if I could get a different flight with another airline when Wes woke, squeezing my fingers and frowning at me.
“No working in bed,” he said.
“My flight got moved,” I blurted out. “To tonight.”
Wes blinked at me, understanding dawning over his face.
We were all the way back to brave, and I hated it. I hated the distance it put between us, this stupid thing where I had a life that was away from Wes, and he had a life that was away from me, and neither of us could just give it up.
“That’s okay,” Wes said, running his thumb over my knuckles, soothing me. “I’ll just have to do all the things I was planning on doing tonight this morning.”
And just like that, the pain and worry was gone again. I loved him so much.
We were perfect for each other. This had to work out. Didn’t it?
“You’re not mad?” I asked.
Wes shook his head. “I don’t think I could ever be mad at you, even if you wanted me to be,” he said. “I know you’re not doing this to hurt me.”
“I don’t think I could ever hurt you,” I murmured. “Not intentionally, anyway.”
Wes plucked my phone out of my hands and set it aside, snuggling close and kissing the tip of