a T, Roman waits outside the room, while I explain to the tattoo artist what I want. When I lie down on the table, stomach down, my hand in Roman’s, gripping for dear life, I expect him to glance at my back, but keeping his word, he doesn’t look. He stares at me the entire time in that soft way he does. It’s the look he reserves just for me, and I love it. I bask in it.
No more than an hour later, my back is raw, and the muscles in my hand are sore from squeezing Roman’s hand so hard, but I’m finished. Roman helps me up from the padded table, toward the mirror that’s hanging on the wall opposite us. I gasp when I get a look at the tattoo. Somehow, the artist captured exactly what I had in mind.
Two sunflowers entwined together start just at my shoulder blades, in the center of my spine, in a soft watercolor. The stems trail down my spine into the words “Sunshine, heaven is always near” written in a light, delicate cursive.
Roman rubs the pad of his fingers around the tattoo, careful not to touch it.
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah.” His voice is raspy and low, and when I glance back at him, I smile. He’s remembering the words he said to me.
When it’s his turn, I sit on the chair beside the table, smiling when I see what he’s getting. The thrill in my core is ever present at the sight of it.
“Very original.”
He shoots me that signature crooked grin. “You already have my heart. Might as well put your name on it.”
I press a kiss to his lips. “You’re a little bit of a romantic, you know that?”
Roman grunts, obviously in disagreement.
We walk down the shopping center, hand in hand. After he finished with his tattoo, we grabbed a late lunch at the restaurant a block over, and now we’re walking around, killing time until Ryder gets out of school.
“What made you get that specific tattoo?” he asks.
“I’ve always felt that, with my heart condition, heaven was always nearer to me than it was for others. And then one day, out of the blue, you tell me, ‘Sunshine, heaven is always near when I’m with you,’ and it’s stayed with me since then. It felt like a sign. A sign that we were always destined. You get me like no one else ever has. This tattoo isn’t just a reminder of my condition; it’s a reminder that when I’m with you, I feel the same way. Heaven feels a lot nearer when I’m with you, Rome. I have my heaven here with you.”
There, on the sidewalk, with countless people walking by, Roman kisses me with a passion I’ve yet to experience before. It’s one people will go the rest of their lives searching for. Some, sadly, will never find it. It’s one for the books. One that touches my soul and dances with it. It entwines our hearts, bonding us together for life.
Roman Banks isn’t just my neighbor. He is the man who’s stolen my heart. The man who made me hate him and love him in equal measure. He is a different species—one of a kind—and he is mine.
I plan on holding on to this man, to this feeling, for as long as my heart will allow. Because this? This feeling right here, thrumming in the air between us, pounding through my heart, soaring through my veins, it’s perfection.
I feel like I belong.
I feel like I’ve finally found my place in the world.
I’ve finally found my person.
“The Bones”—Maren Morris
Three Years Later
I sit across from Ryder, waiting impatiently on the couch, for him to open the gift. My smile must be on the verge of lunacy because he keeps side-eyeing me, then glancing at his older brother for help. Roman is standing off to the side, watching both of us, those thick arms crossed over his chest. He lifts a shoulder in a helpless shrug, but he’s wearing a conspicuous smile of his own.
“C’mon, open it already,” I urge.
“Jesus. What is it, a million dollars?”
I shoot him a glare. “Just open it, would you? You’re ruining the moment.”
Ryder smirks, and it’s like a blow to the chest. There’s so much of his older brother in that one smirk, it’s kind of scary. The girls are in for a real treat.
I clasp my sweaty hands together, watching Ryder peel open the box I gave him. Trapping my bottom lip between my