What If You & Me (Say Everything #2) - Roni Loren Page 0,113

with you.”

Andi stared, and Eliza grinned, taking a step back and giving them space.

“I know this isn’t the right place or probably the right time,” he rambled on, phones ringing in the background, police officers walking by. He stepped closer and took her hands in his. “And I know I’ve screwed this all up. I know I said all the wrong things earlier. I got scared. I’m still scared—fucking terrified, actually.”

Andi’s expression softened.

“But I’ve been sitting here and looking at you and thinking about the last couple of months… And I know it’s quick and I know I have a lot to work on but…I don’t want you to go off and look for other guys. I don’t want to be practice. I want to be the guy. I am the guy.”

Andi blinked, her eyes glittering with tears. “Yeah?”

He let out a breath, getting the words out feeling like an exorcism. “Yeah.”

She squeezed his hands. “I already knew that you were. I just wasn’t sure you were ever going to figure it out.” She put her hands on his jaw, her teary gaze holding his. “I love you too, you hardheaded man. I’m glad you finally got a clue.”

He laughed softly and then dipped his head, touching his forehead to hers. “You’ve completely ruined my life plan to be a grumpy hermit. I would’ve been so good at it.”

“Sorry not sorry,” Andi said, a smile in her voice. “You ruined my plan to be an eccentric horror writer who lives alone in a creepy mansion.”

“You’ll always be eccentric, neighbor.”

“Thank God.” She lifted her head, meeting his gaze and letting her hands lower to his shoulders. “So are we doing this?”

He cupped her jaw and brushed his thumb over her lips. “Yes. How about every day for the rest of our lives?”

Tears spilled over, her smile like sunshine. “Deal.”

Light suffused through him, brightening all the dark corners that had gathered inside him over the years. This one. This one. This one.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” he warned. “I don’t care who’s watching.”

“I’m going to let you.”

With that, he lowered his head and kissed her, finally knowing it wouldn’t be the last. This was only the beginning.

In their movie, there would always be another sequel.

Epilogue

One year later

“To Andi and her sick, demented mind!” Eliza announced, raising her glass of champagne.

Andi laughed as Hollyn, Jasper, and Ramsey raised their glasses. Hill set the tray of sliders he’d carried out to the back porch onto the table and grabbed a glass. “May Doxed continue to climb the bestseller list and keep people the world over from getting a good night’s sleep.”

Andi grinned and raised her glass, clinking it to each of her friends’ and then Hill’s. “Thanks, y’all. I’ll drink to reader insomnia.”

Hill set his glass aside and put together a plate of food, getting a few of each of the finger foods he’d made for the party celebrating Andi’s new book’s success, and then handed the goodies to her.

“Thanks, babe,” she said, setting her drink on the side table. “This all looks great.”

“It does,” Hollyn agreed as she chose items for her own plate. “This whole spread is gorgeous. Totally Instagram worthy.”

“Right?” Eliza agreed. “Maybe Hill should do this for a living, huh?”

“What a brilliant idea,” Ramsey said, piling mini-hamburgers onto his plate. “You should give that some thought, Dawson. I think a good friend of yours suggested that a long time ago. What was his name? He was the really smart and good-looking one?”

“Humble too.” Hill smirked as he took the spot next to Andi on the pretty blue outdoor couch they’d bought for their new place and draped his arm across the back of it. “I hope it all tastes as good as it looks. I’m using y’all as guinea pigs for some recipe testing for the cookbook.”

“Always happy to be of service,” Jasper said, sharing a towering plate with Hollyn. “To be a guinea pig or just a pig in general.”

Eliza grabbed one of the shot glasses Hill had filled with his version of gazpacho and plopped down cross-legged in one of the chairs. She took a sip and hummed her approval. “Yum. If everything tastes as good as this soup, I volunteer as tribute for recipe testing, too.”

“Same,” Ramsey said, taking down a slider in one bite. “Hey, Eliza, can I be your recipe-testing date?”

Eliza gave him the side-eye. “Stop trying to date me, fireman. I don’t want to fight about who gets custody of the children”—she waved