Jill Shalvis - Out of This World

“But you did,” he said, sounding a little awed. “You risked a hell of a something. You risked everything.”

“It doesn’t count when you beat me to the punch.”

“Oh, it counts,” he said very softly, and hauled me back onto his lap, burying his head in my hair, breathing me in, then pulling back again to look into my eyes. “So it’s true then?”

“All of it,” I promised, cupping his face, never more sure of anything in my life. “I love you. You. Just as you are right now.”

“Without the strength.”

“Yes, without the strength. Look,” I said with a choked-up smile, “I couldn’t have afforded replacing all those doors you’d have kept breaking anyway.”

“I’m blind as a bat,” he warned.

“I love your squint.” I gently pushed his glasses farther up his nose. “And they have this newfangled contraption called contact lenses.”

He let out a half-laugh, half-groan. “I’m serious, Rach.”

“So am I. Look, I’ve loved having you as a good friend, loved knowing you were in my life. But I held back because I was afraid. After all, good things never last, right? But you know what? Good things never need to last. It’s the great things that need to.” I drew a deep breath. “And we’re pretty great, Kel.”

He looked staggered. “Rach.”

“We’ve been through so much. And now I know what real fear is. Fear is knowing we could die and I’d held back. Maybe I needed to go through everything we did here because I needed to be led to this minute, to you.”

He smiled, his eyes shiny. “I’m growing quite fond of this minute.”

“Believe me, Kel, I won’t ever hold back again, that I can promise you.”

Looking touched beyond belief, Kel lowered his forehead to mine. “God, I love you. So damn much. I would have died a little inside if, when we got back home, things went back to the way they were.”

I tightened my arms around him. “The way we were was nice. But this is nicer.”

“Nicer.” He made a face. “Let’s throw that word out along with ‘fine.’”

I laughed. I don’t know how he did it, but he always could make me laugh. “How about amazing?”

“Better, I guess.”

“Fantastic?”

He eyed me, a smile lurking around his mouth. “Keep going.”

“Incredible. Extraordinary.”

“Extraordinary, huh?” He surged to his feet, then bent to lift me up as well, a feat that just yesterday he’d managed with such ease, he’d nearly sent me to the moon, but that now made him groan, stagger with my weight, then nearly drop me.

“Kel, careful of your shoulder-”

He leaned back against the tree, and gave me a weak smile. “I’m really going to have to work at this superhero thing.”

“No,” I murmured, my lips to his as I stood on my own two feet. “I like it best when we each carry our own weight.”

Cupping my face, he whispered my name like I was everything to him.

And in that moment, I felt as if I had the superstrength. Because with him at my side, I could do anything.

We watched Jack’s plane come in for a landing. He opened the door, and grinned. “How was your weekend?”

“Eye-opening,” Kel said, and took my hand.

We’d already said good-bye to Marilee, Axel, William and Serena, but we stood on the shore of the river hugging each of them again. Well, I was hugging them. Kel had his shoulder bandaged up, thanks to Serena’s healing skills, and wasn’t hugging anyone.

“We’ll be back,” I promised William and Serena. “You have the laptop,” I said to Axel. “Use it.”

Marilee hugged me hard. “Take good care of him,” she said. “And don’t be strangers. We’ll meet you here. Oh! You should come back for Halloween. You won’t believe how some of the guests enjoy that holiday.”

I could only imagine.

We got into the plane, trying not to be nervous about the flight back. I took in the sights of the towering mountains all around us, the gently swaying trees, the gorgeous day. “I never imagined that I’d actually say this,” I said, “but coming here was the best thing I’ve ever done. Let’s fly up once a season.”

Kel paled. “That seems a little frequent.”

“Once a year then.”

“With no swapping, right?”

I grinned impishly. “I don’t know…think of all the possibilities…”

“Rach.”

“Well, okay. Maybe once we’re married with little ones running around, swapping might get out of control.”

He went very still. “Married? Little ones?”

I stared at him, feeling my cheeks go red. “I didn’t mean to say that. It just came out.”

His eyes, misty and gorgeous, shimmered brilliantly, no longer filled with wild worry, but back to calm and deep and sure. “A plan, Rach? From you?”

“Yeah.” My throat was so tight, I could scarcely breathe. “Go figure, but I’ve developed a fondness for plans. Especially plans that involve you.”

He smiled, and tugged lightly on my ponytail, tipping my face up for a kiss. “I like being in your plans. It’s convenient and all, considering you’re in mine.”

“I am?”

“Oh yes.” He kissed his way to my ear, and once there, whispered the sort of plans he had, and all my nerves about flying, about anything, vanished, because in his arms, there was room for nothing but him. Us.

Together, with or without the abilities, in or out of this world…

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