The heat from the sun instantly warms Tinley’s face as she wakes up, and the smile on her face is permanently etched there. She knows she’s not alone as the scent of Marek wraps itself around her like a warm fuzzy blanket. She stretches her arms above her head and rolls over, opening her eyes and finding that he’s already awake beside her. He’s lying on his side and has his head leaning on his hand. When she woke up yesterday morning, he was in the exact same position. “Are you going to watch me sleep every time we’re in bed together?”

“You make it sound like I’m doing something creepy. I haven’t been awake for that long, you know.”

“Sure creeper, that’s what you want me to believe. I know the truth—you’re secretly plotting my demise while I sleep.”

“Yeah, and where would that get me?”

She contemplates for a minute, dramatizing her thought process by tapping her finger against her chin. With a shrug, she replies, “I couldn’t tell you. It’s not like we’re married and there’s a life insurance policy at stake.”

He releases a laugh and looks at her like she’s crazy. “Somebody has watched one too many Lifetime movies.”

“Have you watched some of those? The storylines can get intense, and the really crazy thing is that some of them are true stories.”

“You sound like my mother right now.”

Well, that was definitely not what she expected to come out of his mouth. Her nose scrunches up, and she almost has to roll away from him. That should never be something that comes up while they’re in bed together. She’s not one for making rules for the bedroom, but that should be a given.

“You really want to talk about your mother while we’re in bed together? Just think about that for a minute.”

“Good point. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“Sounds like a solid plan—and speaking of solid plans, is little Marek happy to see me this morning?”

“I don’t know, maybe you should find out for yourself.”

He pulls her toward him for a good morning kiss, and they proceed to find out just how excited he is to see her.

* * *

“Do you have any tissues in your purse?”

Tinley never knows what she has in that thing. She always shoves stuff in there and then forgets about it later. It’s a good thing she doesn’t have Hermione’s bag, she’d probably find a way to shove everything she owns in there. She goes digging around in the bottomless pit and her hands land on an old napkin. It’s not crumbled, so good chances that it hasn’t been used before.

“Here you go.”

She passes it over to Marek, and he brings it up to his face but stops and smirks.

“So, who’s Jared? Should I be worried you’re going to be leaving me for this faceless guy? Or do you have a purse full of these things and poor Jared didn’t make the cut?”

Jared? She has no idea what he’s talking about. She reaches for the napkin and quickly snags it from his hand. Sure, enough there’s a phone number under Jared’s name. What the heck? And then it dawns on her where exactly this came from. She can’t help but laugh because this definitely isn’t a regular occurrence for her. Outside of rarely stepping foot into a bar, odds are more likely Dakota will get hit on than herself.

“That’s from the Dating in the Dark night. The waiter gave me his phone number, and I never had any intention of using it. I actually completely forgot it was in there until just now.”

She hates that their weekend is coming to a close. They just finished up the best lunch at a cute little soup shop near her apartment building, and they’ve been walking through the park since they finished. Her hands shake as they take a seat on a bench. She knows how she’s been feeling about Marek lately, but it feels too soon, and what if he doesn’t feel the same way? That’s not the kind of rejection she would be able to handle, not after everything they’ve been through already. In the short amount of time they’ve been together as a couple, she has changed so much as a person, grown so much.

Turning toward him, she blurts out, “I really want to tell you something, but I don’t want to make a fool of myself. So…I’m going to wait a little bit longer.”

He suddenly stands up and pulls her up with him. “It’s really getting late, and I should probably get going.”

“Thank you for coming over this weekend. It was absolutely perfect.”

She leans into his embrace and holds on tight. They didn’t get a chance to talk about how they could move their relationship to the next step, but after this weekend, it’s clear that’s exactly what she wants to do. She’s tired of hiding.

Marek leans his head down and plants a gentle kiss on her cheek. He tightens his grip on her and whispers in her ear, “Tinley, I love you too.”

She squeezes him tighter and breaks down crying. Ugly tears force themselves down her face, and she can’t hold back the sobs that start racking her body. Marek leans back slightly, and his eyes go wide at the destruction she’s creating.

“Are you okay? Why are you crying?”

She barely calms herself down enough to get any words out. “I can’t believe how beautiful and perfect that was. I love you so damn much, and you just solidified my feelings with your proclamation.”

“So, these are happy tears?”

“So incredibly happy. I can’t stop them, that’s how happy I am.”

He wraps his arms back around her body and pulls her in close. She continues sobbing into his chest, and it takes her forever before she’s finally able to calm herself down. This man that she currently has herself wrapped around is her forever; she knows that now. He’s been here right under her nose this entire time, and if it weren’t for her sister and best friend pushing her, she would have never seen it. Now she can’t imagine ever living her life without him. This is the epitome of perfection.