Adley

He's been asleep for hours. I helped him get to his feet when he said he needed to stand. He leaned on me while we walked to the bedroom. I got in bed with him and held him until he fell asleep and then I slipped out of his arms so I could clean the broken glass.

"It's been one hell of a week." His voice is behind me. "If this is how it's always going to be with us, we need to renegotiate the no drinking policy."

I turn to look at him. He's only wearing his boxer briefs. That's exactly how I left him. 

"Next week will be better." I pat the sofa next to me. "I'm going to take you up on your offer."

I watch him stroll toward me. "The one where I asked you to marry me?"

"I haven't heard that one yet." I stare at his face as he lowers himself next to me. "You made an offer when I was putting you to bed."

"Was it to sit on my face? That offer lasts forever."

I slap him on the shoulder. "I will take you up on that offer before I go to work."

He looks out at the darkened sky. "Looks like it will be a multi-hour session."

"You remember the offer, don't you?"

He pats his lap. "Sit here with me."

I scoot my panty-covered ass across the couch and settle on his lap, my legs straddling his. "Tell me you remember."

"I wish I could remember that night." He presses his index finger to my lips. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but when you do, I'm here."

"Thank you." I kiss the side of his finger. "It's crept back into my life because of the Hale's babe stuff, but I'm getting stronger. I think it's actually helped me to let go of the pain of that night."

"How so?"

"Whenever I thought back about it, I'd see that younger version of myself who was trying too hard to please her boyfriend. I was willing to sacrifice myself to make him happy. I'm not her anymore. I'm strong.  I can handle it. It doesn't define who I am. I get to choose what defines me."

"You're right." He runs his hands over my thighs. "You chose to try an experience. It wasn't what you wanted. That doesn't give anyone the right to say a word to you about it."

"I've cried too many tears about it. I don't want to cry anymore."

He looks down at the sofa. "You were crying about it the night we played Truth or Dare."

I nod. "A man sent me a message online and asked if I'd ever been to the Skyn. He saw the picture of Trey and I at Nova, and he thought he recognized me."

"You were at the club more than that one night, weren't you?"

"A half dozen times," I admit." I was mostly in the main club dancing with my boyfriend at the time. He took me to the back rooms twice. The first time we watched other people. The second time is when you saw me there."

"A face as beautiful as yours is hard to forget."

"You forgot," I say softly.

"The fire was the week before I saw you there." He's quiet for a moment. So am I. "That's not an excuse for not remembering you. It's definitely not an excuse for the rage I was feeling. I helped you because I had to. I saw the cry for your help in your eye, and there was no way in hell I could ignore it."

I trail my fingertips down his cheek. "When I saw you in Vegas that night when you were offering Ellie a job, I recognized you."

The pad of his thumb runs over my bottom lip. "I'll never forgive myself for wasting these two years, but I'll do everything in my power to make the next seventy the best you've ever had."

"Is that how long we'll be together?"

"God willing." He kisses the corner of my mouth. "I'll spend every single one of those days showing you how much I love you."

"Let's start now." I reach to unbutton the white shirt I'm wearing. It's his, of course. The smell of his skin surrounding me is the reason I put it on when I got out of bed.

He flips me over the same way he did the night we played Truth or Dare.

He hovers above me.

"What will it be, Crew? Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

I stare into his pale green eyes. "Will you love me forever?"

"Forever and an extra day." He kisses me softly. "Truth or Dare, Ad?"

"Dare."

A ghost of a smile floats over his sinful mouth. "I dare you to take me up on my offer."

"The one to move in with you?"

He nods. "That one and all the others I'll make until the day I die."

"I'm going to pack up my things tonight." I trace the pad of my thumb over his left brow. "I want to wake up next to you every morning."

"At five a.m."

"Those days are over." I laugh. "Last one, Crew. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," he answers without missing a beat. "Make it a good one."

"I dare you to make me come."

"You're joking." He rakes my body from head-to-toe. "Add something to that, like within a minute, or with my eyes closed, or with both hands tied behind my back or all of the above."

"With just your kiss," I finish.

"Dare accepted, Dr. York," he growls as he slides down my body. "You never said where the kisses could be."

I arch my back when I feel his breath on my thigh. "You won."

"You better fucking believe I won," he says as he pushes my panties aside to glide his tongue over my core. "I get to be loved by you. There's nothing better in this world than that."