I awoke on my stomach, sprawled across Jared’s bed with nothing on but the sheets tangled around my waist. I peeked over at Jared, who was on his side, watching me with a sweet expression.
“Good morning,” he crooned.
“Did you get any sleep? I asked.
Jared chuckled. “Five hours. The longest I’ve slept since I was a kid.”
I smiled and leaned over to kiss his lips. My body felt stiff and relaxed at the same time, and my muscles ached in a wonderful way.
He touched my face. “You were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you, but your last final is in ninety minutes.”
“Oh!” I scrambled off the bed with Jared’s sheet twisted around me and I held it to my chest as I shuffled to the bathroom. I stopped in my tracks, flipped around and returned to the bed, planting a ridiculously long kiss on his lips.
“I love you!” I called back as I ran to the bathroom to get in the shower.
Everything felt different; the water, the soap, my skin. I couldn’t stop smiling as I recalled the events of the night before. My fingers were starting to prune when I heard a soft knock on the door.
“Better get a move on, sweetheart.”
I shut off the water and rushed through my morning routine.
“Claire brought my clothes this morning?” I guessed, trotting down the stairs.
Jared smiled, standing by the door with my coffee. “She dropped them off at the door.”
I kissed his lips as I passed, and he followed me to the Escalade.
I made it to my desk just as the professor began passing out tests. It was difficult to concentrate; my mind wandered to Jared’s lips—and other parts of his body—and the fact that we had the entire summer to make up for lost time.
I was the last person to finish, and when I handed in my paper, the professor added it to the thick pile, nodding politely.
“Enjoy your summer, Miss Grey.”
“Oh, I will,” I said, smiling when I saw Jared standing in the doorway.
When we pulled to the curb in front of the loft, he turned off the key and sat in his seat, keeping my hand in his.
“I feel like I should apologize to you for last night,” he said, kissing my fingers.
“Why?” I asked.
Jared shifted in his seat. “It wasn’t exactly planned. I feel like I ambushed you.”
“That’s the kind of ambush I don’t mind,” I smiled, leaning over to kiss him. “I’ve never wanted anything more.”
Jared cautiously smiled. “You’re okay, then?”
“I’m better than okay. I’m looking forward to the next ambush, actually.” I leaned over to kiss his neck, making my way to his ear.
Jared chuckled. “We might not leave the loft for the rest of the summer with you behaving like that.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” I whispered, grazing my tongue along the edge of his ear.
“And when do you plan on getting your things from Andrews? Your mother is expecting you to move back home this weekend. I have quite a bit of work to do, taking down the tech from your room, the hall….” he trailed off, distracted by my mouth on his ear.
I pulled back and stared at him for a moment. Before I could verbalize the ingenious idea that popped into my head, a broad smile spread across my face.
“What?” he asked, smiling as well.
“Since we’re moving my things…why don’t we just bring them here?” I said, searching his eyes for a reaction.
Jared’s eyebrows shot up in shock. “You want to move into the loft?”
I shrugged, unsure what his reaction meant. I wasn’t exactly confident that the offer was still open. “If it’s okay.”
“If it’s okay? Do you know how happy you just made me?” he said, scanning my face with unconditional devotion in his eyes.
“So that’s a yes?”
Jared laughed out loud, shook his head, and then kissed me enthusiastically. “That is a definite, without a doubt, absolutely yes.”
I giggled with excitement as Jared pulled me over to his lap, kissing me with every bit the joy that I felt. In the course of just twelve hours, the last six weeks dissolved as if they’d never happened. Before the nightmare had ended, we’d gotten our miracle. It had turned out that it was up to us all along.
We spent the rest of the weekend moving boxes and small pieces of furniture. Jared insisted on doing most of the lifting, and I hummed along with the stereo as I unpacked my things. We seemed to only get a few boxes unpacked at a time before we were celebrating my homecoming upstairs, only to come downstairs, unpack a few boxes and start the process over again.