Page 79 of The Night We Fell

And fuck, he looked so good.

I lifted a trembling hand and brushed a lock of sweaty, half-curled hair away from his forehead. “Look at you.”

“What about me?”

“The most gorgeous man I have ever laid eyes on.”

He flushed, which was still so strange to me. He had hordes of fans obsessed with every facet of his being, but it was like he didn’t trust in his own beauty until I told him how I saw him. Not that I didn’t understand.

The only person who ever made me feel like I was worthy was him.

And that was why I’d fight to the death to make sure he didn’t go a single day without knowing how much he meant. How good he was. And that the world needed him.

“I’m happy,” he said quietly after a beat.

Leaning up, I answered him with a kiss before adjusting him on my lap as I sat up all the way. “We need another shower.”

He snorted. “They’re going to charge us for water usage for all the come we’ve had to wash off this week.”

I lifted my brow. “Title to your new song?”

He burst into laughter and kissed me again.

It was ten minutes to midnight. Atlas and I were on the bed, watching the sky through the large windows. It was raining, so the party had moved from the beach to the resort ballroom, and I knew the only reason everyone hadn’t come back to the rooms was because they knew we were probably being loud.

They didn’t need to know that Atlas and I were fucked out, and the only strength we had left was to wrap around each other and watch for the sparks in the sky, letting us know that a new year had begun.

“Ready to start the next part of our lives?” he asked as I looked at the clock.

Eleven fifty-nine and fifty seconds.

“Ten.”

He blinked, then laughed. “Nine.”

“Eight…”

He kissed me through seven, then through six, then through five.

“Four,” I breathed against his lush lips. “And yes—three—I’m ready. I’m more than ready.”

“Two…’

Our lips met at one as the sky erupted into bright lights, ringing in what was going to be one more absolutely perfect, flawed, painful, soothing, glorious year with the only man who had ever truly mattered.