Page 62 of Let's Be Forever

“Don’t what?” I lean down, my lips just above her nose.

“I-I don’t know…” Anna’s eyes pop open and she tips her head back, locking her gaze with mine. “We can’t do this again.”

“Tell me to let go.” I slip the hand on her arm around her back, tugging her closer to my body.Home. If my heart were able, that’s what it would scream. “Tell me.”

Her lips part, and her eyes descend to my mouth. Mine follow hers. She swallows, and I follow suit, but it does nothing for my dry throat. It only becomes drier when she grows taller and I realize she’s standing on her tiptoes.

I dip my head, my lips a breath away from hers. “Tell me.”

Anna exhales a deep, resigned sigh, but she doesn’t pull back, she doesn’t speak. She stays as she is. I don’t let a second pass by before I’m trapping her lips to mine, but the moment is short-lived as a noise from Maya’s room startles her.

She flushes, brows arched high over impossibly wide eyes. “I need to shower,” she says before ducking into her room.

I touch my lips, hating that I don’t have the ability to freeze time.

26

SYLAS

“How do you feel?”Thea asks.

“Like I’m going to wake up and find out it’s not real.”

She huffs a chuckle, but it gets masked by the sound of her blender. “I can’t even make a joke because I still can’t believe this is happening. You went from not knowing where she was, wondering if she had moved on, to her not only living with you, but your daughter. That’s wild.”

Every day I thought about it. I tried hard not to, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to know if she had moved on, and then the scenarios would pop up, like taunts, that she had.

I imagined she met someone in France, another baker because there were a few I knew were interested. When we were together, I know some asked her out.

I imagined he didn’t have panic attacks, and he didn’t feel pathetic because he had more to offer her than a sport that’d almost turned its back on him.

But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Anna pregnant with my baby, doing it all alone, living where she was living.

“I know. It’s even wilder that her sister is here.” I get out of bed and head to my bathroom to brush my teeth.

I had texted Thea last night to let her know the girls had moved in. But it was pretty late when I did, so I wasn’t surprised to see her calling me at five in the morning.

“When did they make up? I thought they weren’t talking?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask, and she didn’t tell me.” I admit to feeling uncertain about what’s okay to talk about, and Thea hums.

I stare at my reflection, noting the dark circles and the exhaustion on my face but also something I haven’t seen in a while: a small grin.

Not a good time, considering everything that’s happened, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about last night.

Her lips are just as soft as they felt the last time I had them on mine, and when her body pressed against mine…fuck, I missed her.

“You’re smart. You’ll figure it out,” she assures me, and I think I hear the smile in her voice. She does it so rarely it’s hard to tell. “And you’re already at an advantage.”

“How so?” I wedge my phone between my ear and shoulder, picking up my toothbrush and toothpaste.

“She moved in with you. If she really wanted nothing to do with you, you think she would have? I swear, Sylas, sometimes you’re not as smart as you appear on paper.”

“It was her last resort.” As happy as I am that she’s here, I know she felt inconvenienced. She’s annoyed despite what happened last night.

“I swear you’re an idiot,” she grumbles. “It’s all going to be okay. Just don’t fuck it up. I gotta go. Don’t do anything stupid. Mom and Dad aren’t worth it.”

I heave a sharp breath. “I know.”