Everything changed the moment I found you. I changed.

Heaviness coats my brain, and I’m surprised at the turn in our conversation; we’re getting into the deep stuff. “Right now, you and me? This feels like fate, if fate can be felt.

We made a pact the day you left for Novo—I know you don’t remember that, but I do—and I’m holding fast to our promise. To never give up hope. And I have hope, because I know that deep-down, hidden within the innermost fragments of your heart is the love you feel for me. I know it’s still there, waiting to be reclaimed. When it comes to you, no amount of time spent waiting is a waste.

My skin is on fire with every touch, every contact, and my body throbs with unfamiliar need. We’re dangerously close to throwing caution to the wind. Logan’s body pulses and trembles over and under me, and I know he’s feeling it too. I want to give into it, to go there with him. I want him to be my first, my last, my one and only. I want to give myself to him fully; heart, mind, body and soul, but I can’t. The acknowledgment assaults me with soul-shattering clarity.

There is so much that needs to be said and too many things that can't ever be said.

He’s a lovely guy, but there’s no spark between us whatsoever. It just goes to show, that even with all their fancy assessment tools, the government can’t legislate for chemistry.

I don’t want this. I’ve never wanted this. What is the point in dredging up a past that no longer serves any purpose? A past that’s no longer connected to the present or the future. A past that is bittersweet because the love we shared was doomed from the outset—a stolen love that was never meant to be. Why would I want to relive that?

Our tongues meet, probing, exploring, welcoming, and everything else fades into the background. All the secrets and lies. All my worries and concerns. When we’re together like this, I have all the proof I need to know this is what’s right for me. He’s right for me.

There’s a part of me that recognizes him on a cellular level, a part that seeks his comfort and solace, that feels more than comfortable in his arms. And when he stares at me with that deep penetrating gaze of his, my body reacts in all the right, and wrong, ways.