“He pursed his lips and gazed at me reproachfully for throwing our seventh-grade history in his face,times two. back then he'd brought our tween-love Armageddon on himself by letting our whole class in on a secret while he kept me in the dark.Not that i was bitter.”

“Grayson looked at me again. This time his gaze traveled form my hair down, and he let me see that he was looking. What he meant by this was that he thought I was beautiful, it was not just my miraculous hair, and we shouldn’t be distracted from our true love by the pesky detail that he was blackmailing me into dating his brother.Right.”

“Breaking the cookie in two, he handed me the larger piece. I snatched it away, half tempted to throw it back in his face, but it was...it was chocolate chip. So I ate it and loved it.”

“You’ll never lose me,” I said, my voice breaking.“Promise.” His gaze searched mine as he ran his fingertip up my spine.“I promise.” I closed the minuscule gap between us once more, capturing his lips and trying to show him how much I meant it. “I love you. I love our family. I love our life together, and I can’t wait for the day when we’re back home, just the three of us, and this whole war is over. I swear to you that will happen. That will be our future.”He cradled the back of my head, his palm searing against my skin. “I have waited an eternity for this love. I’m not going to let anyone, Titan or not, take it from us.”“Promise?” I said, and this time it was Henry’s turn to kiss me.“I promise.”“Then do me a favor.”“Anything.”I shifted onto my back, rolling him with me. His body pressed against mine in all the right places, and I lifted my head high enough to rest my forehead against his. “Live this love now,” I whispered. “And never stop.”

“He kept his eyes on mine, his gaze unblinking, and I stared right back into the blue. He moved almost imperceptibly and in the space between a heartbeat his lips touched mine.”

“Let me guess---Nathan," he said with a bitter laugh. "It has to be Nathan. Christ, he told me day one that he liked you. But don't forget our history, Leigh. We were great together.”