Chapter 20

Monique helped me to the bathroom before bed, standing close as I steadied myself. As much as she was gentle and careful, she couldn’t resist teasing me.

“You know,” she said as I finished washing up, “you look very cute when you’re sleepy.”

I huffed. “Men my age are not cute.”

She grinned. “Oh no? You’ll always be cute to me.”

I grumbled as she helped me into bed, but my complaints died quickly as she stood at the foot of the bed and slowly, deliberately, pulled her dress over her head.

My mouth went dry.

“I know we agreed on sleep tonight,” she mused, her tone teasing as she let the dress fall to the floor, leaving her gloriously bare. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun.”

She slid into bed beside me, pressing her body against mine.

“I want to end every day like this,” she murmured against my skin. “It’s going to be hard when I have to go back to Boston in September.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, tightening my hold on her. “I know. I feel the same way.”

She cupped my cheek, tilting my face to hers. “But it’s only three months. Then I’ll be done.”

I nodded, threading my fingers through her hair. “And then?”

She smiled softly. “Then I come home.”

A slow, deep exhale left my lips as I pulled her in for a kiss—gentle, lingering, full of unspoken promises.

As we settled into each other’s arms, her head tucked against my chest, I knew one thing with certainty.

No matter how long those three months felt ... she would come back to me. And that was all that mattered.