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I just sat there for a moment, shocked by his words “What?”

“I love you! I thought it was too soon to tell you!”

A sudden bark of laughter forced its way froht “Of course it’s not too soon,” I whispered, kissing his face all over

“Really?”

I pulled away and cupped his cheeks “We’ve been falling in love since ere kids If anything, we’re overdue”

So about that statement seemed to resonate with hi his lips to mine My heart jumped into my throat as I returned the kiss

“I love you,” he whispered e parted

“And I love you”

We stayed there, frozen in ti fell away and all the existed or ever would exist was in his eyes The warmth of his breath soothed‘I love you’ back and forth until the sun started to descend toward the horizon

It was perfection and I never wanted the moment to end

Chapter Twelve

We stayed in Gatlinburg for a total of threeeach other It was spent in each other’s ar each other The weeks that we spent alone in that cabin were soical I’d ever experienced

I was absolutely head over heels in love with Ryan and nothing was going to change that My only regret was how long I waited to finally let hiot a call fro us home He couldn’t keep us out in the cabin for the rest of our lives and he was fairly certain that we’d be safe They never ed to find much information about the iven up their mission

It was a relief to hear that, but at the sa to an end When I told Ryan this, he just assured ether back home With that promise, I found myself more than a little excited

We spent our last night in Gatlinburg, dancing at one of the bars We’d stayed out far too late and danced until our legs felt like jelly, but neither of us cared It was a perfect way to end our stay We stu so hard our sides ached