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"I love you," Eden says.
I stare down at her, frozen in place. Something in my chest feels almost painfully alive at the words.
"You do?" I ask.
"Yes." Her voice is soft, and her eyes softer still. "It’s okay if you’re not there yet, or if you don’t want to say it. But I want you to know how I feel.”
Happiness makes my head dizzy. But I need to make sure it's true first. "Really?"
She smiles. It's a beautiful sight. "Yes, so much I don’t know what to do with it all. It’s taken me by surprise… but I love that, too.”
I shift her more firmly beneath me and kiss her. She tastes like home. "Eden," I mutter. "Fuck."
“It’s okay,” she says. “It’s fine. This doesn’t change anything.”
I rest my head against the warm skin of her neck. My heart is beating so fast I can hear my own pulse.
"It's not that," I say. Because it really isn't. It's the opposite. It's the knowledge of how big this is, the two of us, and how important it is. I can't mess this up. It would kill me.
It feels like the biggest thing I've ever experienced. The best thing.
I look down at her. Tousled hair. Warm, open eyes. Kissable lips. Achingly familiar and still so new.
“I love you too," I say. "I have for much longer than I realized. It crept up on me, slow at first, and then so fast that I was deep in it before I knew.”
“You do?” she murmurs.
I nod and cup her face. The skin is warm beneath my hand. “Yes. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced this, or felt this much before.”
“Not like this,” she says.
“Not like this,” I agree. Not even close. “I know how bad it can hurt when things fall apart. And now? Feeling like this? I don’t think I could handle it, Eden. If I lost you.”
It feels like an understatement. But it's the best I can do, with these feelings burning in my chest. Eden wraps her legs around me and rests her forehead against mine. I can feel her heart pounding.
“You won’t,” she murmurs.
“No?” I ask. Never leave.
“No. Besides, this, with you and me? It’s an adventure. And we’ve been on those before.”
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