“Bedroom,” she said, answering a question he hadn’t voiced.

He looked down at her and nodded. The way his eyes flashed gave her a glimpse of the person he was hiding from her. She had confessed that she was still in love with him, but he hadn’t said a word. She had known he wouldn’t. But her heart had needed the relief that came from expressing those words. It had liberated her.

Callum walked them to her bedroom door and pushed it opened with his shoulder. The moment they stood inside, he made his way to the bed and laid her on it. From head to toe, his eyes slowly swept over her. Then he inhaled and exhaled before his eyes met hers.

“I have to confess something and I want to say it right. Tell me yes,” he said as he pulled the shirt over his head.

Peyton sat up the moment his hands were on his jeans. “Yes,” she breathed out and sat on the edge of the mattress.

“Thank you,” he said as he undid the button of his pants.

He gave her a smile that warmed her aching heart. She wanted whatever he could give her.

Peyton’s fingers reached her silk blouse, but Callum’s hands were on hers and stopped her. He didn’t say a word as he unbuttoned the top she was wearing and pulled it off her body. Her breathing was embarrassing. No sequence, just pants of anticipation.

“Stand up for me,” he instructed, and Peyton did.

She felt empowered the moment he got on his knees and dug his fingers into her hips. The sight was one she’d mark as one of her favourites. His hands left her and trailed the side of her body until he reached the knee-high boots she had on. He slowly unzipped one boot before pulling it off her leg and then the other. Then he stood back up and wrapped his arms around her waist as his fingers found the zip of her skirt.

Callum held his breath as he pulled the zipper down. The control in his eyes snapped, and she could see the desire in them. She would beg him if he tried to stop this. She needed him like she needed the next breath of air to enter and relieve her burning lungs.

He pulled down her skirt and said, “Lie back, Pey.”

Her knees went weak at just the sound of that three-letter name. She took a step back and sat on the bed. Callum’s pulling down of his jeans and underwear caused her to freeze. He noticed her staring, but she didn’t care. He was glorious and beautiful. And for however long this lasted, he was hers and she was his.

He stepped forward and kissed her deeply. The feel of his lips on hers caused her to ache all over, needing him. Then his hands made their way to the clasp of her bra, and in one swift move, he had it off her. Peyton moved back on the bed before he softly pushed her on the mattress. His tongue passed her lips and found hers as they stroked, kissed, and sucked. Fighting against each other before conceding defeat. Over and over until his hands reached the side of her underwear. Then he broke from her lips as she lifted her hips for him to take off the last piece of clothing she was wearing.

The moment he threw it on the floor, he settled between her legs. Then he propped himself on his elbows as he stared at her with a look she hadn’t seen in years.

Next, he kissed her lips once before the tip of him was at her entrance. Holding her breath, she expected him to thrust straight into her. But he didn’t, so she waited. Peyton wet her bottom lip as she kept her eyes focused on him, wondering.

Callum took a sharp breath in and studied where their bodies almost connected. He lifted his stare back at her. The sweet glint in his eye had made her heart beat harder in her chest.

“I’m confessing to you this way because, the moment I’m in you, I’m the most fragile. I’m the truest form of me when I’m in you, Peyton. I’m at my weakest when I’m this connected to you, emotionally and physically. This is the right way to show you how true and honest I am.”

She felt him tense, so she reached up and held his arms, making sure that he knew she was right here with him. Then she nodded her approval before he slowly entered her. It was achingly slow, but she loved it nonetheless.

“In this moment, right here and right now,” he said, pushing himself farther into her.

She bit back the need to close her eyes. She kept them open, memorising him and the look of utter pleasure that consumed his face.

He was halfway in when he thrust hard into her, making her gasp. “I’m in love with you, Peyton Olivia Spencer.”

“Say it again,” she whispered.

Her heart hadn’t found a way to operate its basic function. He’d said it. Words she’d never expected, words that had been meant for this moment and words that were about now and not the past.

She expected him to pull out and enter her again like last time. But Callum rested his forehead on hers for a moment before he drew back to see her.

Still inside her, he whispered, “I’m in love with you, Pey. I’ve always been in love with you. Then and now. Forever and always. I love you.”

Instead of protecting her heart, she brought his left wrist to her face and let the tattoo of her name touch her lips before she placed it on her chest and above her heart. Then she closed her eyes and allowed the pulse from his wrist to touch her chest. His heart beat for her, as did hers for him.

Peyton opened her eyes and said without reserve, “I love you, too, Callum.”

She softly stroked the back of his head as he slept. Inhale and exhale, his breathing was constant and steady. Each breath he let out touched her chest. Callum had fallen asleep resting his ear to her heart.

Four times. That’s how many times they’d made love. Each thrust, each digging of her nails into his flesh, each groan and moan had made it difficult for her to breathe. Peyton wasn’t sure how her heart had functioned after he’d said that he was in love with her. Not then, but now.

“I’ve spent the last four years in hell. Life hasn’t made sense since you.”

They were the words he’d whispered before he’d fallen asleep. Peyton had closed her eyes and let them brand every cell in her body. She believed him. Callum’s being inside her as he confessed his love was something that she hadn’t been able to imagine. It had been powerful, moving.

And it had also been heartbreaking. They’d made their ending even more difficult. She’d known that the moment that he’d let those words be heard. But she had seen the freedom in his eyes when the truth had been revealed.

Peyton continued to run her fingers through his hair as she stared at the ceiling. She’d been up for most of the night, terrified that he’d leave her or that it had all been a dream.

Callum Reid is my nightmare, my dream come true.

He’s my sometimes and my forever.

He’s the man who will undoubtedly destroy the person I am.

He will either liberate or kill my heart…

And I would let him do it.

I would let him crush my soul to redeem his.

In some way, he had already achieved her forgiveness. He had put the doubts to rest. Throughout the years, she’d believed that it had been nothing but a lie to him, that his feelings for her had never been genuine. These doubts had clung to her heart and told her not to ever forget. But when he’d said that he was in love with her, those doubts had detached themselves and faded away.

This is a now moment.

She knew that it wasn’t a forever moment. The ending was close; she felt it in every beat of his heart and her own. Until she knew what a sometimes moment was, she would file last night as one of them. Sometimes didn’t mean all the time. Sometimes meant once, maybe twice. They were once, maybe twice. The thought had her heart beating fast in aches.