Mom smiled and looked at me. “Are you two studying together?”

I nodded, still unable to speak. My mind was reeling from what Jeremy had been about to say.

Mom’s eyes searched mine curiously before she smile broadly. “Okay, you two. Study hard. Sierra, make sure you’re home by ten.”

As soon as she left the room, I peered up at Jeremy, who was still staring after her.

“Jeremy?” I asked tentatively.

He gave me a nervous smile as he ran a hand through his messy hair. “I guess I’d better let you eat.” He leaned down and pecked on the cheek. “Meet you on the patio in half an hour?”

I nodded. Apparently, he wasn’t going to enlighten me on what he was going to say.

“Sounds good.”

“One more final and then you’re mine for the summer,” he said. “I can’t freaking wait.”

Neither could I.

Idiot.

I was such an idiot. I kept repeating the same thought in my head over and over again. Now that the school year was ending, Sierra and I had been together for almost nine months. Not much had really changed from us being friends. We were still inseparable. We were still best friends.

We were just…closer now. The only changes to our relationship had been physical ones, and it had brought us closer than before. That intimacy had been missing, and it a filled a void that I hadn’t even know was there.

Don’t get me wrong. All we did was hold hands and kiss. But we kissed a lot. Like, put-Jenna-and-Chris-to-shame a lot. Pretty much, from the moment my lips had first touched Sierra’s, they’d barely gone hours without having another little taste. Okay, so it was never really little, but you get the point.

At the young age of sixteen years old, I knew I’d never tire of kissing Sierra Sullivan.

So, like I was saying, things with Sierra were amazing. I’d never been happier. My grades were solid, thanks to our study sessions—yes, I wasn’t so distracted that I couldn’t get my schoolwork done. It probably helped that Sierra had a new way to incentivize our study sessions. Kisses for right answers? Hell, I’d be right every single time.

It was all just so…easy. We didn’t deal with the petty little games so many high school couples around us dealt with. I think it was because we’d already had a relationship established prior to dating. No one else had our level of trust. Which is why it was so damn easy to fall for her.

Yeah, you heard me right. I was a fallen man, and in all honesty, I’d be okay if I never got back up again.

I think a part of me had known that I’d been in love with Sierra all along, but it’d only been in the past couple of weeks that I’d let my mind wander there. I’d been trying to get up the courage to tell her. And tonight, when she had been rubbing up against me, telling me that she loved me all hot and sweaty—even if it had been coerced, I knew she’d meant it—had me wanting to blurt it out right away. I would have—if Vicky hadn’t walked in and saved the day.

But it made me realize I couldn’t hold those feelings in much longer. I had to tell Sierra how I felt. I just had to figure out the perfect way to do it.

TWO MONTHS LATER, I was finally ready. I know. I’m an idiot, and I’m slow. But now that I was back from football camp and hadn’t seen Sierra in over two weeks, I was more than ready to tell her how I felt.

As I waited on the beach, I went over my memorized speech, hoping like hell Sierra didn’t freak out. The sounds of the surf filled my ears, and the moonlight was shining off the water. When light footsteps sounded on the walkway leading to the gazebo, the nerves set in. Then a small gasp echoed around me.

My heart nearly stopped when I saw her standing there. A vision in yellow. My best friend. My girl. The love of my short life, and the girl who would blossom into the woman who would one day be my wife. Of that, I had no doubt. I never had. I never would.

I was sixteen years old and in love for the first time in my life. I couldn’t wait to tell her.

“Jeremy,” she asked, her voice breathless and whispery and sexy as hell. The ocean breeze whipped her hair around her face as she took a step towards where I was waiting on the sand. “What is this?”

She stopped at the top step and looked down at me. The white Christmas lights I’d strung up around the gazebo poles illuminated her beautiful face.

“Do you know what day it is?” I asked her.

She cocked her head to the side and wrinkled her nose. I smiled, because this day in history, seemingly so insignificant, ended up being the most important day of my life.

“Jeremy, I…” she trailed off, her face downcast while her eyes searched mine.

I took a step forward, placing my hands on the wooden rails in the open doorframe. “It’s okay, Sierra. It took me a moment to remember, too.”

Then I stepped back and shined my flashlight on the sand castle I’d built, much like the one I had so many years ago.

“Eight years, Sierra,” I whispered. “Eight years ago on this day, you entered my life right here in this very spot. There I was, making a castle, content to do it all on my own, when you appeared out of nowhere and changed my life forever. Eight years since you took hold of my heart. For eight years, you’ve had it, and I have no plans on ever taking it back.”

I stood on the step just below her and took her hands into mine. I gazed up into her eyes, hoping they portrayed the way I felt. Praying that all of my love and adoration was pouring from my soul and she was soaking up every drop.

“Sierra, I’m not a fancy guy. I don’t wear fancy clothes or drive a fancy car. I’m not the guy who will give you fancy words.”

“I’ve never needed fancy, Jeremy,” she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears.

“And that’s part of why I love you,” I answered.

There it was. All out in the open. Simple. Yet oh so beautiful.

“You love me?” she asked, her voice shaky.

I nodded. “I love you, Sierra. I think I’ve always loved you. And I know I always will.”

She sniffled. Then, in a sudden rush, she flung her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. She peppered my face with wet kisses before pulling back to look into my eyes. Her face breaking into a breathtaking smile while her shimmering blue eyes shone like the twinkling stars. “I love you, Jeremy. God, I love you so much. Ever since I was a little girl, I think I knew you were the one for me. I love you.”

My arms tightened around her waist as she dipped her head. Our lips met, and we sealed it with a kiss that had my heart exploding with all the love I had for her.

I knew this wouldn’t be the last time we’d do that. I knew that, one day, Sierra would agree to be my wife. I’d be told to kiss my bride.

I’d do it. And I’d never stop.

I couldn’t wait for that day to come.

Jeremy and I were supposed to be going to some country concert in Pensacola. I spent the day getting ready, having changed at least seven times. I finally decided on a little yellow sundress that highlighted my tan. My hair was in loose waves. It was Jeremy’s favorite style, and it was quickly becoming my own. By the time I was ready and pulling my cowgirl boots on, I was anxious to get the night started. Jeremy had been gone for the past two weeks at football camp, and I was itching to see him.