I opened my mouth to answer him, but Carter pulled me up and pressed his lips against mine—kissing me as tears fell down my face, as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. At that moment, no one else in the diner existed.

It was just me and Carter.

The guy I was in love with, the guy I’d loved for most of my life.

When we finally broke away, I looked over at Sean—to offer an apology, but he was long gone. The other patrons were looking at us with fascination and I blushed as Carter kissed me again.

“I read your letter…” I said softly. “You were right…”

“I usually am.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and he smiled, whispering against my mouth. “Let’s get out of here…” He pulled me against his side and led me to his car. Taking my hand in his, he looked over at me. “Were you going to go the rest of this trip without saying anything else to me?”

“I was going to come to your house tonight, after I broke up with Sean…You kind of interrupted my break-up speech, though. Pretty sure he’ll be smearing my name around all over campus whenever—”

He cut my sentence off with a kiss. “I know it’s been a while since we’ve been together, Ari, but the rules are still the same. I don’t want to talk about anyone else when I’m with you, and since I only have four days left before you fly back, I damn sure don’t want to waste one second talking about your ex-boyfriend.” He kissed me one last time before speeding off into the night.

We made it to his place in record time, and as soon as we were out of the car, his lips latched onto mine and we stumbled up the driveway and into the house with our lips still attached. Knocking over a lamp and a side table, we made it into his bedroom and he immediately pulled me onto his bed.

He took off his shirt and started to unbutton mine, but I grabbed his hand. “Wait, Carter…Wait…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” I looked into his eyes. “I just…I want to know if…”

“Ask me…” He kissed me, a knowing smile on his lips. “Ask me, Ari...”

“No…I guess it really doesn’t matter.”

“It does.” He pulled off my skirt. “Ask me if I’ve been with anyone else since you’ve been gone.”

“Have you?” I asked, forcing a weak smile.

“No, Ari…” He gave me a reassuring kiss as he unsnapped the front of my bra. “I haven’t, and I’d like to keep it that way forever…”

“And what happens when I go back to France?”

“You take the spam filter off my goddamn emails and answer me whenever you get a chance.” He unbuckled his pants and let them fall to the floor. “You also invite me up to visit once a month.”

“Can you afford to come that often?”

“I can’t afford not to…” He lay down in the bed and pulled me on top of him. “Are there any other questions?”

“Yes.”

He raised his eyebrow, waiting for me to say it.

“What’s your new tattoo?” I looked at his arm, and he smiled—holding it up for me to see. “You’ve always had that Arizona State tattoo…”

“The state, yes…” He pointed to the cursive script underneath it. “Your full name, no…”

I blushed. “I got drunk in France one night when I was crying over you, and I went into a tattoo bar by myself…I must’ve really been talking shit about you, because the technician misinterpreted what I wanted.” I lifted my right arm, showing off the small spot next to my breast where a cursive “Sincerely, Carter” was etched into my skin.

Smiling, Carter traced it with his fingertips. “I love this…Are there any more questions?”

“Yes…I have one more.”

“Okay.” He gripped my hips, and positioned me over his cock. Then he slowly sucked one of my nipples into his mouth. “I’m listening…”

“In your last letter to me, you said you’d loved me since fourth grade…Not fifth grade like you normally try to assert…Do you really think that, timeline-wise, or did you just say that because you knew that would get to me and make me cry?”

“Arizona Turner…” He slowly pulled me down against him—filling me inch by inch, making me moan as he swirled his tongue against my chest. When he was completely inside of me, he held me still and looked into my eyes. “For the record, and the very last time…” He drew my bottom lip into his mouth. “I hated you in fourth grade—absolutely fucking hated you…”

I moaned as he caressed my back with his palms.

“For the first semester anyway…” he whispered. “I did like you a lot more when we became friends. I liked you a lot…But after looking back, yes, I promise that I loved you then…” He slowly let go of my bottom lip. “I love you now.” He kissed my lips until I was utterly breathless. “And I always will…”

**THE END**