_Author’s POV_
They kissed for a long time.
Not urgently, or like something that had been held back too long and was finally releasing all at once. More like something that had found its natural pace and was in no hurry to leave it.
Alaric’s hand stayed at her waist and her hands had found the front of his shirt at some point and neither of them were rushing it.
When he pulled back it was slow.
He looked at her straight on, their faces close, and he smiled in the simple way he smiled when something was exactly what it was and he had no interest in dressing it up.
“I love you,” he blurted out.
His voice was so calm. He wasn’t sounding silly, like those confessions on tv where a ceremony came before it. He sounded confident. He wasn’t confused.
Rowena looked at him,
