CHAPTER 322

CHAPTER 322
ZION

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart, and inhale the beautiful scent of her skin.

She’s wearing the perfume I gave her when we were just ten—the one I’d stolen from my mom’s dresser, barely used, because I wanted her to smell like something special, something that was only ours.

She’d hugged me so tight that day, face buried in my shirt, whispering

“Thank you” like I’d given her the moon instead of a bottle of used perfume

Even after all these years, the faint floral sweetness still hits me like a memory I never want to lose.

“I love that smell,” I tell her, voice low and rough from everything we’d just shared.

She lifts her head slightly, a sleepy, teasing smile on her lips.

“The smell of sex?”

I chuckle, though she’s not wrong.

I love that too—the warm, musky scent of us mingled together, the evidence of how completely she’d come apart for me.

“No,” I say, brushing my nose along the curve of her neck, breathing her in again.

“I meant you,” I murmur against her hair, voice still rough from everything we’d just shared.

“You’re wearing the perfume I gave you.”

“How could I not?” she tells me softly, her fingers tracing lazy, absent patterns over my chest.

“I know you like it. And what better day to wear it on… the day you proposed to me.”

My chest tightens—sharp, sweet, almost painful.

“I can’t believe you still have it,” I whisper, the words barely making it past the sudden tightness in my throat.

She smiles—small, shy, perfect, the kind of smile that still undoes me after all these years.

“That’s because I never used it,” she admits, cheeks flushing a deeper pink as she ducks her head, suddenly embarrassed like she’s ten years old again, caught stealing something precious.

“I know it may sound stupid… but I was afraid it would run out.”

“Snowflake…”

She shakes her head gently, not looking at me yet, fingers still tracing those slow, absent circles over my chest like she needs the contact to keep going.

“After we moved away, it was the only thing I had that you gave me. I used to open the bottle every night and smell it… feeling closer to you even though you were so far away. I’d sit on my bed in the dark and just breathe it in, pretending you were right there beside me. Like if I closed my eyes hard enough, I could hear your voice or feel your hand in mine again.”

“But as we drifted apart… I stopped smelling it. It hurt too much. So I put it away. Only started carrying it around with me again after we made up. I kept it close, tucked in my bag like a secret. But after you put that ring on my finger…”

Her voice cracks, eyes glistening as she looks up at me, open and raw in a way that steals the air from my lungs.

“I couldn’t help it. I sprayed some on. Because today… today felt like the beginning of forever. And I wanted to smell like the girl you fell in love with when we were ten. The girl who still loves you more than anything.”

My throat closes up. I have to swallow twice before I can speak.

“Snowflake…Fuck.” I breathe, pressing my forehead to hers, my hand sliding up to cup the back of her neck.

“You kept it all this time. Even when I was an fucking idiot. Even when I fucking hurt you. You still kept a piece of me with you.”

She nods—small, teary—her fingers curling against my chest right over my heart.

“I never stopped carrying you with me,” she whispers.

“Not really. Even when it hurt. Even when I told myself I hated you… I still had that little bottle..kept it safe. It was the only thing that made the distance feel less infinite.”

Fuck.

I kiss her—slow, deep, full of every unsaid apology and every promise I’ve ever wanted to make.

When I pull back, I rest my forehead against hers again, breathing her in—chamomile, salt air, and that perfect, indefinable scent that’s been my home since we were kids.

“You’re my forever,” I tell her, voice rough and raw.

“You always have been. Even when I was too stupid to see it. Even when I tried to hate you. You were always the one I couldn’t let go of. And now… now I get to spend the rest of my life proving it to you. Every single day.”

She smiles—teary, radiant—and cups my face with both hands.

“I know,” she whispers.

“I’ve always known. Even when we were apart. Even when it hurt. You were always my home too, Zion. Always.”

I kiss her again—soft, lingering—and pull her closer, tucking her head under my chin, her body fitting perfectly against mine like she was made to be right here.

She rests her head on my chest, right over my heart. Her ear presses against my skin, listening to the steady thump that’s always belonged to her.

Her finger continue to draws slow circles over my stomach, light and soothing, like she’s memorizing me all over again.

“You’re so fucking beautiful. And Fucking amazing.” I tell her, voice thick.

“I can’t wait to live my life with you. The last year is nothing compared to what we’re going to do together.”

“I know,” she murmurs on a yawn, nuzzling closer, her breath warm against my skin.

“I can’t wait either. It’s going to be one hell of a good life.”

“The best,” I say, running my fingers through her hair—slow, reverent strokes from crown to ends.

“The kind of life people write stories about. The kind where we wake up together every morning, fight over who makes the coffee, build something real. The kind where I get to love you out loud every single day.”

She giggles—soft, sleepy, the sound vibrating against my chest like the sweetest music.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” she asks, lifting her cheek just enough to smile up at me, eyes sparkling.

“No,” I tease, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Why don’t you tell me again?”

“Zion Royal,” she announces dramatically, like she’s making a declaration to the universe.

Then her voice softens, turning tender and full of everything we’ve been through.

“I’ve never been so happy to have had you as my childhood sweetheart… my bully… my boyfriend… now my fiancé. I freaking love you to the moon and back. And then some. You’re my home, my safe place, my forever. Even when we were apart, even when it hurt, you were always the one my heart kept coming back to.”

My throat tightens.

I pull the blanket higher to keep her warm, wrapping my arms around her tighter, holding her like I’ll never let go.

“Damn straight you do, Snowflake,”

I tell her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“And don’t you ever forget it.”

She snuggles closer, her body melting into mine, one leg draped over mine like she needs every inch of contact she can get.

“Once we get back,” I say quietly, fingers still combing through her hair,

“I want to go somewhere where there’s just the two of us… no one else… anywhere. Wherever you want to go.”

“Anywhere I want to go?” she asks, tilting her head to look up at me, eyes bright with curiosity and love.

“I promised you the world,” I remind her, voice thick with everything I feel.

“If that’s what you want to see, then you better believe that’s what we’re going to do. Paris at Christmas. Santorini at sunset. A cabin in the mountains where the only thing we hear is the snow falling. Or just right here—beach house, no plans, just you and me and the ocean. Whatever makes you happy. Whatever lets me love you out loud every single day.”

She smiles—slow, radiant, the kind of smile that still stops my heart.

“You’re going to spoil me,” she whispers.

“Damn right I am,” I say, kissing her forehead.

“You deserve to be spoiled. You deserve the world. And I’m going to give it to you.”

She sighs—content, happy—and nestles her cheek back against my chest, listening to my heartbeat.

We lay there in the quiet—her breathing slowing, my fingers still stroking her hair, the distant sound of waves rolling in through the open window.

The ring on her finger catches the morning light, sparkling against my chest

Soon it would be joined by a wedding band.

Soon she’d be my wife.

Soon we’d start the rest of our forever.

But right now… right now she’s in my arms, wearing my ring, wearing the perfume I gave her when we were ten, smelling like every dream I ever had and every future I want to build with her.

I close my eyes and hold her tighter.

This is it.

This is home.

This is us.

And I’m never letting go.

Not now.

Not ever.

Forever.