Reed held his breath as he accepted the paper. He was also embarrassed to discover that his fingers were trembling wildly as he slowly unfolded the note.

When he saw what was written on it, his nerves vanished and his breath came shuddering out on a laugh.

In her feminine handwriting, Darcy had written three words that made his heart soar.

I love you.

Below that, she’d drawn two boxes, one for yes, one for no.

She’d checked yes.

And circled it half a dozen times.

“What does it say?” Devon demanded, standing on his tiptoes and craning his head to try and take a peek.

Reed laughed as he scanned the rest of the note, which posed a question.

Do you love me?

Two boxes. Yes or no.

As his pulse drummed between his ears, he refolded the note and tucked it along with the pencil in his pocket, then glanced at Devon. “Wait here a second, my man. I’ve gotta go kiss your teacher.”

“Ewwwwww!”

The boy’s horrified wail followed Reed all the way to Darcy, who patiently waited for him to approach.

When he reached her, she cocked her head, a move that caused her hair to cascade over her shoulder. “I spoke to AJ.”

He sighed. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Don’t be mad at him. He was just being a good friend. To both of us.”

Reed thought about how AJ had dragged him off the couch yesterday and sobered him up, and his heart squeezed at the memory. “He’s a damn good friend,” he said hoarsely.

There was a beat of silence.

“I didn’t see you check off a box,” she murmured, her blue eyes searching his face.

“That’s because I didn’t have to.”

Her brows knitted in confusion.

Reed smiled. “I don’t need to tell you how I feel on a piece of paper, baby. I’m not too scared to say the words out loud.”

Her breath caught.

Reed stepped closer and swept his fingers along the delicate edge of her jaw, his voice coming out hoarse. “I love you.”

Darcy’s entire face lit up. “You do?”

“So f**king much,” he said solemnly.

The smile she rewarded him with was so damn radiant he wished he’d brought his sunglasses. “Thank God,” she blurted out.

Chuckling, Reed touched her cheek. “What, you were afraid I wouldn’t say it back?”

“Terrified,” she confessed. “Especially after…”

Regret clamped around his throat. “I’m so sorry for the other night, Darce. I was a total jerk. But I need you to know that nothing happened with that girl. I walked away from her the second you were gone.” He swallowed. “I just needed you to believe that I was over you. It was the only way for me to…”

A soft smile tugged on her lips as he voiced the familiar phrase, but this time she wasted no time finishing it for him. “For you to protect your heart. I get it, Reed. AJ told me you heard me and Skyler talking.” She shook her head. “And I think we need to have a little talk about eavesdropping.”

“I know,” he groaned, lowering his gaze to avoid her reprimanding look. “I shouldn’t have—”

“If you’re going to eavesdrop,” she interrupted primly, “as least eavesdrop on the whole conversation.”

His head jerked up. “What?”

“If you’d stayed for five seconds more, you would have heard me telling Skyler that yes, you were my boyfriend, and that I was madly, passionately, ridiculously in love with you.”

His heartbeat accelerated. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Aw, hell. I can’t even eavesdrop properly. I really am a dumbass, huh?”

Her melodic laughter wrapped around him like a warm blanket. “Yep, you are. But I forgive you.” She paused. “Do you forgive me for being such a jerk about the whole fling thing and laying down all those rules?”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” he said simply. “You wanted passion, I gave you passion. But you also happened to get something else out of the deal.” He traced the seam of her lips with his finger. “You got love, babe. Lots and lots of love.”

“Aww, I think that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me, Reedford.”

His lips twitched. “One of these days you’re going to have to accept that Reedford isn’t my full name.”

“Oh, shut it. You love it when I call you that.”

God help him, but he couldn’t deny it. “Fine,” he said, pretending to cave. “I guess I can live with it.”

She beamed at him. “Good. Now will you kiss me already?”

Ha. Like he could ever say no to this woman.

Reed’s mouth came down on hers, their lips meeting in a kiss that went from sweet and gentle to hot and passionate in a single heartbeat. But just as his tongue filled her mouth, an outraged cry broke through the haze of lust.

“Ewwwwww! I am so telling my mom about this!”

Reed wrenched his mouth away from Darcy and turned to scowl at the kid who’d appeared at their side. “Don’t you dare,” he warned the boy. “Otherwise, I’ll tell her all about the way you blackmailed me into buying you a second ice cream cone last weekend.”

Devon blinked. “Got it. I saw nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Pleasure doing business with you, kid.”

Darcy choked out a laugh. “So…what do you boys have planned for the rest of the day?”