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beach read by emily henry

[. @januarygusbot]

Beach Read: January and Gus Extra Epilogue (With Poppy and Alex & Nora and Charlie Cameos)
https://t.co/gFHpoEBSb7

[. @januarygusbot]

“What if we don’t get a happy ending, Gus?” I whispered. He thought it over, his hands still sliding and tightening and pushing against me like they couldn’t sit still. His dark eyes homed in on mine.

“Then maybe we should enjoy our happy-for-now,” Gus said.

[. @januarygusbot]

Until we finally spoke for the first time in class. I was passing out my latest short story for critique, and when I handed it to him, he looked me dead in the eyes—his head tilted curiously—and said, “Let me guess: Everyone lives happily ever after. Again.”

[. @januarygusbot]

“Just tell me what you want for once. That’s all I’m asking you to do.”

“I want you,” he said quietly. “I want you, in every way. I want to take you on dates and play with a fucking beach ball in a pool with you, but I’m a wreck, January.”

[. @januarygusbot]

His throat shifted, jaw flexed. “I’ve never met someone who is so perfectly my favorite person.”

[. @januarygusbot]

“I love you, I love you.”

“I know.” I sank my fingers into his back as if my grip could stop time and keep us there. Us and the too-cold lake and the litter swimming through it. “I love you too.”

“And to think,” he said, “you promised you wouldn’t fall in love with me.”

[. @januarygusbot]

“You were going to dance with me in the rain?” I asked thickly.

“I promised you,” he said seriously, taking my waist in his hands. “I said I would learn.”

[. @januarygusbot]

“January, January,” Gus would sing, his teeth clacking from the cold. “Even if there aren’t any snowflakes, we’ll have January all year long.”

[. @januarygusbot]

And then he kissed me deeply and whispered, “I love you.” And then again, with his hands in my hair and his mouth on my temples and cheeks and jaw, as a ratty plastic bag drifted past on the surface of the water.

[. @januarygusbot]

He took a few breaths, then said in a soft murmur, “It doesn’t mean I don’t want you, January—I’ve always wanted you. It just means I also want you to be happy, and I’m scared I could never be the person who could give you that.”

[. @januarygusbot]

When it came down to it, I knew exactly who Gus Everett was, and it didn’t change a thing. Because even though he would probably never learn to dance in the rain, it was Gus I wanted. Only Gus. Exactly Gus.

[. @januarygusbot]

As I arched under his touch, his grip tightened, making me gasp.

He pulled back, breathing hard. “Did I hurt you?”

I shook my head, and Gus touched the side of my face again, gingerly turned it to kiss each of my temples.

[. @januarygusbot]

He leaned forward and kissed my sweat-sheened shoulder, nuzzling his face into that side of my neck now.

“I just remembered what you said about the bookshelf,” he said in a gravelly voice. “You can’t even stop roasting me when I’m losing my mind over your body.”

[. @januarygusbot]

“Oh my God,” I murmured against his ear. “Do you always have sex against your bookshelves? Are your books behind me right now? Is this an ego thing?”

[. @januarygusbot]

“Fine,” Gus murmured. “I can’t know it. But I believe it. I see it. Let me prove I’m right. Let me prove I can love you forever.”

[. @januarygusbot]

“God,” he said, voice deep, raspy. I fought a smile.

“Are you praying to me, Gus?”

His inky gaze scraped up my body to my eyes. The muscles in his jaw leapt and I arched against him as his hands skimmed around my back to unhook my bra. “Something like that.”

[. @januarygusbot]

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” he hissed, hands tightening on my ass.

[. @januarygusbot]

And when I looked up, there he was. Olive skin. Cheekbones that could cut you. Crooked mouth and a husky voice I’d never forget. Messy, dark hair I could immediately picture haloed in fluorescent light.

Augustus Everett.

[. @januarygusbot]

He kissed the gap between my breasts, the side of my ribs, and even in my state of near-total relaxation, a shiver went through me. “I love your body,” his voice thrummed against me.

“I’m a fan of yours too,” I said. I prodded the scar on his lip. “And your mouth.”

[. @januarygusbot]

I couldn’t leave Gus here alone. If he was descending into the darkness, I was going to tie a rope between our waists and go down with him.

[. @januarygusbot]

He broke into a smile and propped himself up on his elbow, hand still splayed across my belly button. “I really didn’t show up to your sex dungeon to seduce you.”

I sat up. “How do you know I didn’t seduce you?”

His smile crooked higher. “Because you wouldn’t have had to.”