Alex. Dear God, Alex. No, they weren't officially dating or anything along those lines, but how was she...she'd think about it tomorrow. She'd deal with it tomorrow before she left. But for now she wanted nothing more than to enjoy this. After all this time, knowing that he loved her...she couldn't imagine being any happier than she was at this exact moment. And she knew it was only the beginning, which made it even better. This was only the start of something wonderful. It was far too early to start thinking about an "ever after", but some part of her knew this was the case.
And seeing how happy this made Richard only made her happier. She was the cause of the blissful smile on his face. The smile she loved so much, along with everything else about him. How could either of them have been so utterly blind? She laughed happily. "Yes, really. And I'm not entirely sure there's a word for what idiots we are," she teased, then leaned up to lightly brush her lips against his. "I can't believe this is real." She just barely pulled back, wanting to be as close to him as she possibly could. After all this time of having to keep her distance, she wanted to feel his arms around her, the soft brush of his thumb over her skin, his lips against hers. This was so completely amazing and she never could have imagined it would be happening to her.