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going to miss every little thing that makes you my girl,” he murmured into her ear. “Your smile. Your gorgeous eyes. Your lips. God, those perfect, kiss-me-now-Nix lips . And your laugh. Fuck, I’ll miss your laugh.”
    Tears began to well in her eyes again.
    “Your feistiness. Your sass. The fact that you always let me know when I’m being an ass,” he remarked with amusement.
    “That seems to be a daily occurrence for you,” she retorted with fondness in her voice.
    “That’s only because most days you arebeing a pain in my ass.”
    “Excuse me!” she shouted.
    He chuckled loudly as he gently pushed her back onto the sand, his strong body hovering over hers. Nix stared down at her as his fingers gently traced the features of her face. “You will always have my heart, Meli. Always . I know we’re young, but fuck, I know with every inch of my soul that I will never love anyone else the way that I love you. This right here,” he continued on as he pointed to his chest. “This right here is yours. It will always be yours, and no one else will ever have this part of me…” he trailed off as he looked at her with an odd expression. “I’m going to show you something, but you have to promise me you won’t get pissed.”
    She sighed heavily in response as she tried to decipher his current change in mood. Nix was notorious for his spontaneity, for always shocking her in the most ridiculous ways.
    “Okay. I promise,” she conceded.
    “Are you sure? You promise you’re not going to give me a dose of that sass you’re so famous for? No cursing my name in Spanish or giving me the middle finger with those cute little hands of yours.”
    “Yes,” she replied in exasperation. “I promise that I, Sloan Walker, will not give you any sass or throw Spanish curse words at you or flip you off for whatever you’re about to show me.”
    He adjusted his position so that he was on his knees before his fingers pulled his T-shirt up over his head. A white gauze bandage covered the left side of his chest.
    “Since my heart is yours, I went ahead and branded it for you,” he whispered softly as he pulled the bandage off, revealing a tattoo of black script.
    Meli
    Her nickname.
    The Hawaiian nickname he had jokingly given her on that very sand—the nickname that had eventually turned into the affectionate, loving name he frequently called her—was etched beautifully into his tan skin. It was placed exquisitely right over his chest as if he were proving that his heart, his love, was hers and only hers. It was the sweetest, dumbest, most ridiculous and impulsive thing anyone had ever done for her.
    And she loved it.
    She loved what it meant. She loved what he did… She just loved him in that moment.
    “You are the most ridiculous person in the entire world! Who in the hell put that tattoo on you?! You’re not even eighteen!” she shouted in pure shock.
    A nervous chuckle left his lips. “Don’t worry about who tattooed me. Just know that I did it because I wanted to.”
    “I love you, Nix. I fucking love you,” she declared in astonishment.
    “I can’t believe I just got Sloan Walker to throw out an F-bomb—a loving F-bomb for that matter,” he declared with a laugh. “I mean it, Meli. I mean it when I say that my heart is yours.”
    She grabbed his hand, placing his palm directly over her chest. “And my heart is yours, Nixon West. No one will ever have this piece of me.”
    His eyes hovered over her, gazing down at her prone form with pure emotion flowing from their cerulean depths. “God, I love you. I love you so fucking much.”
    Before he knew it, his lips found hers as his body pressed against her soft curves. He communicated every ounce of emotion, every layer of intensity that was his love for her with every inch of his body.
    On that night, under the soft glow of the moon, with the whisper of waves crashing into the sand filling their ears, Nix and Sloan gave each other every piece of themselves.