‘Lucas.’

‘Hmm?’

She stared at my mouth. ‘Did you …? Is that …?’

‘Like it?’ I asked, and she visibly shivered head to toe. ‘I knew you missed the lip ring. I figured you needed something else to play with when we kiss.’

Nodding, she said, ‘Let me see.’

Obediently, I opened my mouth and she peered inside at the little ball that sat dead centre on my tongue. ‘Oh … Oh, God …’ She licked that sweet lower lip as her eyes shifted to mine. ‘Is it true, what they say about that?’

A corner of my mouth tipped up on one side and one brow rose. ‘I guess we’ll find out tonight, won’t we?’ I kissed her again, my tongue delving fully into her mouth. She moaned – an impatient, breathy entreaty. Breaking the kiss, my hand curled round her nape and I whispered into her ear. ‘So tell me, how long does that bad-boy phase thing last? Because I’m trying my best to prolong it.’

She sucked in a breath and tucked her face to my shoulder. ‘Oh, God. I can’t believe you know about that.’

I tipped her chin up. Her face was pink.

‘How am I doing, Jacqueline? Fulfilling your every bad-boy wish, or is there something I’ve overlooked? I may have a steady job and be madly, deeply in love with my girlfriend …’ I kissed her as she clung to me. ‘But I have a wicked imagination.’

There used to be a point in time separating before from after. On one side lay everything good and beautiful – a dream that couldn’t be touched in waking moments. Memories of my mother were trapped there, and I fought to forget them because they did nothing but hurt and condemn. The opposite side was struggle. Endurance. My after was raw reality, and there was nothing to do but survive it.

Then came Jacqueline. This love. This healing. This new reality where before and after were no longer divided by a solitary rift. Where every moment was a tangible memory and a promise of what was to come. Every moment was a before and an after. Every moment was a now to be lived – and I would savour every one, beginning this second, with the girl in my arms.