“There’s a nice walking path along the river…” I started to suggest.
He grabbed my hand. “Yes, please.”
We both went quiet for a bit as we followed the path, the energy from the pressure of his hand sending my heart rate through the roof. Like I’d been doing this whole time, I imagined holding hands and walking along the river long after we’d gone gray and paunchy.
Fuck’s sake, Joel. Try to at least keep it to the next five years.
“So. Uh. Tell me about your internship prospects. How’d this last interview go?”
His smile, which he’d been wearing since I hugged him, dimmed a little. “This was the place I really wanted. I got to meet the CEO.”
His words sounded more positive than his expression looked.
“Awesome.”
“It really was. He’s a younger guy, comes from family money. He’s got this cool idea for social media marketing and wants to get into policy.”
“So… right up your alley.”
“Exactly. He liked what I had to say and offered me the internship right then and there. I’ll be on the team working on capital city politics.”
“That sounds amazing,” I said, absolutely sincere. I hated the distance, but I loved how Tristan followed his dreams. “And the living situation?”
“I found an efficiency that’s only a thirty-minute drive from the downtown office.”
“Sweet—and quite the accomplishment in Austin.”
“Eh.” He wrinkled his nose again, but this time in a not-cute way. “I already hate it.”
I brought his knuckles up to my lips and kissed them. “Why is that? Is it in a dangerous neighborhood?”
He shook his head, then sent me a sad grin. “It doesn’t come equipped with a certain bar owner.”
I brought his hand to my chest so he could feel what he was doing to my heart. “It’ll be difficult for me to get away from the bar for too many days at a time, but—”
He shook his head. “I’ve already decided that if I’ve got the day off, I’m coming into Seguin.”
I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him so hard.Thank God.“Will you be staying with your parents when you come to visit?”
Please say no, please say no, please say no.
He bit his lower lip and then shook his head. “Not if I can help it.”
I had no control over my grin. “Hotel?”
“On an intern’s salary? I think not.”
“Well then.” I tapped my chin. “Wherever will you sleep?”
He shifted his jaw to the side, raising his brows with a quirk of his lips. Sending him a wink, I walked him backward until we found a tree I could push him up against.
“Something tells me,” he said between deep, tongue-filled kisses, “I won’t be sleeping in my car.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”
Grabbing my shirt, he grinned up at me as he flipped our positions. “I wouldn’t mind checking out your digs tonight. You know, to make sure they’re up to my standards.”
“But tomorrow… Your graduation…”
