He sighed, dropping his eyes down to his feet as he took the stairs down. “Goodnight, Nikki.”
When he hit the bottom step, I called out. “Hey, Alex?”
He turned, the light catching his face and highlighting the hopefulness.
“I have a few weeks until my next trip. Take me out to dinner next week.”
His smile lit up the shadows. “Yes, ma’am.”
17
A few months later,I hefted my backpack up higher and adjusted the straps as I walked through the arrivals terminal of Heathrow. I was returning from a weekend festival in Bearsden, where I’d had a press pass and a partnership with the local tourist board. It had been a whirlwind—I really should have suggested an additional day or two, but I knew they were on a tight budget.
As most travelers peeled off to the baggage claim, I slipped through the exit and pulled out my phone. Alex was picking me up from the airport, and I needed to text him which door I was coming out.
“Nikki!”
I looked up at my name. Alex stood off to the right side, holding a bouquet of flowers and wearing a big smile.
“Hey, honey! What a surprise!” I threw my arms around him, and he carefully wove one hand between me and the backpack to hold me close.
We pulled back just enough for a quick peck before moving out of the way and out toward the parking lot. Alex held my hand tightly, asking how my flight had been and if I was hungry while he navigated the car away from the airport.
Dating Alex had been a balancing act for both of us. He emailed me a list of suggested dates, from a wine tasting to a polo club, which I emailed back with, “I don’t need you to entertain me...in that way.”
We did go out on dates. Lovely nights out where we just talked and enjoyed each other’s company. When I was gone on trips, Alex worked hard, staying late at the office and adjusting his schedule. When I was in town, he got more flexible, until we were spending weekends at my house, both of us working on our laptops, occasionally, but mostly spending our time naked and in bed. Once he’d learned to relax and not try to force things too much, Alex was a bad influence. He was always pulling me back into bed, showing me his affection with physical touch, as well as our quality time together.
Instead of pulling up to the pavement outside my house, Alex parked and followed me up to my door. I checked my watch; it was two o’clock.
“Don’t you need to get back to the office?” I said as I unlocked my door.
“I took the rest of the day off today.”
“Oh?” I slumped my backpack against the entryway and kicked off my shoes. It felt good to be home.
“Yes,” he said, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. “I want to make sure you know how much you mean to me.”
A slow smile twisted my lips. “How much do I mean to you?”
He laughed and curled around me. I looked down and saw his feet between mine, my socks between his dress shoes.
“Every time I kiss you, I can’t help but think of all the times I wanted to kiss you. And it goes so far back. I wanted to kiss you when you were cleaning graffiti off my locker, and I wanted to kiss you every time the bellends in our school called you Tits McGhee and you let it roll off your back. I wanted to kiss you when you crossed the finish line of the marathon and when we were at the starting line of the regatta. When we yelled at each other with fondant between our toes.
“And now,” he said, taking a deep breath, “when I think of all those things, I don’t just want to kiss you. I want to tell you that I love you, and I always have. And I wish I could erase everything I did to make you upset rather than in love with me.”
“I don’t,” I said immediately. “You said to me before that we wouldn’t have known what to do with each other back then.” I turned around in his arms, grabbing the sides of his shirt, gripping him close and pressing our bodies together. I looked up at him, his face solemn but his eyes shining. “And you were right. But now, Alex, I know what to do with you. I know how to love you.”
And I kissed him.
It took a week in the wild to push us together. Over the years we’d matured, we’d grown.
And now I was truly, wildly happy.
Welcome to the Love and Wanderlust series! You can download the free prequel short story, The Night in Lover’s Bay by subscribing to my newsletter.
These light and steamy romances between travelers can be read as standalones.
The Hitchhiker in Panama
