“I’m more worried about them catching him,” Nora replied as she took Quinn’s hand. “Come on. We should probably go stop him before he can get too far.”
“He looks like he’s doing okay,” Quinn noted as she fell into step beside her. She gestured down the strand to where Fort, having been successful in harassing the birds, had resumed happily splashing through the water and trying to bite at the waves as they rolled in. “Hey, once we’re done tiring out the boy, would you want to get breakfast at that little cafe by the pier?”
“That sounds wonderful,” Nora murmured. She squeezed Quinn’s hand. “But can we go home and shower first?”
“Depends.” Quinn grinned and waggled her eyebrows. “Can we shower together?”
Nora laughed and leaned into Quinn’s side. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to talk me into that, yes.”
“Oh, good, I was afraid I’d missed you.”
Quinn looked up from the merchandise she’d been repacking, more than ready to let whoever seemed so keen on catching her dig through what remained of her ornament selection if they wanted, and smiled when she saw the president of the city’s creative council that put on the holiday market, Silvia Tam, standing in front of her. She brushed her hands off on the seat of her jeans as she stood. “Silvia. So nice to see you again.” She held out her hand. “What can I do for you?”
“Oh, you know…” Silvia smiled as she shook her hand. “The last night of the market is always so busy, and I was afraid I’d miss seeing you in all the hubbub tomorrow. So I thought I’d pop by tonight to check in and see how the week’s been.”
Quinn’s eyes shot to Nora. She’d spent the day trying and failing to come up with a way to broach the idea of them trying to find a way to see if they could maybe find a way to explore a possible future together beyond this weekend, and she barely resisted the urge to wince at the way Nora’s expression shuttered at the reminder that her time in Newport was fast coming to a close.
“It’s been amazing,” she said, holding Nora’s gaze, trying to convey with a look that she wasn’t talking about the holiday market. “So much better than anything I could’ve ever expected.” She added, and her heart ached as Nora’s gaze drifted toward her feet. She cleared her throat and forced herself to turn back to Silvia. “Crowds have been great at the demos, I’ve had quite a few people interested in commissioning projects, and I’ve nearly sold out of the ornaments I’d brought.”
“Good. I’m so glad it’s been a worthwhile trip for you.” Silvia nodded as she spoke. “Justin and a few of the other committee members have been raving about your work, and, well, I know it’s probably too early to start looking ahead, but we were wondering if you’d be interested in coming back to do this again next year?”
Quinn instinctively glanced at Nora as she replied, “Absolutely.” She was relieved to see that some of the tension in Nora’s jaw eased at her answer, and she sighed as she once again had to force herself to look away from her. “Let me know when your committee decides on the dates for next year’s event, and I’ll put it on my calendar.”
Silvia beamed, clearly delighted by Quinn’s response. “Excellent. I’ll do that.” She shook Quinn’s hand again. “Well, I’ll let you get back to your work. I’ll probably give you a call toward the end of next month.”
“Look forward to it.” Quinn waved as Silvia wandered off, and licked her lips as she turned back to Nora. “Nora—”
“Are those the last of the ornaments?”
Quinn glanced down at the bin by her feet. “Yeah. That’s all that’s left of them.”
“Can we…” Nora’s shoulders lifted with a deep breath, and she shook her head. “Can we just put them in the truck and get out of here?”
Quinn’s heart broke at the quiet anguish in Nora’s voice. “Yeah. Just give me two minutes.”
“Okay,” Nora answered in a small voice.
Dread settled leadenly in the pit of Quinn’s stomach as she raced to finish cleaning up as quickly as possible. It took a herculean amount of restraint to not just carelessly sweep all of the remaining ornaments left on display onto their brethren, and she gritted her teeth when she was finally able to snap the bin’s lid into place. She heaved a quiet sigh as she stacked a few loose items on top of the container before picking it up, and forced a small smile when she turned to Nora.
“Nearly done,” she murmured. The leaden feeling in her stomach intensified when Nora refused to look her in the eye as she nodded in response. She blinked back the sting of tears that threatened as she turned toward her truck.
If she’s this bothered by the fact that tomorrow’s the last night of the market, surely it means we’re on the same page, right? That this isn’tjustphysical for her? That maybe she’d be interested in something more?
The hushed fall of Nora’s footsteps behind her as she put everything away did little to settle her racing thoughts, and she swallowed thickly as she slammed the tailgate shut.
When she turned, she’d expected to find Nora hovering at a distance with that same forlorn expression dampening her normally bright features, and gasped in surprise when she instead found herself pulled into a deep, desperate mess of a kiss. She wrapped her arms around Nora’s waist as she immediately and instinctively yielded to her, meeting and matching the nearly frantic tenor of Nora’s first kiss as slim fingers curved around her neck to pull her closer. Her heart fluttered at the way Nora mewled and arched into her when she slid her right hand along her back to press between her shoulder blades, urging her even closer, and she held her tight as their kisses slowly, oh so slowly gentled into a string of languid pecks and shared, shallow breaths.
“Nora, I…” Quinn’s voice trailed off as Nora nuzzled her cheek.
“Stay,” Nora whispered, her voice trembling with hope and possibility. She brought her right hand from Quinn’s neck to tenderly cradle her jaw. “Please. I’m not ready to say goodbye.”
Quinn squeezed her eyes shut against the emotion that welled in them at Nora’s plea. “I’m not ready for that, either.”
“So stay.” Nora brushed a tremulous kiss over Quinn’s lips.
“Oh, Nora…” Quinn drew a shaky breath as she touched her forehead to Nora’s.
Nora nuzzled closer. “Spend Christmas with me and Fort here at the beach.”
