His smile could probably light up the hospital.
I love you, too. Hurry up and come home.
“Grandpa?”
“Yes?”
“Got any pilots who owe you a favor?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
SLEEP CAME SLOWLYto Katrina, but the alcohol helped. She would have slept straight through to morning but a noise woke her up.
Her eyes popped open. It was still dark in her bedroom, but someone was knocking on her door.
She breathed deep.Don’t freeze. Katrina reached under her pillow and groped for the little spray bottle she kept there, because she was paranoid as hell. She crept to the door. “Who is it?”
“Jas.”
What!Delight shot through her. She flung the door open.
The reciprocal excitement on his face flipped to alarm. “Don’t shoot. Not again.”
Katrina followed his gaze to the pepper spray in her hand. “Never again. I didn’t know who was at the door.” She backtracked and placed the bottle on her bureau.
Jas entered the room and shut the door behind him. “It’s a good thing I didn’t go with my first idea and sneak in through your window to try that fantasy of yours.”
His smile made her hot, and his gaze tracking over her body made her hotter. He made a startled sound when she launched herself at him, but he caught her close. “Hi.”
She looked up at him. There were shadows under his eyes and his shirt collar was no longer crisp. Jas looked about as close to bedraggled as he could ever get. He was so beautiful. “Hi. How’s your family?”
He pulled her tighter to him. “Good. My grandpa’s ridiculous, and I chewed him out. I also gave a firmer commitment to try to go to the parade, and he’s going to move heaven and earth to make it accessible for me.”
Now that Jas was here, she felt nervous, more nervous than she’d been when sending those texts. “That’s so nice.”
“How’s the internet treating you?”
“Jury’s still out, but there was this video with a man dressed like a panda—actually, it’s not important. Everything’s fine, so far. Can you hug me hard?”
He did, and they embraced for a long time in the middle of her bedroom. He finally brushed his lips over her hair. “I try to remember when I fell in love with you. But I can’t. It feels like it’s always been there.”
She swallowed, joy filling her from top to bottom. “I love you too. I don’t know when it started either. All I know is, I woke up one day, and it was like I’d been looking for you my whole life. And there you were.”
He shook his head, chagrined. “We could have had this conversation years ago.”
“Or we were meant to wait for right now. Like everything led to this, you know?”
“Always the optimist.” He pulled away and gazed down at her, lingering on her braless breasts under her shirt.
The zings. From his eyes alone.
“Tell me you stopped at the pharmacy.”
Jas’s grin could rival the sun for brilliance. “I got some goodies in my pocket.”
“Can we try it then?” she breathed. “The fantasy?”
He started to unbutton his shirt, and indicated the bed. “Get in and close your eyes.”
