He held out his hand.
She took it.
“I am so happy to be here,” he whispered.
Cherry nodded. She looked up in his eyes. “I didn’t change my mind.”
He squeezed her hand. “Good. Can we...” He looked around. He was standing near the bottom of the stairs. “Why do you have a baby gate?”
“For the dog.”
“Smart.” He reached behind himself and unlatched it. Then glanced at Cherry. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she breathed.
Russ led her past the gate—led her up her own staircase. He had a way about him. All of Cherry’s anxieties stepped out of his way.
He stopped at the landing.
Cherry motioned toward her open bedroom door. Russ led her inside.
His arms closed around her again, and his head dropped, hovering over hers. “Hey,” he said in a low voice. He was looking at her face but not in her eyes.
Cherry let her gaze fall to his cheeks. “Hey.”
“You haven’t changed at all.” Russ touched the side of her head. “Like a flashback, seeing you tonight.”
Cherry hummed.
He petted her hair. “So beautiful,” he said. “Like a fucking...beacon. Just...” He kissed the side of her head. “Cherry, Cherry.”
Cherry went a little weak at the knees. And between the ears. She hadn’t been ready for the word “beautiful.”
It wasn’t that she’d never been called beautiful before—or even that she didn’tbelieveshe was beautiful. She just never thought thatRuss Suttonsaw her that way.
She was still reeling when he kissed her.
He kissed her.
Cherry made a little blissed-out noise at the back of her throat. She swayed on her feet, and Russ tightened his arms to hold on to her.
When he pulled his mouth away, he was smiling. Cherry smiled, too.
He kissed her again.
She reached out and found his chest. His shoulders. She held on.
Russ was a very teasey kisser. Very brushy. Pulling away constantly to smile and start over. It left Cherry off-balance. Out of breath and laughing at nothing.
He kissed her cheek, then her throat. He nosed along the neckline of her olive-green sweater. “You and your goddamn sweaters... I’ve been wanting to take off your sweater since the first time I saw you wearing one.”
Cherry shook her head like she didn’t believe him. (Shedidn’tbelieve him.) Her cheeks were dimpling.
Russ lifted his head. He grabbed her waist, hooking his thumbs in her belt loops and shaking her a little. “Take it off,” he said in a stern but slightly silly voice. “Right now.”
Laughter thrummed in Cherry’s chest. “You want me to take off my sweater?”
“Rightnow.” He shook her a little more. “You’re driving me crazy.”
