But now?
Seated across from him was the smiling girl who pushed his buttons and got him to smile when all he knew was being serious.
By the time they arrived home, she was chatting about some of her better memories with her sister, Skye. The worry was still there beneath the surface, but it had eased.
He walked her to her apartment door, where she stopped to face him. “I’m guessing you’ll be working tomorrow.”
“Why would you say that?”
River shrugged. “From what I remember, your cousins say you rarely get time off. And it seems like two days off in a row isn’t exactly normal.”
“That’s because it isn’t. Not for me.”
Her brow wrinkled with confusion.
His eyes snagged on some of her golden strands, and he tucked them behind her ear without thinking. “I took tonight off.”
The shock that befell her face would have made him laugh if there wasn’t so much emotion in her eyes. It threw him off, and he wondered for a split second if he shouldn’t have admitted to taking time off.
“You… were supposed to be at work tonight?”
“Yeah, but it’s fine.”
Without warning, River reached up with both hands and captured his face between them. Her shining emerald eyes searched his. “You came with me when you were supposed to be at work.”
He chuckled, reaching for her hands to remove them and assure her once again that he didn’t regret a moment of the day they’d shared together. A thought that made his chest tight and one he wasn’t ready to examine so closely. But he didn’t have the chance to utter a single word before her lips crashed into his. She was warm and soft. Sweet and salty. Everything that he wanted and more than he deserved.
Stunned, Mathew lost his opportunity to wrap his arms around her waist to pull her closer because just as quickly as she’d kissed him, she’d pulled away. River was a blur of motion as she turned toward her door and slipped inside without uttering another word.
Blinking, Mathew stared at the closed door. He could knock. He could demand to know what that kiss was all about, even though he already had a good idea.
A slow smile crept along his face as he shook his head with a chuckle. His body’s reactions had gone into overdrive, and he was just now cataloging all of them.
Heart pounding.
Head buzzing.
Lips tingling.
Chest aching.
Muscles weakening.
No, it wasn’t a heart attack. This was something so much more. He’d only had hints of these visceral reactions when he’d been with Victoria. In the beginning, it had been slow and steady. He’d figured, with time, he’d grow to love her deeply. He didn’t need the longing and exhilaration he’d begun to feel for River already.
Maybe that was the problem. Maybe what he had with Victoria simply wasn’t enough.
Or maybe it had been, but neither one of them knew how to traverse a new marriage and budding career goals.
Maybe his father’s deathhadhelped him in ways he hadn’t yet realized.
With one last fleeting look at the door, Mathew chuckled once more and headed for his car.
This feeling? It was something he hadn’t experienced in a long time, since long before he’d gotten divorced.
This was true happiness.
12
