I was too far away to be sure, but…
Itcouldn’tbe, could it?
My feet picked up in the direction of the ice cream parlor, eyes focused on a dark head of hair I could only see the back of as I abandoned the groceries in the bed of my truck.
A fragile, trembling kind of hope welled up in my chest, shaking so hard it might burst and take my heart with it if I was wrong, if I was only seeing what Iwantedto see.
I was out of breath by the time I was close enough to see, heart hammering in my ears, and then…
I was right. I wasright.
“Hayden!” I yelled, putting on a burst of speed to close the distance between us as he turned to look at me, eyes wide with surprise.
Laughter bubbled up in my throat as I ran to him, echoing all around us as I pinned him to the wall of the parlor.
Hayden grunted, winded by the impact, and I took the opportunity to kiss him, hard and needy and desperate, trying to pour everything I wanted to say into this one kiss.I’m so glad you’re here, I love you, please tell me this means you’re never leaving again.
The realtor was staring at us, but I didn’t care.
Right now, the only thing in the world that I cared about was Hayden.
And he was here. He wasright here, where he belonged. With me.
I didn’t ever want to let him go again.
“Wes,” he murmured, pulling back to look at me. “You weren’t supposed to be here.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“I had this all planned out!” Hayden said.
I laughed again, too happy to care about ruining Hayden’s no doubt carefully considered plans.
“Sorry,” I said, without meaning it even a little bit.
“No you’re not.” Hayden wrapped his arms around me in return, warm and solid and smelling of his aftershave and shampoo and a little bit of the unmistakable stale smell of plane air.
That was fine. There was a shower and a washing machine back home.
“No, I’m not,” I agreed. “I’m never gonna be sorry about seeing you.”
“Well, good,” Hayden said, scratching the back of his neck. “Because uh. Surprise! I sold the lease on Pleasure and bought this place.”
The realtor cleared his throat, mumbling that he’d just head back to the office and if Hayden had any problems, he knew where to find him.
I grinned at him as the car pulled away, so happy I was starting to wonder if you reallycouldburst from it.
“We’re all alone,” I said, trailing my fingers up to play with the hair at the back of Hayden’s neck.
“We’re in maybe the most public spot in all of Otter Bay,” Hayden said.
“Right,” I agreed. “Completely alone.”
That finally made him laugh, apparently recovering from the shock of me spoiling his surprise.
“Are you always gonna be like this?” he asked.
“Like what?” I challenged, brushing my thumb over a sensitive spot behind his ear, making him gasp.
