Nah, there was something. He rested his palm on the back of her calf, his thumb brushing over her smooth skin. “Come on. Since when are we the type of strangers who keep secrets from each other?”
“That’s just it.” When she turned back to face him, he couldn’t keep his gaze from snagging on that bottom lip. “We’re strangers. Why are you so easy to talk to?”
“Are we strangers, though? I mean, really?” He forced himself to stop staring at her lips. Met her eyes. “Because if we are then I probably shouldn’t be touching your leg like this, should I?”
“Why are you touching my leg?”
“Because I think it’s a really nice leg if you want to know the truth.”
“But not the other leg?”
“That leg and I are still strangers. Haven’t bonded yet. But I’m hoping to change that real soon.”
Her cheeks flushed with a pretty shade of pink as she bit her lip again, shaking her head and trying not to smile. “Sometimes I don’t know what to do about you, Nate.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means—”
His phone rang on the bench, drawing McKenna’s attention.
“It’s fine. Probably just a spam call,” Nate said, wanting McKenna to forget about the phone and finish that sentence. What did she mean?
“I think it’s the airport,” she said, leaning behind him to pick up his phone. “It is. I recognize the number.”
She sprang from the picnic table and started hopping from one foot to the other like she was standing on hot coals. “It’s the airport, Nate. The airport.”
“Should I answer, or would you like to use the bathroom first?”
She stopped prancing in place. “What if this is them telling us they’ve lost the luggage forever?”
“Then I guess at least we’ll know.” He reached for the phone and tapped the screen, placing the call on speaker. “This is Nate.”
“Just the man I wanted,” responded a chipper Alice. “I’ve got some wonderful news for you. Fabulous news. Might even call it hilarious news.”
“Just say it already,” McKenna growled, then pressed a finger to her own lips before Nate had a chance.
“We’ve got your luggage,” Alice said as if she were announcing the grand prize on some sort of game show involving airports and missing luggage.
“Ohhh,” McKenna said on a giant exhale, sagging onto Nate’s lap sideways and wrapping an arm around his neck in a hug, which actually did make him feel like he’d won some sort of prize. Also made him wish that he wasn’t sweaty and covered in grass clippings.
“And you do meanwithyou, right?” McKenna grabbed his forearm to lift the phone closer to her mouth. “At the airport?”
“Right here at the airport,” sang Alice. “And you want to hear the best part? It was here the whole time.”
“I have the ring,” McKenna said for at least the dozenth time since opening Nate’s suitcase and dumping everything out on the tiled floor of the airport and finding the hidden treasure right where she’d left it—tucked safely inside his zipped-up wadded-up pants pocket. “I have the ring, I have the ring, I have the ring.”
“Excuse me,” Vivi’s voice said from behind the customer service counter, “but did I not make myself clear when I said all carry-on items need to remain un-strewn about?”
“Very clear.” McKenna kissed the pear-shaped diamond sparkling on the slender gold band from where she remained seated on the airport floor surrounded by Nate’s strewn-about carry-on items. “Oh, Nate, I can’t even tell you how relieved I am.”
“Believe me, I know the feeling.” Nate was crouched next to her, cradling an envelope inside his hands like it was a newborn kitten. His hair, still damp from the quick shower he took before they raced to the airport, was more tousled than usual. Probably because he’d been clutching it the entire drive over, something McKenna knew by this point he did when he was especially flustered. Or worried.
“I see you’re not undoing the strew.”
“Working on it, Vivi,” said McKenna over her shoulder, continuing to admire Nate’s handsome profile. She’d been so consumed with the missing ring, she never thought to ask him about the comment he made the last time they were here.Hey, I had something valuable inside that luggage too. Something I’d be crushed to lose.
What made the letter so important? Hopefully at some point he’d tell her. For now, his obvious relief at having it back made her as happy for him as she was for herself in finding the ring. Maybe even more so.
