I nod.
“Julian, I gotta go. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Taylor and I slip away while everyone else is distracted, weaving through clusters of guests until the noise fades behind us.
My hand finds hers, our fingers lacing together in a perfect fit. Her thumb brushes easy, reverent strokes across my knuckles. I can’t look away from the contact.
The bounce houses squeak in the distance. The last light of day stretches across the lawn in soft gold. We settle onto a picnic bench at the edge of the property, the world suddenly narrowing down to just us.
For a moment, neither of us speaks.
My gaze drops to her sparkly peach nails while my thumb traces gentle circles over the back of her hand.
“So… about that obstacle course.” Taylor finally breaks the silence, a teasing edge in her voice.
I huff a quiet laugh. “Pretty sure that’s a bet neither of us can win right now.”
“If you’re too scared, you should just say that.” Her eyes glint, warm and playful.
She’s distracting us from the truth we’re both avoiding—that neither of us won, and by this time tomorrow, we’ll be back in our separate lives, eighteen hours apart.
I lift her hand to my lips and press a soft kiss to her knuckles, holding her gaze the entire time. The challenge in her eyes fades as her lashes flutter and her breath catches, her attention fully locked on me.
“I was really looking forward to the prize you promised me.” Her voice drops, almost a whisper.
“We can still bring those ideas to life.” I wink.
The sun dips lower, painting the sky in soft peach and gold.
Taylor traces the edge of the table with her fingertips, lost in thought. A curl slips forward across her cheek, catching the warm glow of the setting sun.
I reach out, tucking it gently behind her ear, my fingers lingering as they trail down the line of her neck.
The small, pleased sound she sighs is the only invitation I need to move. I cup her jaw and pull her into a kiss.
Our lips move together in slow, deliberate passes, saying everything we don’t have words for. She melts into me, her hands curling into the front of my shirt, holding me like she doesn’t want to let go.
When I pull back, she doesn’t open her eyes to look at me.
“How are we supposed to go back to normal after this?” she whispers, finally opening her eyes again. “Am I really going to sitin a cubicle, dealing with customer complaints and being hassled by my boss every day? Ugh.”
I’d be lying if I said that hasn’t been occupying my thoughts all day. While I don’t love this house or LA, and I miss my own bed, I’m not ready to say goodbye to the incredible woman sitting in front of me.
There also hasn’t been the right time to talk about what exactly we’re doing together. I’m way too old to ask Taylor if she wants to be my long-distance girlfriend, where our dates consist of FaceTime calls and text messages.
“No,” I say, bringing her knuckles to my lips again. “You’re not going back to that. You’ve proven what you can do here. You’re going to find something better.”
She exhales, watching me closely. Her eyes look tired now in the fading light. “You should have won.”
I glance at her. She’s looking past me toward the celebration, fingers absentmindedly playing with the pendant at her collarbone.
“Nah,” I say with a small shrug.
Her head snaps toward me. “Alex.”
“What?”
“You know that’s not true.”
