Page 39 of Hard to Lose

And that’s what I do for the next four or five hours. I get lost in my work. In the anticipated, in the unexpected, and in the new and noteworthy. I win over a new client, review a proposal from a PR firm I contacted yesterday, and talk to a few social media analysts to see what each offers.

It’s mid-afternoon when I emerge from the folksy tunes and dark walls of the Grind Me Coffeehouse. It’s cozy and quaint and has served as my office for most of the day, but the need to stretch my legs and feel the sun on my face has won over my need to cross more things off both my daily and my monthly checklist goals.

I search in my bag for my sunglasses and just as I’m about to put them on, I look up and meet Gunner’s eyes. He’s across the street, and he freezes momentarily at the sight of me before jogging across to me.

“Hi,” he says and I swear to God, if going all warm and fuzzy were a thing, I would vouch that it just happened to me.

But that isn’t me and it’s definitely not Sara’s, the hotel desk clerk’s, world.

He smiles—or rather he was already smiling and it just grew wider—and the sight of it and the warmth in his eyes already has my body singing.

“Hi,” I say back to him in that awkward, I want to kiss him, but maybe I shouldn’t, because I don’t know if we were just a one-night stand type of awkward. “You didn’t call.”

And if we were a one-night stand, now he’s going to think I’m crazy.

He angles his head and his expression softens. “I didn’t want to seem too—”

“I get it. I didn’t mean to say that.” I give a quick shake of my head and busy my fingers with playing with the strap of my purse. “I just wanted to make sure the date wasn’t FUBAR so to speak.”

Gunner laughs. We stare at each other on the sidewalk, and then without preamble, he steps up, puts his hands on either side of my cheeks, and full on kisses me.

And it’s not a brush on the lips, I’m going to placate you, kiss. This is the kind of kiss that makes me forget I’m holding my bag or that I’m on the sidewalk of downtown.

It’s equal parts heart and heat. Like a drug I didn’t know I was addicted to until I had it again.

“What was that for?” I ask, a little breathless, a lot enamored, when the kiss breaks. He leaves his hands framing my face so he can run his thumb over my lips.

“I figured that might clear up some of the awkwardness.” His smile is shy as he shrugs. “There was never any before and there sure as hell shouldn’t be any now.”

“Well, okay then.” I laugh.

“Second—”

“Second? I didn’t even know there was a first,” I say.

And again, I find his lips on mine and my body aching.

“That was the first,” he says, the warmth of his breath feathering over my lips. “You forgot about it way too soon, so I needed to remind you of it.”

“Remind away,” I murmur and then snap myself out of sounding like an idiot. “But then again, maybe second was even better?”

He lifts his eyebrows. “Second, can we just agree that I wanted to see you again and that you wanted to see me again?”

“I think that kiss pretty much sealed that shit up.”

We laugh. I hate admitting to myself that I love the feel of his hands on my face. The way his smile warms me. How much I didn’t realize that I was looking forward to seeing him again.

“That’s settled, then,” he says with a definitive nod. “So when can I see you again?”

“Gunner.” My smile is shy and my want is real. “I have to be completely honest with you.”

“Why does that not sound good?” he jokes, his hands running down my arms and linking fingers with mine.

“It’s not bad . . . it’s just . . . my being here in Destiny Falls is a temporary thing. The last thing I want to do is give you a false sense that I plan on staying here. I mean—”

His lips close over mine again. Just a simple brush of lips but so very potent in how it makes me feel.

“What was that for?” I reach out and put a hand on his cheek.