Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
At first, Sloane didn’t know what to say. His statement had a kind of finality to it she didn’t feel comfortable with. “Leave us?” she repeated quietly.
Will instantly shook his head and chuckled again. “See? I’m not good at this. Right now, we have everything going against us. We’re not on opposite sides of the country, but it feels that way. And on top of that, we’re also just people with busy lives and that’s why I think…”
For some reason, she wasn’t ready to hear what he was thinking. So, she reached out and put her finger over his lips to stop him. “Wait! Just…not yet, okay? You just got here, and I want to catch up on just being in the same room as you and…we have all weekend, right? We don’t have to decide everything right now, do we?”
Slowly she pulled her finger away and let it trace his soft lips. He didn’t look pleased that she’d cut him off, but he wasn’t arguing with her about it either. A simple, curt nod was his only response.
She jumped off the couch. “It’s only a little after seven and I haven’t had dinner yet. What do you say we go out and get something to eat?”
His look was so serious and intense that she figured he was going to argue, but he didn’t. “Sounds good,” he said, rising to his feet. “How about that Mexican place we went to the last time?”
“Ooh…my favorite! Let me just grab a jacket and we’ll go.” Walking out of the room, Sloane was thankful for a moment alone. Maybe she should have let him finish his thought, but she’d missed him so much and if he was on the fence about whether or not he wanted to stay with her, she wanted a chance to weigh the odds in her favor first.
A childish tactic, but there it was.
Because…yeah. She’d been thinking a lot about her conversation with Ashlynn and realized that she was the only who was making herself miserable. She was clinging to a life here in Florida that was changing, and she was in denial about it. People were moving on—moving away—and the life she was claiming was so damn fun didn’t really exist anymore.
That had been an almost devastating realization.
Her job sucked, most of her friends were moving away or starting families, and her own family was changing and finding at least part of their lives in Sweetbriar Ridge.
The argument about going to the mall? She did most of her shopping online. The movies? She was more of a stream-it-and-watch-in-her-pajamas kind of girl. There were still way more conveniences here in Florida, but…her heart was firmly planted in a tiny mountain town in Virginia. For all she knew, she was going to love the snow and winter and she could definitely learn how to ski. Plus, it wasn’t like moving there meant she could never travel anywhere. She was going to come back here because her parents were going to be living here at least part-time, and her brothers were all here.
So, she had spent the last two nights tossing and turning and wanting to talk to Will about all of this, but then she decided that it was the kind of conversation they should have in person.
Then he showed up on her doorstep like an answer to a prayer.
It wasn’t like she was suddenly thrilled with the idea of moving, but…her sister was there, her cousins were there, her sweet little niece was there, and, most importantly, Will was there. And the car issue? Well, she definitely needed to have a conversation with her father because this was an enormous obstacle for her, and right now, she couldn’t seem to separate the two.
Still, she wanted to try. She wanted to stop being the girl who didn’t take anything seriously. And more than anything, she wanted to be the version of herself that Will brought out in her.
Taking one last look at herself in the bedroom mirror, she fluffed her hair and smiled, thrilled for the night to come. Sweater in hand, she walked back out to the living room and immediately went over to Will and kissed him. “Ready.” Hand in hand, they went out to her car. “Do you mind if I drive?”
“You know your way around way better than I do,” he said with a laugh. “We’ll get there faster if you’re behind the wheel.” Winking, he climbed in on the passenger side and they were on their way.
The drive to the restaurant was short and they filled the time by simply talking about their day and even though it’s what they normally did on the phone each night, she loved it so much more when they were in person, talking face to face.
“I still can’t believe you’re here,” she said, sneaking quick glances at him while she drove.
“All the planets aligned because I got a nonstop flight and didn’t hit any traffic heading to the airport or driving from the airport to your place. It was wild.”
That made her smile. “Then yay for the planets! Did you work today?”
“Just this morning. And before you ask, my flight home is late Sunday night. I’m supposed to work on Monday, but we’ll see how the weekend goes. If I want to stay an extra day, then I will.”
“Wow! I like the sound of that!”
She pulled up to the restaurant and noticed how full the parking lot was. It was crowded for a Thursday night, but it didn’t take long to get a table. Being that they were both somewhat creatures of habit, they ordered quickly too. Once all the distractions were taken away, she reached across the table for his hand and held it. Her face hurt from smiling so much.
“I’ve been missing that smile,” he said softly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “Tell me what you’re thinking right now.”
“I know I sound like a broken record, but I still can’t believe you’re here for the entire weekend.”
“Well, believe it. I’m really here and I’m all yours.”
She liked the sound of that. “So, what should we do?”
He gave her a sexy grin that she felt all the way down to her toes.
Yeah. She could totally get on board with that.
“You have to work tomorrow though, right?” he asked.
With a shrug, she said, “I think I’ll call in sick.”
Will’s eyes went a little wide. “Really? The last time you did that, your boss freaked out and was a complete jackass to you for weeks. Are you sure you want to risk it?”
“You’re here for the weekend and I’ll deal with my boss. Don’t worry about it. Things at work are…let’s just say I’m not so scared of the repercussions anymore.” She considered him for a moment, admiring his handsome face—the strong jaw, the dark blue eyes and a grin that always got her pulse racing. “I think I have the perfect plan for us tomorrow.”
His grin got bigger and a lot naughtier. “Me too.”
That had her giggling. “Oh, stop…” Then she paused. Maybe he was on to something. Maybe tomorrow they could spend the day being lazy and simply stay in bed and make up for lost time. “Okay, let me rephrase that, I have the perfect plan for us for Saturday.”
Their waitress walked over and asked if they needed anything, and Will looked at Sloane and winked before addressing her.
“Um…yeah. Change of plans. Can we get that order to go?”
Sloane looked away and could feel herself blushing from head to toe. The waitress agreed and told them she’d be right back with the check. As soon as she was gone, she looked at Will. “Oh my goodness, Will,” she whispered. “She’s going to think…”
“And she’d be right!” He shrugged. “Why are we pretending that we want to be here when we’ve never tried eating nachos while naked in bed?”
“You make a good point,” she said, doing her best to keep a straight face.
“I do what I can.”
By the time the waitress returned with their check and their takeout bag, Sloane’s entire body was humming with anticipation. Will quickly paid the bill and then climbed from the booth. Taking Sloane by the hand, he all but dragged her out of the restaurant while they both laughed giddily.
She loved this.
The silliness. The laughter. The fun.
She loved him .
They ran out to the car, laughing like two little kids, and quickly climbed in. They made the drive in half the time and rather than admonishing herself for speeding, she silently high-fived herself for getting them home so quickly.
“I got the food; you open the door,” Will urged.
Once back inside her apartment, Will put the food on the nearest surface and pulled her in for a kiss that bordered on frantic. His big, wonderful hands cupped her face, making her knees go a little weak even as the rest of her body was desperate to rub up against him.
“What…about…dinner?” she asked between kisses.
“It will reheat just fine.” His lips moved along her jaw, down her throat, and lingered there, sending shivers of pure delight down her spine.
“Good plan.” She pulled him toward the bedroom, and loved how they clumsily pulled off their clothes, bumping into furniture and each other as they went.
By the time they made it to the bed, she was already breathless.
Will stretched out on top of her and his hands and lips seemed to be everywhere. It was sensory overload, and so damn perfect. She sighed his name and raked her hands through his hair as they moved together.
It was all heat and need and wild, and Sloane was pretty sure she blacked out from the pleasure.
And much later, after they had calmed down and their skin cooled, Will served her reheated nachos in bed.
Naked.
And she loved every minute of it.
Sexy, naked nachos led to just plain sexy time, and it was well after midnight when they finally fell asleep. When Sloane woke up the next morning, she made a silent vow to herself to not dive into anything that was going to ruin the mood. They were definitely going to need to talk, just not yet.
So she made him breakfast in bed.
And then made love.
They ordered takeout for lunch and watched a movie on Netflix.
And then made love again.
By the time dinner rolled around, they caved and ordered takeout again, watched another movie, and then got tangled up together once again under the sheets.
Best. Weekend. Ever.
And it was only just the beginning.
It was late Sunday afternoon and Will was contemplating changing his flight home to tomorrow morning. It meant getting up before dawn so he could be at the airport for a morning flight, but he wanted as much time with her as possible before he had to leave.
Is it worth the hassle of changing flights when most of the extra time would be spent sleeping?
But as Sloane rolled toward him and kissed his chest, he stopped worrying about it.
The weekend was amazing. They spent most of Friday in bed and it was incredibly sexy and decadent not to have to worry about anything except what they wanted to eat and where they wanted to make love next. By the time the sun went down that night, they were both exhausted, but in the best kind of way.
On Saturday, she surprised him by taking him to the Dauer Classic Car Museum, which boasted over fifty-five classic cars in pristine condition from 1906 to 2020. He saw Buicks, Cadillacs, Chryslers, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, and even a few European and Italian cars. For a car enthusiast like him, it was freaking awesome. And by the end of the day, he realized that Sloane wasn’t just placating him; she was genuinely enjoying herself and asking all kinds of questions.
It was an incredible day.
And then there was today.
They finally sat down and talked.
“I can’t believe the weekend is over already,” Sloane had said as she put the plate of pancakes down on the table.
Will reached for her hand and gently tugged her down onto his lap. “It went way too fast.” Nuzzling her neck, he simply breathed her in.
“Since you took off this weekend, I’m guessing you’ll have to work next weekend, huh?”
“Probably.”
At that point, he had a feeling she was going to say that she wasn’t going to come and see him, and he’d had enough. This was how it started, and he was prepared to end it right then. Carefully, he shifted her to the chair beside him, but didn’t let go of her hand.
“Here’s the thing,” he began, “we’ve been sort of flying blind since the beginning and at first, that worked for us. Then it got to where we were scheduling each other in, and that was okay for a little while.” He paused and looked for any reaction, but her expression was fairly neutral. “Sloane, I’m in love with you. I want to be with you. Not just on the weekends or when one of us has time off, but all the time.”
She gasped, and this time when he looked at her, she was smiling. “Will…I…you never said…I mean…I thought…but it’s so soon!”
He chuckled because he knew exactly what she meant. They hadn’t talked about feelings like this before. It hadn’t seemed important, not when they could communicate without words. But now he realized just how important those words were.
“Maybe it’s crazy, and maybe it is too soon, but…”
“I love you too,” she blurted out, effectively interrupting him.
In the blink of an eye, she was back in his lap and wrapped around him and…well…breakfast had gotten cold.
Just the thought made him smile.
Over the second batch of pancakes, they talked about what this meant to their relationship and where they wanted to be.
“I would love for you to move to Sweetbriar Ridge, Sloane. Move in with me. Be with me and…when we’re ready…marry me.”
Her green eyes went wide as she nodded. “I like the sound of that, Will. All of it!”
“Really?” Could it have seriously been this easy all along? Had they just wasted even more time in their already nontraditional relationship by not talking about this? “I figured you’d want to think about it a little more.”
She gave him a serious look. “Are you trying to back out already?”
“Hell no! I’m just surprised that I didn’t have to do more to persuade you.”
“You’ve been persuading me since that first kiss three years ago. We just didn’t realize it.” She paused and took a sip of her coffee. “Okay, there’s something I need to say.”
Her tone was serious, but considering she already said she loved him, he couldn’t imagine it being something bad.
“Since that first weekend when we finally officially met, I’ve been forced to think about my life in ways that I never had before. You’ve met my family; I’m the youngest and I’ve never taken anything too seriously. I looked at the things everyone else was doing and thought they were lame, but that was because I had convinced myself that what I had was better.”
“And it wasn’t?”
“It was more like the life I had was changing and I was in complete denial about it. Friends moved away, most were getting married and starting families, and once I really started thinking about it, I realized I was the last single girl in our friend group. So the reasons I kept giving for why I needed to stay here and why I couldn’t move? They didn’t exist. I was lying to myself.”
All he did was nod because he wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“Hailey and I used to get together once a week, and once she moved away, I missed that. A lot. I still had weekly dinners with the rest of the family, but…I felt a little left out at times, and the one-on-one time with my mom wasn’t always the most exciting.”
“Why’d you feel left out?”
“Okay, this is something I swear I am working on, and I don’t want you to think any less of me because of it.”
“Um…”
“You talked to my dad and my brothers, so you obviously know how much they love to talk about cars, right?”
Another nod.
“Well, I hate cars. Like…” She groaned. “I can say with great honesty that I am openly hostile about them.”
Shit. That wasn’t something he could change. That’s what he did for a living; it was his passion. He was about to say that, but she was one step ahead of him.
“I would never make you choose between me and cars, Will. What I came to realize was…my dad and my brothers…that was their thing. They worked on cars, went to car shows, watched things on TV about it. He had that connection with them, and I felt left out. Subconsciously, I started hating cars when what I was really feeling was disappointment because…”
“Because your dad didn’t have something like that with you.”
Her shoulders sagged. “Exactly. I know now that the two are completely separate, but it’s not like a switch I can just turn off. Going to the car museum with you yesterday was actually very fascinating and I didn’t hate it.”
Taking her hand, he kissed it. “Baby steps.”
She agreed. “Baby steps.” After another sip of coffee, she went on. “That was one obstacle I had to get over. The other was the whole small-town thing. I’m so used to this life—the big city thing. Moving to Sweetbriar Ridge? That move kind of scares me.”
“O-kay…”
“But really, what’s the point of having all these conveniences, if I have no one to go out with? I mean, sure, I can make new friends, but I think I’m just afraid of change.”
Again, he had no idea what to say because it sounded like she was having second thoughts.
“Having you and Hailey there with me is going to make it easier, but I just hope you can be patient with me. You’re at such an amazing time in your career and you’re achieving one of your dreams that I don’t want to drag you down.”
Leaning in, he cupped her face. “Beautiful girl, don’t you get it? All that success hasn’t meant a damn thing to me because you’re not there to share it with. We talk on the phone and text, but it’s not the same. I want to come home at the end of the day and see your face. I want to talk to you until we both fall asleep, and then wake up and have you be the first thing I see each day.”
“I love you so much, Will. It scares me because even though my head kept telling me this wouldn’t work, my heart wouldn’t let you go.”
Relief washed over him. “That’s because we’re meant to be.” He shook his head and laughed. “It still seems so crazy. I still have a hard time believing that we have what we have because of the town’s festivals and a kissing booth.”
“Well, I—for one—am extremely grateful for the festivals and the kissing booth.” Pausing for a moment, she studied him and then grinned. “You’re not scheduled to work anymore festivals, are you? I don’t think I could handle knowing my man was kissing half the women in town!”
He couldn’t help but chuckle again. “Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it, but I think my kissing booth days are over. There’s only one girl I want to kiss, and I’ve got her.”
There was a very satisfied grin on her face as she took a forkful of her breakfast.
The next festival wasn’t until Halloween, which was still a little over six weeks away. Just the thought of being able to share it with her—in its entirety this time—was kind of exciting. Meet in the Streets was fun, but it was on a much smaller scale than the town’s typical festivals. “So…how much do you know about our festivals—other than the kissing booth? Did you do any of the other things that went on?”
“Not really. That first one I went to, Ashlynn sort of dragged me there with the sole intention of watching me kiss someone. I’d told her about my quirky little hobby, and she wanted to see it for herself.”
“That’s a little weird.”
And there’s my confirmation that she was the one who knew all along!
“Tell me about it. She’s the fun cousin and probably the only one I would have done something like that with. All the rides and games and food always looked so good, but after I got hooked on kissing you, I didn’t want to risk running into you out and about at the festivals.”
That was kind of funny to him. “Well, let me tell you, you are in for a treat. The Halloween one is possibly my favorite. People dress up, there’s a haunted house, hayrides, pumpkin patches…I’m telling you, it’s a blast. Then there’s the fall festival up at Summit Ridge, which is like our Halloween festival, but on steroids, and no costumes. After that, it’s the Christmas festival and, even though it’s always super cold out, it’s kind of magical. There are horse-drawn sleighs, hot cocoa booths, more cookies than any town should be allowed, and, of course, Santa. And it’s even better when it snows!”
“So you love these festivals. Is that what you’re saying?”
“The whole town does!” he replied, grinning. “Ask any of your cousins, and they’ll tell you that they are the freaking best! They typically run Friday through Sunday—at least, most of them do. Businesses shut down and it is a town-wide party. And the Halloween one? People are encouraged to spend most of the weekend in costume—not just the kids, but the adults too. It’s awesome!”
“Costumes, huh? I haven’t really dressed up in years!”
“Any chance I can convince you to do the sexy nurse thing?” he asked with a lecherous grin.
Sloane laughed at him, playfully shoving his shoulder. “Um…no. We’ll have to think about this one. So what exactly happens for this to take an entire weekend? And what if Halloween doesn’t even fall on the weekend?”
“We do the festival the weekend before and then the kids get double the candy and get to wear their costumes more than once. It’s awesome.”
“And it’s just the same stuff each day for three days?”
“Not really. Friday night kicks everything off with the hayrides and pumpkin picking. There’s usually live music and some vendors are out. They set it all up on the elementary school side of the field where Meet in the Streets was. Saturday is when the carnival opens—on the middle school side of the field—and the big, haunted house. That’s always fun. Then there are a ton of food vendors and pumpkin carving contests. The little kids paint their pumpkins, and everyone gets a prize.”
“So far I’m seeing the appeal of it. Go on…”
“Saturday night there’s typically an outdoor laser tag or paintball competition. The last few years we’ve done laser tag, but I seem to recall someone mentioning we might switch to paintball this year. That one’s gonna get messy.”
“I’ll probably just be a spectator for that one—no offense.”
“None taken. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to enjoy being spectators.”
“And then what? What’s the plan for Sunday?”
“Sunday is the Boo Bash inside the middle school gymnasium. They have hot cider and candied apples. People go bobbing for apples. There are contests for the best costume and the best jack-o'-lantern. And, of course, a last round of rides and a trip through the haunted house!”
“Ooh…sounds creepy,” she teased.
“You’ll love it, trust me.”
“I’m sure I will. I can’t wait to see Layla in a teeny tiny costume. It’s going to be so adorable!”
He nodded. “But we know how to throw an awesome festival no matter what the occasion, so I have no doubt that this will be any different. It will be better, though, because you’ll be there with me this year!”
And he couldn’t wait.
They talked about their favorite fall activities, costume ideas, and some of the funniest things he’d witnessed at festivals in the past. But when they exhausted that topic, he really wanted to get back to talking about them and their future.
“I’m supposed to fly home tonight, but I can totally change my flight to tomorrow morning. I know it’s not giving us a whole lot of extra time, but I like the thought of one more night tangled up together in bed.”
“Mmm…I like that too. I just don’t want you to have to pay to change your flight or have your day at work tomorrow messed up.”
“I’d go right to work from the airport and stay late to make up the time if I need to. And I already checked and there are no fees if I change flights. So just say the word and I’m yours until tomorrow morning.”
“The word,” she said with a wink.
Pulling out his phone, he changed his flight and waited to get the email confirmation before he could relax. Once he did, he turned off his phone and led her back to the bedroom.
“We don’t have to come back here yet,” she told him sweetly. “We have the rest of the day and all night.”
Will tugged her in close. “Yeah, but this is what I want more than anything. And then when I have you all satisfied and in my arms, we can start making plans for the future.”
“Mmm…I like how that sounds.”
“Me too. And I already have ideas,” he said, kissing along her jaw. “Lots and lots of ideas.”
She hummed again. “And I can’t wait to hear all of them. Later.”
Before he could respond, she pressed her lips to his and kissed him until they were both breathless. After that, they were on the bed and Will did everything he could to make sure his girl was thoroughly satisfied because he truly did have plans for them, and he hoped she’d be agreeable to them.