Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
BOWEN
The relief on Magnolia’s face when she saw me waiting outside the fitting room put a pang in my gut.
She looked adorable in a pair of leggings and a UVA hoodie. She giggled when she saw that I’d picked the same hoodie from the men’s section. “Matching sweatshirts? I guess that makes us a real couple.”
“It definitely does.” I opened the bag with my wet clothes inside, and she dumped hers on top.
“You didn’t want leggings too?” she asked, checking me out in my new jeans.
“Didn’t think anyone would want to see that.” I laughed. “Warm now?”
“Yeah.” She beamed, so beautiful.
I curled an arm around her shoulders as we walked. “Did you actually think I might disappear while you were in the fitting room?” I couldn’t hide the guilt in my voice.
Her eyebrows met in a V. “Sorry. I might have some trust issues.”
“Dang, girl.” I pressed a kiss to her temple, wishing I could wipe all the pain away from the past four years. “I’m not leaving you, ever again. Okay?”
“Okay.” She sighed and snuggled into my side. “Why aren’t we walking to the checkout?”
She must not have noticed that I popped the price tags off her clothes before she went to change. “Because I already paid and I think I found a place where we can be…alone,” I said in a knowing voice.
She giggled. “Is that right?”
“Yup.” I steered her to the opposite side of the store.
“Should we text Cash and Charlie? They’re probably wondering where we are.”
“Nah. They probably think we’re making out somewhere.” I winked. “And we’re about to prove them right.”
Thirty seconds later, we were tucked into an alcove between two hanging racks of rugs angled into a V.
I pressed kisses down her throat, anxious to learn every part of her that was appropriate territory.
She tipped her head back, a happy little hum vibrating in her vocal cords.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, but I ignored it.
I didn’t care if the world was ending. I was exactly where I wanted to be with exactly who I wanted to be with. Let the zombies try to pull us apart.
I kept going, tasting every inch of her throat.
I started up the other side, but she wasn’t having it.
She cupped my face and dragged my mouth to hers, like she couldn’t take another second of distance.
My hand clamped to the small of her back, the other sliding up to hold her steady while my tongue tore over hers, frantic.
Suddenly, of all people, I heard my dad’s voice in my mind, Slow your roll, Randy. Forever’s not going anywhere.
I growled at the intrusion. I couldn’t have slowed down if I wanted to—and I didn’t. All the years of bottled-up hormones and tamped-down emotions were flooding over. Letting myself finally act on my feelings was a rush I’d never experienced before.
She’d always been something I needed to fight, like an addiction I had to outrun. But now that she was mine, I didn’t know how I’d be able to spend a single second apart from her. She wasn’t a drug. Quite the opposite. Magnolia was oxygen, clean and vital—and I was already hooked on every breath.
Wrapped around each other, mouths moving as one, it still wasn’t close enough. I backed her against the wall and shoved her hands up by her head, my feet straddling hers.
Her hipbones dug into me, and she whimpered, “We need to—” pant “—slow down.”
“Can’t. Too much lost time,” I breathed. But I forced my mouth away and kissed her cheekbones instead. Then her eyebrows, the spot between them, and down the bridge of her nose. And between every kiss, I whispered, “I love you.”
“I love y-you too,” she said in a broken hush. I opened my eyes to see hers filled with tears.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my body going stiff.
“Nothing.” She laughed, her finger running over my scar, as a tear escaped. “Everything is…perfect.”
I wiped it away and tapped my nose to hers. “Happy tears?”
She smiled the biggest, carefree smile. “Yeah.”
Someone cleared their throat. Someone small.
Magnolia yelped and stumbled sideways. I caught her around the waist before the carpets could go flying and reveal our hideout.
We looked down to see a boy, probably six or seven, and a girl, maybe a year older, on their knees, staring up at us, hands over their mouths, snickering. They must’ve crawled under the rugs.
“We’ve been compromised,” I hissed to Magnolia. She giggled, forehead dropping to my shoulder.
“Why are you breaving into each uvah’s mouvs?” the boy asked. “Did she need the hamwicker? Mollie needed the hamwicker once when she accidentawee choked on a qwartuh.” He nodded at his sister.
“J.B!” she huffed, folding her arms across her chest. “You’re not supposed to tell anyone I put a quarter in my mouth. You’re not allowed to talk anymore.”
“The Heimlich is used when someone’s choking,” Magnolia said to J.B. “I think you mean CPR. That’s what helps people when they aren’t breathing. But I didn’t need either because I’ve never felt better.”
I grinned. “Heck yes.”
“If there’s nothing wrong with you, why would you let him put his tongue in your mouth?” Mollie asked. “Disgusting.” She clamped her hands around her throat and made a gagging noise.
Magnolia’s face was full blush but she calmly said, “One day, after you hit puberty—you can ask your parents what that is—and you meet the right boy, you’ll like it too. ”
“No.” Mollie shivered. “That’s never happening to me. Ever. I will punch puberty in the stomach if any boy tries to get anywhere near me with his tongue.”
Magnolia looked up at me, green eyes wide, lashes batting, nostrils flaring like she was trying not to laugh. I’d never seen her look…
“So beautiful.” I cupped her face in my hands. She laid her palms over mine, leaning into my touch.
“Our mom went to tell the boss person you were licking each other like a bunch of dogs,” Mollie said.
“Seriously?” I muttered a cuss word.
J.B.’s mouth fell open. “You’re gonna get your mouf wathed out wif thoap.”
Just then, heels click-clacked outside of our love nook.
“Hurry,” I whispered to Magnolia. “Let’s make a break for it.” I threw the carpets open and hurdled dramatically over the kids and out into the store. Magnolia followed with our bag of wet clothes in her hand.
Sure enough, a tired looking woman, maybe in her late thirties, was bustling our way. A no-nonsense Indian woman, who was wearing a manager tag, brought up the rear. They both looked ticked.
Their mom glared at us, but then fussed at Molly and J.B.,“I told you not to crawl under there!”
The manager’s gaze was laser-focused on me and Magnolia. “You’re not supposed to touch those rugs!”
I took a step toward the exit, and she broke into a jog, nearly knocking the mom over. She cut across the makeup aisle, expression fierce. “Security!”
“TJ Maxx has security?” Magnolia mused, cheeks flushed, riding so high on the endorphins of our new couplehood, that she didn’t seem the least bit concerned we were about to be arrested.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her into a run. Down an aisle of the shoe section, between two rows of lingerie, back past the fitting rooms. We cut left through the jewelry. The sliding doors barely opened enough for us to fit through as we sprinted into the night.
We stopped on the sidewalk, the sky still in a downpour.
“Crap.” Magnolia glanced up at the rain.
I looked over my shoulder to see the manager still coming after us. She was not going to stop at the door. “Double crap.”
Perfectly timed, Cash’s car came whipping around the corner, tires squealing. He skidded to a stop.
“How’d they know we needed a getaway car?” I asked. The movie still had at least half an hour to go.
"Come back here!" the manager yelled. A guy who couldn't have been more than four feet tall was hot on her heels, wearing a security badge.
He was security? Bright-eyed, I could tell Magnolia wanted to ask him all about his dwarfism.
To grill him and store away everything she learned.
But his fierce expression said he might be tiny but he was not messing around.
“G-get in, guys!”
I whipped around to see Charlie’s window rolled down. One look at her face and my blood ran chill. Sobbing, she waved us over.
Magnolia gave me a confused look. I opened the door, and we slid into the back seat.
The security guy reached my door just as Cash smashed the gas down, driving like the road was on fire behind us.