Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Cash
Nori appears in the archway, still in those pink boots and that Stetson. Her jeans fit her better-than-perfect curves. She’s got her shirt knotted at the waist with a little strip of skin showing above her belt buckle. She’s the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen. But her looks come in last on my list of things about Nori that attract me.
Okay. Second to last.
As she skips toward me across the courtyard, her hat falls off, but she ignores it. I close the space between us in several long strides.
“Howdy, partner,” I say, in my best attempt at a Southern drawl. Which is terrible, for the record. What can I say? I’ve lived in New England my whole life.
“Howdy.” She beams at me, and all the blood that’s been racing through my veins freezes. When Nori stills too, I can practically hear our hearts beating in tandem. The only other sound is the trickle of the courtyard fountain.
“You got my message,” I say.
“I did.”
“I meant every word.” I take her hands in mine. “I choose you, Nori Sinclair. And I want a relationship with you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”
“Me too.” Her voice is so soft, it’s almost a whisper. “I told everyone I choose myself, but that’s not true. I totally and completely choose you, Cash Briggs. One hundred percent you.”
I gather her in my arms and tenderly brush my lips against one corner of her mouth. She sighs, and we stand there, breathing into each other for a moment. Then I brush my lips against the other corner. Then the tip of her nose. Then her forehead. Her chin. Both her cheeks. Her eyelids. One at a time.
Finally, I bring my lips back to her mouth, pouring into her all the love and longing I’ve had stored in the depths of me. For my entire life, I’ve been waiting to find the right woman. Or for the right woman to find me. The only woman for me.
And I want nothing more than to be her man.
When we finally come up for air, Nori’s breathless and kiss-drunk, and her full lips shine in the moonlight, inviting my mouth to get back to work. But then she sways, and I quickly steady her.
“Should we sit?” I suggest. “I feel like we should sit before one of us falls over.”
“Deal,” she says. “Especially since I’m the one of us. You got me all dizzy, Cash Briggs.”
I take her by the hand and lead her to the closest lounge chair. We drop down next to each other, and Nori sets her purse at the other end. “So.” I bob my head. “I guess this means you’re officially done with Swipe Rite.”
Her trill of laughter lights me up from the inside out. “I am. And for the record, Rex was a total gentleman. He kept his hands exactly where they needed to be. ”
“Yeah.” I surrender to a chuckle. “I might’ve zoomed in on those posts from your date. More than once.”
“I was thinking about you the entire time.”
My heart tugs. “Me too.”
“And I know being long distance will be a challenge,” she says, “especially since I still have no idea if I’m going to take that job with Cottage and Coffee. But wherever I end up working, I’ll find a way to visit you in California. Plus you’ll want to come back here to see Tilly. And?—”
“Hey, there. Slow down, Nor.”
“Sorry if I’m going too fast,” she blurts. “I just want to make the most of the time we have before you move.”
“But what if I’m not?”
She gazes up at me and her lashes beat like butterfly wings. “Not what?”
“Moving.”
Her eyes are so pure and sweet, an ache builds inside me. How did I ever think I could survive without this woman? “Say that again, please,” she whispers.
“I’m not moving. I told Jason to give the LA territory to Alex.”
Nori exhales. “Your old partner?”
“Powell MedTech was more than happy to steal him back from Vortex. And Alex was always talking about going to California. Learning to surf. Dating a bunch of blondes. The kid’s a little caught up in the stereotypes. But he’s got all the time in the world to devote to the job. And he’s young. And single. And the thing is, I don’t want to be single any?—”
Nori lunges at me, raining little kisses all over my face. I let her crawl into my lap, weaving her hands in my hair, showing me beyond a shadow of a doubt I made the right choice.
Man, did I ever.
Unfortunately, our bodies still require oxygen. So eventually Nori pulls back to fill her lungs with air, and her gaze shifts beyond my shoulder.
“Huh.” She tips her chin to indicate the pool. “Is that steam coming off the water?”
I follow her gaze, and she’s right. Faint puffs of condensation waft off the surface. “I didn’t know they heat the pool that high.”
“They don’t.” A crease forms in her brow. “That’s so strange.”
I bite back a smirk. “It’s not the strangest thing that’s happened around this place in the past month.”
“True.”
Our eyes lock once more, and I’m about to start kissing Nori all over again when the phone rings from her bag.
“East and Becca probably saw the videos and now they want a complete dissection of everything that’s happened since I left their place. Or it could be Hayden. How many hours earlier is Maui from Mass?—”
“Go ahead,” I tell her. “I’ve got nothing but time for you.”
She offers me a tiny, adorable cringe. “I’ll make it quick.” She slides off my lap and digs inside her purse for her phone. When she checks the screen, a sigh slips out of her. “It’s Violet. She was telling everyone about the shop tonight.”
My pulse picks up.
“Hey, Violet,” Nori says, taking the call. “How did things go?” A note of sympathy threads through her voice. She’s quiet for a stretch, then her eyes widen. “You’re kidding!” Her mouth is an oval of shock. “What are you going to do?”
Another beat of silence.
“Are you serious?” she yelps. “Yes. Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” She’s bouncing beside me now, giddy and grinning. “The loan application is still good until—what’s the date?—tomorrow, actually. I’ll go to the bank first thing in the morning. If you can just open the shop for me, I’ll—you can?” A grin breaks across her face. If I could, I’d spend the rest of my life watching Nori be this happy.
“Okay, thank you so much,” she gushes. “Yes. I’ll see you then.”
She ends the call and shrieks. “You’ll never believe what happened!”
“I can’t wait to hear,” I say.