Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
LEIF
S ince Texas wasn’t really cold at this time of year, I decided to rent a motorcycle instead of a car. Jack had checked out the neon Lambo, but when he’d seen my bike, he’d decided to get one too. We rode out to meet the girls at the fall festival late just before sunset, both of us grinning like loons as we raced through the streets we used to walk every day.
“That was a great idea,” Jack raved as he pulled in next to me when we reached the park. He whipped his helmet off his head and pretended to shake out his hair. “Am I still pretty?”
“Gorgeous,” I joked, rolling my eyes. I climbed off my bike and made sure my helmet was safely stowed. Then I glanced at the park, anticipation tightening my muscles. “I wonder where they’re at.”
“There’s this thing called a phone. It’s pretty useful when you’re looking for someone.” He smirked, but his features softened as he turned to check out the action.
The festival had been going since we were kids, and everything looked exactly like it used to. Plenty of stalls selling everything from leather goods, to olives, to fall-colored knitted sweaters. The scents of pumpkin spice, apple cider, and barbecue filled the air, and strands of someone playing a guitar drifted from the stage.
As Jack checked it out from the sidelines, I texted Laurel, receiving a reply just a second later. “They’re at the games. Let’s go.”
“Games?” His face contorted. “We’re not bobbing for apples, are we?”
“We’re totally bobbing for apples.” I grinned, grabbing his arm and dragging him with me.
Lots of families with young children covered the lawn, some on picnic blankets while others walked between the stalls and food trucks. There seemed to be plenty of people on dates too, holding hands as they sniffed scented candles and tried samples of the different treats being sold.
My brother and I bypassed them all, weaving our way through the growing crowd to the other end of the park where the games had been set up. Once we reached the right area, it didn’t take me more than half a minute to find her.
Mariam and Gemma were there too, flanking my girl just like they always had, but I only had eyes for her. Laurel Guntry.
My Laurel. My girl.
As Jack had reminded me at basketball, she wasn’t my girl anymore—or yet—but I’d never stopped thinking about her that way. He elbowed me when he finally spotted them, unaware that I was way ahead of him.
“There she is,” he said. “Are you going to go say hi, or are you just going to stand here and stare at her like a creep?”
I smacked him playfully on the shoulder. “I’m going to go say hi. Obviously. I was just taking a moment.”
Truth be told, seeing her even from across the distance had stolen my breath. Laurel was one of those classic beauties, the girl-next-door type with the big, easy smile and a smattering of freckles dusting her nose and cheeks.
Those luscious brown curls were loose tonight, which I fucking adored, and her gorgeous eyes were wide and happy. I smiled, unable to help it now that I was looking at her.
Jack smacked my arm. “Stop staring and go talk to her already.”
I snapped out of my trance-like state. My feet carried me toward her without having waited for the conscious command to do so. Jack fell into step beside me, a childlike grin on his face. He suddenly rushed her and tossed her over his shoulder.
“My Lulu!” he cried as he spun her around. “God, it’s been too long, sis. How are you?”
She shrieked with loud peals of laughter, her fingers digging into his shirt at his back as she tried to keep from falling. “Jack! You goof! Put me down.”
“What kind of welcome is that?” He grinned as he carefully set her back on her feet and took a step away to give her an obvious onceover. “Wow. You grew up good, Lulu. You doing alright?”
She smiled. “I am. You?”
“Oh, I’m awesome. Always.” He winked at her before turning his attention to Gemma and Mariam, but I was only vaguely aware of their banter as Laurel spun to look at me.
Her deep brown eyes settled on mine. A slow smile spread across her face and she took a tiny step forward. I closed the distance between us, wrapping her up in my arms as if she still belonged to me.
“Shit, it’s good to see you,” I murmured against her hair. “Has it really only been six months? It feels like so much longer.”
“Tell me about it,” she replied softly, her arms looping around my neck and her soft body leaning into mine. “Well, I mean, before that, it was ten years and that was only one night, so I guess that’s why it feels like it’s been so much longer. How’s your mom? And Phil?”
“Really good actually. Your mom?”
“Deb is Deb.” Laurel pulled her head back to look up at me. “She’s okay. Kicking literary ass and taking names like always.”
I wasn’t ready to release her just yet, but when a throat cleared behind me, I did it anyway. Twisting to see who had interrupted us, I saw Gemma giving me an overly excited smile. “Hey, Leif. It’s good to see you too.”
I chuckled. “I’m sorry, Gem. It’s great to see you. How’s the company? I heard you’re in charge now.”
“I am. Mariam left me for old men with expensive skis.”
Mariam sighed loudly, rolling her eyes before she smiled at me. “Hi, Leif. She’s being dramatic.”
“Cool, so nothing has changed then?” I joked, surprised by how easy it was to fall into old patterns with Laurel but also with her friends. “Are you guys ready to bob for some apples?”
“Always,” Mariam said, giggling as she speared Jack with a look. “If memory serves, you and I still have a score to settle.”
“You’re on, Mimi. Let’s go.” When he shot forward, she ran off after him, their banter flying through the air behind them.
All of these girls had been like our sisters once upon a time. Jack had been so convinced that I was going to marry Laurel that he’d even started calling her “sis” back in high school, and it looked like it was another old habit that had been too hard to break.
Gemma took off after them, and I instinctively reached for Laurel’s hand, not even really thinking about it. She slid her fingers between mine and walked over to the game with me. I got water up my nose while bobbing, but not even that could ruin the fun I was having.
We played games, ate hot dogs, and laughed the night away. While we were getting more cider, some girl from high school got sweet on Jack and that was the last we saw of him. Gemma and Mariam eventually decided to walk back to Deb’s house, and once they were gone, Laurel and I finally had some time alone together.
“Want to take a walk around?” I asked as we finished our drinks. “I haven’t come to this thing since the last time I was here with you. It’d be interesting to see what they’re selling these days.”
Laurel’s long-sleeved tee was fitted enough that it hugged her curves like a glove, and my gaze dropped down for just a second to drink her in before I purposely yanked it back to her eyes. “Sorry. Old habits.”
She giggled, her cheeks beautifully flushed as she took my hand again. “I’d love to take a walk. Grace, the girl who’s watching my store, wants a leather purse for Christmas and I figured I’d get a jump on it. Plus, there are some treats here that Doodle loves.”
“Doodle?”
“My Golden Retriever.” She flashed me a smile that did things to my heart—and my cock. “Do you have any pets?”
“Sadly, no,” I said, swallowing down the desire and ignoring the glitch in my heart. “I live in a high-rise and I considered getting a dog a while ago, but it just wouldn’t be fair. I spend way too many hours at the office.”
“You’re a workaholic, huh? I didn’t see that one coming,” she teased, eyes twinkling with laughter as she glanced up at me. “To be fair, I spend most of my time at work, too. Either at the store or writing. At least I have a yard for Doodle and we take a lot of walks, so she gets plenty of exercise.”
“I’m sure she does. You always were the responsible type. I have no doubt that when you made the commitment to get her, you scheduled daily walks into your calendar.”
She chuckled. “Am I really that predictable?”
“Nope. I just know you.”
“Even after all this time?” She slowed her stride, turning to face me as we drew to a natural stop.
I reached for her hand again, hooking my fingertips around hers and tugging her closer. When I pulled her to me, she moved willingly, wrapping her arms around my neck. I slid mine around her waist.
Catching her cheek in my free palm, I brushed my fingertips across her skin. Looking right into her eyes, I lowered my mouth and kissed her softly. My lips merely brushed against hers at first to gauge her reaction.
When she smiled, I went back in to seal the deal, bringing my mouth back to hers with much more intensity. Laurel held me tighter, her lips parting underneath mine to kiss me back just as passionately as I was kissing her.
In that moment, it was like no time had passed at all, and yet, this kiss also seemed to hold promise for the future. Laurel and I had once again gravitated toward each other even after all the years we’d spent apart, and when I kissed her, it felt like something deep inside me eased, a knot of tension I hadn’t even realized I’d been carrying.
She grinned against my lips and we broke apart, but we hovered with our faces still only about an inch away from the other. I smiled right back at her. “Did we skip all of the dating and the courting at the reunion? Didn’t we just sleep together? I remember a pretty wild night, but I drank too much to really remember the details.”
Not entirely true. I remembered every last detail of her in that hotel room with me, and I remembered the way I’d felt when I’d seen her walking into the gym, but everything that had happened in between was a blur.
Laurel blushed. “Pretty much, but I’m old-fashioned. I’d like to try all the dating and courting if you’re free?”
“I’m one hundred percent free for you,” I said without hesitating, but then a soft sigh escaped me. “We’ll just have to figure out the distance part later.”
“Are you sure you’re up for that?” Her eyes moved from one of mine to the other. “It’s no secret that long distance is hard.”
“I’m up for anything with you,” I murmured, surprising even myself with my honesty. “Let’s see if there’s still something between us after all these years. I’m game if you are?”
A slow, hopeful smile ghosted across her lips. “The old me might’ve obsessed about how impractical it is, but the new me is going to do what I want to do, which is to say yes. I may not know exactly how we’re going to make it work, but I’m definitely willing to try.”
“I have a jet,” I said suddenly. “Jack and I bought it a while ago, but he doesn’t use it that often and we have a couple pilots on standby. We can make this work, Laurel. I’ll use every resource I have to see you as often as I can.”
Her eyes widened, her lips parting as she blinked at me. “You have a jet?”
“I do.” I smiled and took her hand. “Let’s go take a hayride and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Laurel laughed as she let me pull her with me. Then she fell into step beside me and seemed to be contemplating something before she finally just blurted it out. “Gemma, Mariam, and I made a naughty list in high school.”
“A what?” I chuckled, frowning as I glanced down at her. “What the hell is a naughty list?”
“It’s a list of twelve things that we decided we would do if we were all single at our high school reunion. We’ve always been such goodie-goodies and we figured that if, ten years after graduation, we weren’t married, we’d throw caution to wind and be a little wild.”
“I love that,” I said, my heartrate even spiking a little as I wondered what might be on this list of hers. “Can I help? What do you have to do?”
“Well, Gemma has to TP a house, so we’re going to go and do that all together after Thanksgiving dinner. We’ve chosen Suzie Sanders’ house for the honors.”
“I’m totally in for that,” I said immediately. “And Suzie’s place? That’s hilarious.”
We reached the front of the line, and we snuggled close together when we got on the tractor, Laurel still fitting as perfectly against me as she always had. I rested my chin on the top of her head, wondering if we’d get an opportunity to sneak off into the woods for a hot make-out session.
That was the only drawback to reconnecting while we were at home. We were both staying with our moms, and while no one would be surprised that we’d gotten back together, I still didn’t want either my mom or Deb walking in on us.
I guess we’re just going to have to get creative this weekend. I was all for that, though. In fact, sneaking around with Laurel could only be tons of fun.