Chapter 59
EDEN
I finishthe last of my coffee and set the empty cup on the table. The teenager wiping the tables in this tiny Lisbon café walks over and clears my table.
“Obrigada,” I tell him.
He nods and smiles. “Anything else I can get you, miss?”
I glance over at display counter, which boasts piles of delicious looking pastries. I zero in on the pastel de nata. It’s only my second day in Lisbon and I’ve come to this café twice. Each day I’ve been craving pastel de nata, but I haven’t let myself order it, and it’s for the most ridiculous reason.
Because you dreamed of traveling to Portugal with Danny and sharing pastel de nata with him…
Because you know it wouldn’t taste as good without him…
Just the thought of Danny still sends a sting through me.
“Miss? You all right?” the teenage server asks.
I shake my head slightly to snap myself out of my wallow. “Yes, sorry. I’ll have the pastel de nata.”
“You got it.”
He walks off, and I focus on my laptop, on the lines of code I’m working on. Then I’m reviewing applications for Dream Guys here in Lisbon. Then I’ve got to prep for that meeting Ava and I have with a potential investor tomorrow night. I’ve got a mountain of work to do; I don’t have time to be thinking about Danny.
Behind me the café door swings open. I don’t bother to turn or look. I’ve done enough people watching for one day. Now it’s time to get back to work.
“Pastel de nata, huh? I’ve been dying to try that.”
My fingers freeze on my keyboard at the sound of someone speaking. I know that voice, that low teasing tone. I know he’s smiling without even looking at his face, just by the lilt of his voice.
“Danny…” His name falls from my lips like a shuddered breath. No way. How in the world…
I spin around, my heart bursting in my chest as I stare at Danny Darden, standing just a few feet away from me, in this tiny café in Lisbon.
I don’t go to him though. I’m too shocked. So I stay seated in my chair and just stare at him. I take in the tired look in those beautiful hazel eyes, that easy, sexy-as-hell half-smile. How he’s taking slow steps toward me.
I stand up to meet him. “How are you here?” I sound like a confused child.
His smile turns full. My heart twitches in my chest. I never thought I’d ever get to see that smile again—that smile that made me feel like I was the only person in the world worth looking at.
“It’s a long story.” His arm twitches like he was going to reach for me but thought better of it.
“I’ve got time,” I say.
“Cruz called me the day you flew out of Portland and told me how you were moving here to expand Dream Guy—to make your dream come true. He?—”
A woman with a crying toddler walks into the café. She shushes him, then promises her son a pastry if he quiets down. Danny and I offer polite smiles and wait a minute as the crying dies down.
Danny turns back to me. “He said despite how hurt and upset you were, you loved me.”
My mouth falls open, but I quickly shut. God, I thought I covered that little slip-up in front of Cruz so well. But I guess my big brother knows me better than I give him credit for sometimes.
“He said that if I wanted a shot at making things work between us, I needed to go to you. So I did. I raced to the airport the night you flew out. But I was too late. By the time I got there you were already gone. But I got the next flight out to Lisbon the next day, and…”
He steps forward. We’re so close that the tip of his sneaker is touching the tip of my sandal. His gaze turns forlorn. Lovelorn, actually.
Love.
“I might still be too late,” Danny says. “But I needed to see you, Eden. I needed to come here and tell you this face-to-face.”
“Tell me what?” I ask, breathless.
He presses his eyes shut and swallows. When he opens them, it’s like I can feel him looking right through me.
“I love you, Eden. I’m so fucking in love with you. One minute with you is better than hours with anyone else. Hearing you laugh is better than any song. Spending one day with you is better than weeks with anyone else. That’s how much I love you.”
I make a croaking noise. Holy shit. That was a hell of a declaration of love.
“I know I fucked things up between us. I know I got freaked out when I lost my job at the college, and I handled it in the worst possible way by distancing myself from you. That was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. And I know how cliché this sounds, but I didn’t realize just how much I needed you until I lost you. And I’m sorry for that. I’m so fucking sorry for ever doubting us.”
Danny’s skin flushes red as he speaks. His neck, his cheeks, his arms. It’s like he’s bursting from the inside out with the need to tell me just how sorry he is and just how much he loves me.
“I don’t give a fuck about work. I don’t give a fuck about anything else really. All I want is you.”
I open my mouth, but the only sound I can manage to make is a shuddery breath. Behind me I hear the woman mutter, “Oh my god,” in Portuguese. Out of the corner of my eye, the teenage server starts to clap, then stops after a few seconds.
Danny blinks furiously as he looks at me. I know he’s waiting for me to say something, anything.
“I love you too.” As soon as I blurt it, he lifts me up in his arms. I wrap my legs around his waist, cup his face with my hands, and plant a desperate kiss to his lips. I don’t know how long we stand in that café, full-on making out in front of that mother, her child, and the teenage waiter. And I don’t care. All I care about is that Danny is here. He loves me. And we’re together again.
We quickly fall into a familiar rhythm with our kiss. It’s teasing and eager. Soon we’re breathless. I’m clawing at his hair; he’s clawing at my sundress.
The sound of applause breaks our trance. We look around and see that a dozen people have filtered into the café, gawking and clapping.
Danny sets me down, and the two of us chuckle while waving at our adoring crowd. Danny gives a small bow, takes my hand, and gestures to me, as if we’re a duo performing a scene. They cheer even louder.
I let out an embarrassed laugh and sit back down at my table. I pull Danny to sit down next to me but keep his hand in mine.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I say.
“I am. And if it’s okay with you, I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.”
“You’d better not.”
He pulls me to sit on his lap, and I kiss him again. Someone whistles at us, and we both chuckle. Danny tucks my hair behind my ear and traces his finger along the line of my jaw. My eyes flutter at the shivers that simple touch of his sends all over my body.
“You wouldn’t happen to know any good hotels in this area, do you? I came here kind of in a rush and didn’t plan proper accommodations,” he says, the corner of his mouth quirking up.
“I do actually. You’ll be staying with me.”
“Sounds perfect.” He kisses me, then licks my bottom lip. My legs go shaky. Thank goodness I’m sitting down. That would’ve had me falling to the floor had I been standing.
“Now I just have to get work sorted,” Danny says, that deliciously teasing gleam in his eyes. “Know of any good jobs in the area?”
I bite back a grin. “Funny you should mention that. I think I have the perfect gig for you.”