Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CORMAC
That went better than I’d feared it would.
Nora grips my shirt in her hand, pulling me closer, and I kiss her back as fiercely as she’s kissing me.
I’m so relieved to be with her. Relieved, also, that she’s not insisting we post bail for her asshole ex-boyfriend.
She tugs away slightly so she can look at me, her eyes sparkling in the dim glow from a far-off streetlight. “You’re a little naughty.”
“And you like it.”
“I do.”
I glance outside, suddenly realizing where we are. I thought she’d pulled over in the middle of nowhere, but we’re not in the middle of nowhere. We’re parked at the back of Mountain High.
“Nora, why are we at the high school?”
“We’re going to do the Mountain High Marathon,” she says with a smile. “I want to do it with you.”
It’s as if she stole the thought from a couple of months ago straight out of my head.
“What if we get caught?”
“There is a risk of that.”
“If I have to share a jail cell with Jonah, I might actually kill him.”
She smiles as she opens her car door and climbs out, taking the growler she brought with her. I leave the car, too, and come around to her.
She takes my hand with her free one. “Do you want to take things too far tonight, Cormac?”
“With you? Always.”
We sneak onto campus together, and Nora leads me to the side of the building that still has the rickety old fire escape, climbed by thousands of death-defying youngsters over the years.
“I think I might actually be too old for this,” I say with a groan. I tug myself up and then reach down for her hand to give her a boost. The fire escape creaks ominously.
She laughs as she stands up, then she shimmies past me, running her hand across the front of my pants.
Turns out I’m not too old for it after all.
I follow her up to the roof, which is surrounded by a safety bar, probably because all the administrators and teachers who work here are perfectly well aware of the challenge.
It’s too dark for us to see much, but bright stars speckle the sky, defying even the city’s light pollution, and the glow of the moon bathes the curve of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.
I take Nora’s hand as I soak in the moment, reveling that I’m here with her, after everything.
She tugs away to open the growler, then hands the bottle to me. Even before I catch the scent, I know that this is it. This is ours.
“Let me know if it’s a subpar pear,” she says, smiling at me. She sounds almost nervous about it, as if there’s a single chance it’ll be anything less than exceptional.
I take a sip, and the flavor floods my senses. Ginger and pear, chased by a floral note that softens them.
“It’s delicious,” I say, holding her gaze in the night sky.
“I was going to call it the Muse, because you inspired it.”
If I grinned any harder, I might cause an injury to my face. Definitely to my jacked-up eye.
“But I’ve decided it’s the Story of Us.”
“Kind of a long name.”
“We’re kind of a lot to handle. But you soften me—”
“And you make me spicier,” I say, grinning harder after all. “No wonder it’s so delicious.”
She takes the bottle from my hand, her fingers brushing against mine, sending a flutter of need through me. Then she drinks, her mouth pressed to the place mine touched a moment before.
“We’re delicious,” she says with a smile.
I kiss her, and she tastes like pear.
“One might even say the perfect pear,” I whisper against her lips.
Her eyes twinkle. “I’m so happy you’re back I’m not even going to get on your case for making a terrible pun.” She leans over to set down the bottle. “You had something you wanted to tell me?”
I pull her close, and she turns her face up toward mine. Worry flickers in her gaze.
“Do you want to go back to San Francisco?” she asks. “Because I’ve been thinking about this a lot. If you do, I want to go with you. If you want me to.”
Shock renders me silent for a long moment as I stare at her. “You’d really do that?”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
“And I don’t want to move to San Francisco. That’s not what I wanted to talk about. I…I want to buy The Ginger Station.”
Her lips part. “Cormac?”
“I want to buy it for you, not run it. I don’t know anything about breweries, but I do have some ideas that might help you run things more efficiently.”
“The BrewBot,” she says softly.
I laugh. “I should hope my work is more sophisticated than that now.”
“You’re saying this to someone who took weeks to make an even worse version of the claw machine.”
“I love it. No one’s ever made anything like that for me before.”
“You can’t buy a whole business for me, Cormac.” Her eyes are glassy with emotion, but she doesn’t wipe them or turn away. Thank God, she’s still here with me, hearing me out.
“I can. It won’t cause me any financial hardship.”
“I’m not Pansy.” She grips my shirt. “I don’t want to use you. I don’t want your money.”
“I know you don’t. I don’t really care about money either.
I figure we should use it to make people’s lives better.
I’m investing a lot of it in the foundation and some other charities, but I love you, Nora, and I want to make your life better.
Why’s that so wrong? From what I understand, The Ginger Station was your idea all along. Your dream. José’s not such a bad guy—”
She lets out a strangled laugh and runs her fingers gently over my healing wounds.
“I mean, yes,” I continue, “he has an impressive right hook, but I get it. He lost you. He should be angry. But the business…you’re the one who needs to be in charge.
You have it in your head that you’re not charming enough to take the lead, but that’s bullshit.
Look at what you did for Ann and Nathaniel.
Hell, you pepper-sprayed him in the face, and the next morning the man was eating breakfast with you.
The business should be yours. You can do it. ”
“What if you change your mind?”
I shake my head, cupping her jaw, taking in her beauty in the dusky twilight, on top of this roof, where we definitely shouldn’t be.
“I haven’t changed my mind since we were teenagers.
Why would I change it now? It’s like I told you.
I’m going to choose you every day. Every day for the rest of my life.
” I flinch, hearing the words. “That was probably too much, wasn’t it? ”
She leans up on her toes, rubbing her lips lightly against mine before she kisses me. “I love you so much.”
“But you don’t want to say yes.”
Tears course down her cheeks. “I’m scared, Cormac. It’s so much to ask of you.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t ask.” I kiss her softly. “Let me do this for you. Let me love you, Nora.”
She studies me for a long moment, and I’m sure she’ll say no. She’ll let me down easily, and maybe it’ll be the start of her pulling away, deciding she’s going to save me from her.
Then a mischievous gleam enters her eyes.
“I’ll let you buy it if you can catch me.”
“I’m not chasing you on a roof, Nora. Nora?”
She’s already running to the fire escape.
Fuck. Fuck.
I run after her, reaching the bottom of the flimsy fire escape stairs just as she vaults from them. She races up the hill behind the school, hair flying behind her, and I tear after her.
She’s fast, though, so fast. Like a hunter, darting through a field after its prey. I’m never going to catch her.
But she slows dramatically as she nears the top, glancing over her shoulder, and I put on a burst of speed.
I finally catch her as we reach the top, wrapping my arms around her waist. I can feel her rapidly beating heart beneath my hand, and then she turns within my grasp.
“You threw it,” I say, awestruck.
“You’ve taught me that sometimes losing is winning.” She kisses me. “We’re going to watch the sun rise from here.”
“You act as if I’ve never heard of the marathon.” I sit on the ground and guide her into my lap, facing me. She grins and kisses my nose, then my lips.
“Did you know that some people like going all the way on Hi-Hill?” she asks.
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
She traces my lips with her finger. “I think I’d rather be the life of you.”
“You’ll always be that.”
She leans down and embraces me, pressing her cheek against my shoulder, then pulls back and gives me a stern look. “But I’m paying for Waffle House. It’s the least I could do since you’re buying my business.”
I’m laughing as I kiss her, but my laughter quickly fades when she starts attacking the button on my pants.
“Wow, you’re already so hard.”
“That’s what happens when the woman I love climbs onto my lap and says she wants to fuck me on Hi-Hill.”
“Nuh-uh.” She presses a finger to my lips as she uses her other hand to free me. “I never said that. I want to make love to you on Hi-Hill. But it does need to be hard and fast, because it would probably be better if we don’t get caught.”
That’s my Nora, spicy and sweet. Just the way I love her.