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“Downtown.”
“Cool.”
We didn’t talk much as Emily guided the car down the crowded freeway south, and I looked around the area, which was familiar and foreign all at once. I’d been here a few times, but was never stationed here. I liked it—the low rolling hills, the warmth and sunshine. It was an interesting contrast to Colorado. As I gazed out the window, my mind worked through all the things I hoped to say—the things I hoped we might do when we finished talking. But I didn’t want to assume anything, so I forced myself to be patient.
As Emily pulled off the freeway and drove between the tall buildings, finally pausing to open a parking garage beneath an apartment building, I glanced at her from time to time. She was every bit as beautiful as she was in my dreams. But here, in her element, there was something even more attractive about her. She was confident and sure, capable and sexy.
And I was more certain than ever that coming here had been the right choice.
“Come on up,” Emily said, leading me to an elevator.
Inside, we shared a look that told me we were both thinking of how we’d met.
On the third floor, we exited and headed for a door at the end of an exterior hallway.
Throughout the entire journey from her parents’ house, Emily hadn’t said much. I sensed that she had something to say—I knew I had a lot of things to say. But I also got the feeling she was still processing somehow. I decided to follow her lead.
I set my backpack down just inside her door and slipped off my shoes. “This is a great apartment.” It really was—airy and bright, clean and simple. A small kitchen that opened into a comfortable living room with a wide patio just out glass doors. There was a hallway that I assumed led to her bedroom.
“Thanks,” she said, moving across the living room and then turning to face me. “It’s kind of weird to see you in it.” She looked hesitant, her hands twisting in front of her as she stood in the middle of the room.
“Yeah?”
“Nothing like the weird of seeing you on my parents’ patio.”
“I bet. Sorry about the shock . . .”
She smiled and moved to the couch, sitting and waving to the spot at her side. “It was a good shock. I guess, I’m just recalibrating. I spent the last few days figuring out how I was going to make myself forget about you, about how I felt.”
“Did you come up with a plan?” I asked.
She looked at me then, really met my eyes, and that jolt of fierce attraction went through me. I reached for her hand, and she laid it in mine between us on the couch. “Kind of. Mostly it was to get really busy so I wouldn’t have time to think. Or feel.”
“Busy doing what?”
“First, the trip to Costa Rica I told everyone about at dinner.” Emily told me more about a trip to Costa Rica that the editor of the travel magazine had assigned her, about her excitement over finally being sent somewhere outside of Southern California. It sounded incredible. And the idea of an adventure—of escaping into the unknown—it was something I knew I wanted too.
“That sounds really incredible,” I told her.
“It is,” she said, but she sounded hesitant. I watched her take a deep breath and then raise her eyes to meet mine again. “Archie, you coming here like this...what does it mean?”
“It means I want to know you better. It means I don’t like being apart. It means I think we might have a future and that I want to do whatever I can to find out what that looks like. It means I was stuck—for years—and you came into my life and made me realize it, and you set me free.” I paused, gathering my courage. “It means I love you, Emily.”
Her eyes squeezed shut and then popped back open, filled with tears. “I love you too.”
I reached for her, and Emily shifted closer, wrapping her arms around me as I pulled her into my chest, my lips finding hers. The kiss we shared was soft, sweet. It was a kiss of relief and joy, of celebrating an end to uncertainty and sadness. Of moving forward.
“What do we do now?” she whispered, breaking apart.
“I have a few ideas,” I said, nudging her onto my lap so she was straddling me.
She laughed as she looked down into my face, her long dark hair framing her pretty features perfectly. “Oh, that’s a given. I meant besides that.”
“Well,” I said, reaching up to pull her mouth to mine again. “Let’s start there and see what happens next.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Duvet-Focused Marathons
