Page 92 of Plotting Summer

Emotion wells in my throat and my heart is pounding. “You’re falling in love with me?”

Tristan draws closer and his hands settle on my waist. “I've⁠—”

A thump nearby draws both of our attention, but before I can even process what it could have been, I hear Heath's voice. “What? There was a bug.” The sound is muted, but it’s not because it’s far away. He’s whispering from somewhere much closer—like the other side of the wall.

“Heath,” Tala hisses. “Are you kidding me? Right now?”

“What was I supposed to do?” he whispers.

“You do know we can hear you, right?” I say, loudly enough to stop their whispered conversation.

When Tala peeks around the corner, her face is bright red and she’s wearing an apologetic expression. “I’m so sorry.”

“She's only sorry because we got caught,” Heath pops his head around the corner. “But it's fine because now I can give you this.” He tosses something at us, and I flinch away from it thinking it's the bug he apparently squashed, but Tristan catches whatever it is in the palm of his hand, looks down at it, and glances back at Heath with an uncertain expression. “It’s for her,” Heath says, pointing to me.

“What is it?” I ask warily, and Tristan opens his hand to reveal a stick of gum. I glare at Heath.

“Oh, come on.” Heath gestures to Tristan. “That man deserves a minty-fresh kiss after a declaration like that.”

I actually more than agree, though I have no intention of telling Heath that, so I take the gum and pop it in my mouth. “There. Now will you go away so we can kiss in private?”

“Okay. Okay.” He lifts his hands, his palms to us. “Just trying to make sure you don’t leave a bad taste in Tristan’s mouth.”

“Oh my gosh, Heath!” Tala somehow turns a brighter shade of red.

“No. It’s a play on words. Bad taste in the mouth …” Heath points at me. “She’s an author, she gets is. Don’t you, Capri?” I don’t answer, but he just grins.

Tristan’s laughter is not the least bit helpful to my maintaining a straight face. “We shouldn’t be encouraging him,” I say. “He’s like a stray cat. If you laugh at his jokes once, he never stops coming back.” I gesture to him with my hand. “Case in point.”

“Ouch.” He throws a hand over his heart. “Capri, you wound me.”

It’s no use. His dramatized delivery finally does me in, and my smiles breaks free. Though I throw in an eye-roll and a shake of my head for good measure.

Tala grabs his arm. “I’ll make sure we get all the way upstairs this time.”

When both sets of footsteps can be heard on the stairs, I turn back to Tristan, still smiling at Heath’s ridiculousness. “So, back to this falling in love comment. How close are we talking?”

Tristan pulls me to him with his strong arms. “Like, as soon as I’m done kissing you, you should call Maven back and tell her I’m in. And then we should probably go outside and talk to those reporters together.”

I lift onto my toes and press my lips against his briefly before pulling just out of reach again. “That does kind of sound like you love me.”

“You know what else might make it sound like I love you?”

“What’s that?”

“My family’s decided not to sell Seaside Oasis.”

The smile drops from my lips, and I’m searching his sea-green eyes. I don’t allow myself to hope just yet. “I thought the sale already went through?”

“The paperwork was all signed, but thankfully, there’s a 72-hour cooling-off rule that allows both sellers and buyers some wiggle room to change their minds. After speaking with my dad yesterday, he contacted our buyers. He explained we’ll still sell the other three centers, but that it took his son almost losing the inheritance he was handed to realize it’s actually exactly what he wants.” Tristan’s gaze softens. “This is the life I choose.”

I can’t suppress my smile. “But what about the assistant coaching position?”

“I called to tell them I couldn’t take it.” He tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “I’d still love to try coaching, but I’m thinking I’ll start with something local I can do on the side. Jack was saying he wants to play pee-wee football this fall. Maybe I’ll see if his team needs a coach.”

I’m biting at my lip to keep myself from giggling in delight.

“I hope you didn’t have your heart set on California too much.”