All I Ask(64)

Now, that I don’t doubt.

Nina walks over, kisses Derek on the cheek, and pats his chest. “You were always my favorite…after Romeo.”

“You were always mine too…after Teagan.”

Damn him for being so sweet.

“I’ll be in the back, organizing the new plates. Then I’ll call around to a few more stores to see if we can find those lost chairs. You know, give you time, just in case.” She turns and winks at me.

There are no new plates, and I don’t know what she thinks Derek and I need time for while we’re in the store, but I appreciate her giving us a minute. He moves closer, hand resting on my hip, and smiles. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

I try to keep the grin off my face but the way he’s looking at me makes it impossible. He’s so damn cute and he’s here. On what was probably a busy day, because there are more animals than people in this town, and he came by…to see me.

“You look very pretty.”

Now he’s lying. “I definitely do not.” I’m in a pair of old jeans, my hair is up in a messy bun—that I can’t pull off—and my T-shirt with a plaid shirt over it doesn’t scream sexy. It’s more like, I look like I don’t have enough money for new clothes but I’m trying for country chic.

“You do.”

“You’re going blind in your old age.”

His hand tightens, eyes glance around the store, and then to my lips. He’s going to kiss me.

“Stop talking,” he demands and then his lips are on mine, hand sliding around my back, keeping me to his chest.

Kissing is definitely not overrated.

We don’t rush as we take each other in. It’s only been a few hours but I missed him. How crazy is that? I missed the way he smells, how his hand feels on my skin, and the way he says my name.

It’s stupid.

It’s ridiculous.

It’s magical.

“Now, don’t ever call me old again,” he warns and kisses my forehead.

I don’t care what any woman says, when a man kisses our foreheads, we melt. Just a little. If he ever learns how much I like it, I’m pretty sure he’ll win every argument.

“If you kiss me each time I do,” I say playfully, “I might call you old more.”

He laughs while shaking his head and then steps back. “Can I steal you away for a bit?”

“I have a lot of work to do…my mother is due back today too.”

“She’s off shopping for used goods?”

We used to laugh at it as kids. Buying old things with the hope of turning around and selling them is a gamble, but she’s good at it. This store has thrived over the last forty years.

“She went to a few estate sales this week down in Virginia Beach, and to visit my cousins.”

“Ahh, how is Mark?”

“The same, I’m sure. A little bit stupid and a lot unstable. He’s married now,” I tell him. I forget that he doesn’t know anything that’s happened in the last few years. Mark is a former Navy SEAL and scares the crap out of my mother and aunt.

“Is he? I never saw that coming.”

No, I didn’t either. “Yeah, her name is Charlie and she’s amazing. She kicks his ass, which makes us all smile.”

“Well, he tortured you as a kid,” Derek reminds me.

“Yeah, all of my cousins did.”

“They were fun.”

“Sure, that’s the word we’ll go with,” I scoff. They were mean and tormented me because they could. Derek would join in too, because apparently it was…fun.

“I need a half hour, surely you can spare that?”

I really want to go, but I can’t leave Nina in case my mother returns early, which she’s known to do.

“I don’t know…”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, just go,” Nina says as she comes around the aisle. So much for privacy. “I’ll handle your mother, don’t worry. Go!”

I gnaw on my lip, not sure if I should. I feel like this is the opposite of slow, but then I remember what Nina said and it’s true. We’re not a new relationship, and even with the time that’s passed, he still seems to know me. Not the things in my life that he wasn’t there for, but me at my core.

Derek extends his hand and I place mine in it because you only live once and I’m ready to begin the life I dreamed of.

*



“You brought me here?” I say as I look up at the house I love. The one I know, deep in my heart, should be mine.

I hoped when I saw it today that I wouldn’t have the same reaction because when he buys it, I’ll be sad. Sure, there might be another one—a better one—down the line, but this one is…home.

My home.

“I did.”

“Why?” I ask with a bit of wistfulness.

“For lunch,” he says, as though it makes perfect sense.

“You thought this was a great spot?”

Derek grabs the cooler out of the back of the car. “I did.”

“And how is that?”

“You wanted us to be secretive, well, no one but us and the Realtor know about this house. You wanted slow, and lunch is about the slowest of dates there is. Then you said this would be complicated, but”—he shrugs—“I uncomplicated it.”