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I used my free hand to pull my keys and phone out of the pocket of my beloved sweater.
He eyed the keys. “Whose car are you driving?”
I smiled, shooting off a quick thank-you text to Liem before responding. “It’s a truck—my best friend Cody’s. He’s off working for a cruise line that sails out of Mobile for the next few months. His dad works at the casino and let me borrow it for the morning.” He probably didn’t need that much information, but I supplied it anyway.
We reached the old truck, and I put the key in the handle. As soon as the lock clicked open, Vinh brushed my hand aside and opened the door but not wide enough for me to get in.
“Bree. May I have your number?”
I flushed at the simple question, marveling at the swarm of butterflies in my stomach. The old-fashioned phrasing, the forwardness…. I almost reacted more intensely to those than our soul-scorching kiss.
Almost.
We exchanged numbers before he opened the truck door all the way and guided me inside. A bit of shyness and a bit more uncertainty crept in as our goodbye loomed. Would it come across as needy to ask to see him again? He had my number now, so whose responsibility was it to ask? I had no idea how this was supposed to work.
A loud boom of thunder rattled the truck, and I jumped, nearly hitting the ceiling of the small cab with my head.
We both glanced at the darkening sky. “I’ll be seeing you soon, yeah?” His smile was warm as he leaned in and kissed my forehead, his lips lingering for a moment before traveling to the corner of my eye for a smaller kiss there. And then to my cheek. And the crook of my lips.
I held my breath, waiting for the grand finale of his goodbye, but it never came.
I opened my eyes, nearly ready to beg, and found him studying me with an expression that was so knowing—so heated—that the plea died on my lips just as he strummed them with his thumb.
“I can taste your lips again, or you can make it somewhere safe before the storm hits. I don’t think I can manage both. I’m going to walk to my car now and follow you back to Fortuna.” He stroked my face lightly and then stepped back with obvious reluctance.
I nodded my equally reluctant agreement, and his gaze swept over me, his eyes shining with something I couldn’t quite name.
“Bree?”
“Yeah?”
“I like you in my clothes.” He gently pushed my legs all the way into the cab and closed the door.
I… um.
What?
26
BREE
Iwalked on a cloud the rest of the afternoon. A breezy, bright cloud just dense enough to hold the weight of my hope and anticipation.
Especially after Vinh followed through on his promise and trailed me all the way to Fortuna before the storm hit.
I’d parked on the staff level of the parking deck, and after a brief smile and wave through the windows of our respective vehicles, watched as he reversed out and drove back onto the main road.
And for the first time… ever, maybe, I’d watched someone leave without feeling the suffocating dread of abandonment.
Sure, I still wanted to pull right back out of the parking space and follow him for the rest of the day, but that was because I enjoyed him so much. Not because I believed he’d disappear the minute I turned my back, like so many had before.
That cloud I was walking on held true through a busy afternoon of bussing tables at Cornucopia, the only job immediately available. It was busier than usual, just like Vinh said Ari’s had been this morning, and maybe for the same reason.
The storm.
During hurricane season, the buffet was the best choice for anyone who wanted the quickest meal option before checking out early.
The radar hadn’t indicated that this tropical storm would be particularly bad, but you never wanted to be caught out in it in case it escalated. I’d been bussing mostly on my own, assuring the scheduled staff as soon as I arrived that they could head home. They had families and lives to see to, and it wasn’t like I was going to go try to ride out the storm in a holey trailer.
