Page 139 of Falling Back to You

He smirked. “Several times and always heading the wrong direction.”

Figures. “Time for a bit of Marco Polo then.” Turning to the maze, I hollered, “Jam-Jam, Brooksy, get yourselves out here.”

“Cap? You there?” Jamie called from a distance. “Thank goodness! We’re saved.”

“Can you get us out of here?” Brooks added.

I glanced at Greyson. “Can you handle them, Lewis and Clark?”

“Oh, I’ll handle them.”

I grinned. That he would. Jamie and Brooks would have no idea what hit them. Leaving them to their fate with my Marine brother, I hurried towards our people.

Juliet didn’t want to ruin our fun, but Myles insisted on taking her home. The fact she only put up a half-hearted fight chilled me to the bones.

“Need anything, cream puff?” I asked.

Her glare held no heat, which made me want to hug her. But she would not appreciate that. So I draped an arm around Noelle instead. Let’s call it a hug by proxy.

“I’ll stop in and check on you later,” Noelle promised.

“Don’t worry about me,” Juliet huffed, but she didn’t protest as Myles half carried her back to the parking lot.

Paisley moved back towards Greyson, who was still barking orders into the corn maze.

“Your left or my left?” Jamie called back after one set of instructions.

Greyson pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. “Pais, you’re a genius with a map compared to these hooligans.”

Noelle and I laughed quietly.

“So, we won bragging rights,” Noelle said, smiling.

“Yup.” I winked at her. “But I can think of another prize.”

“Oh yeah?”

I leaned down till our lips were a breath apart.

“What do you think you’re doing?” a reedy voice demanded from behind us.

Mrs. Gulliver.

What was she doing here? We were thirty minutes away from Serenity Springs. Which meant she didn’t have jurisdiction here with her public-indecency tickets. Not that we’d been indecent. We hadn’t even kissed. Yet.

“There are children around, Mr. Satterfield.” She fixed a frown on me.

“Ma’am,” I said with a sharp look. “Respectfully, I’ve been waiting thirteen years to do this, and I have lost time to make up for. Avert your eyes if you must. This will be a PG-rated kiss, but I’m kissing my woman now.”

Greyson whistled, and given the amount of times Mrs. Gulliver had harassed him for kissing Paisley goodbye when he dropped her off at work, I was taking one for the team now.

“Cal!” Noelle squeaked, pinks flushing her cheeks.

I grinned at her mischievously. “We won.” And I kissed her, carefully. Firmly. Intentionally. It was a promise and a hope. I felt it down to my bones as her coconut shampoo and floral perfume wrapped around me. Her hands teased the hair at my neck, and she sank into the kiss.

Mrs. Gulliver might have left. I didn’t check. The woman in my arms was the sole object of my attention, and I focused on kissing her thoroughly so she had no doubt of where we stood.

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