Page 64 of Can’t Say No

I can feel my phone buzzing again in my bag as we come in for a landing and, after the third vibration, my curiosity wins out.

I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face as a fourth text from Connor lights up my screen.

Connor: Don’t order a car.

Connor: I’m fifteen minutes away.

Connor: I’m tracking your flight.

Connor: Reply so I don’t feel like a crazy stalker.

As soon as the pilot gives the all clear, I dial Connor. “You didn’t have to drive all the way up here.”

A chuckle, deep and joyful, fills the speaker. “Delaney, it means I get two hours with you I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Really three, because let’s be real, the traffic over the mountain is always a bitch. I’m not missing out on any time with you if I can help it.”

I pause, letting the warmth of his selflessness wash over me. “No one has picked me up from the airport before. It’s always been drivers.”

Connor takes a beat, then replies, an unmistakable ache in his words. “Well, happy to be the first, Lanie Lou. See you in a few.”

My heart races like a schoolgirl with a crush as I gather my things and shuffle off the plane. I try not to read too much into the feeling, try not to let him consume all of my thoughts. It’s just Connor, I repeat to myself as I wait at the luggage carousel. But one look at him leaning against his shitty old car and my heart is beating triple time. He’s got a fresh fade, but a hint of a weekend beard that I love so much, and his simple grey T-shirt accentuates his toned chest.

But it’s the look in his eyes when he spots me in the crowd that does it. There’s so much kindness, adoration, and a little bit of desire there. In all my years in the spotlight, no one has looked at me quite like that.

If I wasn’t all in for him before, I am now.

Meeting me at the curb with a wide grin, Connor steals a kiss. “You look prepossessing.”

“You’re really gonna make me start carrying a dictionary around?”

“Context clues, Lanie.” He smirks at me as he loads my bags into the trunk. “Give it your best guess.”

“Well,” I grunt, “given the five hour flight, the overindulgence in L.A., and the general shit show that is my life, I’m gonna go with exhausted. Prepossessing means exhausted.”

He pauses at the passenger side door, holding it open for me. “It means dazzling, beautiful, alluring. ” His wide, easy smile is back, and brings with it a whole herd of butterflies in my stomach.

Of course it does.

“Connor Majors. You are such a flirt.” He laughs, a sound that I didn’t realize I’d been missing in the few days I was away.

The road back to Ridgecrest weaves over mountains and through rolling hills. The trees are putting on quite the show, with fall colors filling every window. It’s mesmerizing and I let myself be swept up in the simple beauty of the changing season.

Connor glances my way. “Whatcha thinking, Lanie?”

“Nothing, actually. There’s something about this drive that feels like a fresh start every time.”

“Hmm,” he hums thoughtfully. “I like that. A reset sounds wonderful.”

“I take it the conversation with your dad didn’t go well?”

He grunts, and I see the same heaviness that I carry mirrored in Connor. The same desire to change course but the same feeling of being powerless to do so.

“It was unproductive, as per usual. But that’s a problem for another time.” He gives my hand a squeeze, and I let the comfort of his touch wash over me.

My phone ringing cuts through the silence, and I know who it is without looking.

Knowing better than to ignore him, I answer the call. “Hi, dad.”

“It really is one step forward, three steps back with you, isn’t it? Why were you photographed out in L.A. with someone other than your boyfriend?”