Page 188 of Worth the Trip

“You can stop supervising now.”

“I’m admiring.”

“From a regulatory distance?”

“Roll your window up, Hershey.”

She laughed and obeyed, but blew me a kiss before the glass closed.

I caught it against my chest.

Her face through the windshield said I’d embarrassed her.

The grin said otherwise.

I stepped back and watched her reverse. At the stop sign, one hand came through the sunroof and waved before she turned toward the exit.

I stayed beside my truck until she disappeared beyond the trees.

The space she left didn’t feel empty.

Thursday already had our names on it. Saturday belonged to us after that. My shirt was in her bag, the book I’d chosen sat on her passenger seat with a message she hadn’t found yet, and my name had found a softer home in her mouth than it occupied the day before.

The storm had brought Nolani into my night.

Daylight hadn’t taken my woman from me.

It just proved I liked her there even more.

By 7:12 Monday morning, I stood in my kitchen staring at a black T-shirt like it had personally complicated my life. Landon’s shirt rested across the back of my kitchen chair, freshly washed and folded with a degree of care I had no intention of defending in court. I’d carried it toward the laundry room once before returning it to the chair, which suggested either indecision or an attachment to cotton I preferred not to examine before coffee. The shirt belonged to him. I had my own clothes, a functioning wardrobe, and enough common sense to recognize stolen property even when the owner had told me to keep it.

My phone lit beside the coffee machine.

Big Lando:

Morning, Hershey. Woke up reaching for you and found a pillow with no brown skin, no smart mouth, and no thigh across mine. Current accommodations are unacceptable.

Laughter escaped before my first sip.

Me:

The pillow probably appreciated the peace.

His response appeared almost immediately.

Big Lando:

Peace wasn’t the objective. I wanted you.

I stared at the message long enough for my coffee to lose priority.

Me:

You still got breakfast.

Big Lando:

Eggs were a consolation prize.