Page 223 of Pumpkin Spice Promises

“It is,” I said softly. His fingers found mine. I looked at our intertwined hands. “You really bought my creamer?”

He groaned. “You’re still on that?”

“Yes.”

“It’s coffee creamer, Carson.”

“I know.”

“Costs like four dollars.”

“That’s not the point.”

“What’s the point?”

I didn’t know how to explain it without making something small sound enormous. “You thought I might be here.”

Beau’s expression softened. “I hoped you would be.”

I kissed him, closing the tiny space between us at his honest answer. The first kiss was gentle.

The second wasn’t.

Beau’s hand slid into my hair while mine curled around the back of his neck. Weeks of wanting him seemed to surface all at once, but the feeling underneath it had changed.

I wasn’t waiting for him to discover anything.

He knew.

He had seen the scars I hid.

He had watched me cry beside Blueberry.

He knew I was stubborn enough to walk two miles through a storm rather than admit I needed help.

And somehow, I was sitting in his house wearing a dress I hadn’t touched in five years while my coffee creamer waited in his refrigerator.

His mouth moved along my jaw, small kisses peppered my skin and my eyes closed instinctively.

“Beau.” I moaned and he pulled back immediately.

“What?”

I looked at him. His hair was disheveled from my fingers. His lips were swollen from kissing me. I had never wanted anyone more.

“Where’s your bedroom?”

He went completely still. For several seconds, neither of us spoke. “You sure?”

I smiled despite the nervousness twisting through my stomach. “If you ask me that one more time, I might not be.”

He stood with the grin I’d come to love the most about him wide across his face. Then held out his hand to guide me to his bedroom.

The hallway wasn’t long, and yet it felt endless.

The room was dim except for the light from the hallway. His bed was messily made, which somehow made me feel better. A pair of boots sat near the dresser. Another family photograph rested on the nightstand.

Nothing about this had been prepared. This was simply Beau’s life. And he’d invited me into it. He kissed me again.