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Ash exhaled a shuddering breath. “I’m feeling all of that too,” he said quietly. “It’s just so much.”
“I know.”
Ash smiled under Cass’s palm. “And I just want you to keep kissing me.”
Cass swallowed hard. “I could go for that.”
“Yeah?”
“Totally.”
Cass lifted his eyes to meet Ash’s, and another amazing rush of warmth and want and contentment made his heart stumble and stutter and race. It was everything he’d wanted. This, what they had—it was incredible.
Ash’s palms flattened against Cass’s chest. “So do it then. Kiss me.”
Cass was more than happy to oblige.
Cass (Sunday, November 27, 2022 – 5:04 p.m.): Text me when you land
Cass (5:05 p.m.): <3
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ash
“So, what the hell, man? Your flight from Los Angeles just happened to have a stop in Redding?”
Grant nudged Ash with his elbow as they stepped up onto the sidewalk outside the parking garage at SeaTac. Ash shoved him back with his free hand and regripped the handle on the car seat.
“Shaina told you?”
“She might have mentioned it.”
Ash groaned as he followed Grant along the walkway and into the parking garage. “I should have expected that, I guess.”
“Probably.” Grant laughed and then reached forward and hit the up button for the elevator. The doors immediately opened, and Ash stepped inside, lugging a fast-asleep Bri along with her backpack and his duffle bag. Grant rolled the suitcase in and pressed one of the buttons. “Hey, I’m happy for you, man, really. Although I can’t imagine doing a long-distance thing. Mei and I haven’t been dating all that long, but I can’t see it working out if we didn’t get to, you know, spend time together.” Grant shrugged as the elevator started up on its way to the fourth floor.
“Yeah, I don’t really know how it’s going to go,” Ash admitted. “We didn’t get a chance to talk about that, specifically.”
“Too busy doing other things, I imagine,” Grant teased with another laugh.
Ash rolled his eyes and shoved Grant again. “Jackass.”
“Just calling it like I see it.”
“What does that even mean?” Ash narrowed his eyes, but Grant shrugged a nonresponse as the elevator stopped and the doors dinged open.
They stepped out together and started over toward Grant’s car, which was parked in the second row, next to a massive white SUV. As they reached the car, Grant slowed and stopped, fishing in his pocket for his keys.
“You like this dude, right? Cass?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do. A lot, actually.”
Grant clapped him on the shoulder lightly. “Then I’m sure you two will figure out how to make it work. And like I said, I’m happy for you.”
A light breeze blew through the garage, the early winter chill biting at Ash’s cheeks. He glanced down at Bri, who was sleeping quietly in her car seat. Redness lingered on her cheeks and forehead from her hour-long crying session on the airplane when she realized she did not have Ollie the Octopus. Ash clenched his jaw, trying not to shake as he remembered how inconsolable she’d been and how everyone around them on the airplane had nearly cheered with relief when she’d finally fallen asleep just before the plane had landed. It had been as awful and stressful for him as he was sure it had been for Bri and for everyone else around them on the small plane, having to listen to her screaming.
He needed to text Cass.
