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I know that we can do this.
It’s going to suck hairy monkey balls. Being without her and not having nights like last night will be hard when all I want is to be near her. I’m already running through my schedule in my mind and calculating the first chance I might have to go to Tennessee to see her.
She leaves tomorrow, and if you would have told me I’d be torn up about that after only knowing her a handful of days, I’d tell you that you’d lost your damn mind, but here we are. Emotion wells in my throat just thinking about her stepping onto the plane and flying home.
I sent my dad a text and told him she was staying and that we were down here. He asked me if I needed protection. Peyton and I laughed about that, considering her sister asked us the same thing. It’s not that I don’t want to, but we have a hard road ahead of us. We need to build more trust. I need to be able to prove to her that this is going to work before we go there.
I’m tired as hell. I’ve barely slept since I met her. We napped earlier, but I can’t seem to fall asleep. Not when I know it’s going to be a long damn time before I’m back in this place with her.
“Why are you awake?” her sleep-laced voice asks.
I hold her a little tighter and press my lips to her forehead. “Just thinking.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“I’m going to miss the hell out of you.”
“This is going to be hard, Griffin.”
“Nothing worth having comes easy. It’s going to be more than hard. It’s going to suck. I’m afraid to close my eyes and miss a single second of time with you.”
“You can’t be sleep-deprived. Tomorrow is my last day. I need you rested.”
“Oh, yeah? What are we going to do exactly?”
“I want to go back to the beach. It’s my last day here. I’d like to soak up some sun.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
She snuggles a little closer. “I’ll be here when you wake up, Griff. I promise.”
My heart hammers in my chest. “Okay.”
“Please get some rest. I’m right here,” she says, placing a kiss on my chest.
“Where you belong,” I say, closing my eyes. Maybe I just needed her reassurance that she’d still be here because it doesn’t take long for sleep to finally claim me.
“Hello?” I hear the sweetest voice say. “No, I’m at Griffin’s.” She pauses. “I stayed here last night.” Another pause. “No, we didn’t do that,” she says, her voice a rushed whisper. “It was nice.” Another pause. “Yeah, I told Griffin that I want to go to the beach today. He’s still sleeping. I’ll text you when we’re up and moving.” Another shorter pause. “We can talk about this later,” she says, her voice low. “I’ll text you. Bye,” she says, ending the call.
“Karina?” I ask, making her jump.
“You scared me.” She places her phone back on the floor and rolls over to snuggle into me. Sometime during the night, one of us must have pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and covered us. “Yeah, that was Karina. She wanted to know what we were doing today.”
“You and me? Or you and her?”
“All of us, if that’s okay.”
“I don’t care who is there as long as I’m with you.”
“You’re sweet in the mornings.”
“I’m always sweet,” I counter, tugging the cover over us.
“Yeah, you kind of are.”
“Only with you, though.”
“I don’t know. I saw you with your mom.”
“Yeah, the two most important women in my life.” As soon as she agreed to see where this goes, even after she leaves tomorrow, I decided I was no longer going to hide how I felt about her. Hell, I haven’t really been hiding it at all. But communication will be the key to making this work, and I never want to doubt for a second that she’s all that I can see. It took one look to know she was special, but after spending time with her, I know without a shadow of a doubt that she’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. There will only ever be one Peyton Monroe.
“Those are big words, Griffin Anthony.”
“These are big feelings, Peyton Monroe.”
“Go shower, so you can take me to my hotel, and I can do the same. The beach and sunshine are calling my name.”
“So bossy,” I tease. Leaning in, I press my lips to hers. When I slide my tongue across her lips, she refuses to open it. I pull back and study her. “What’s wrong?”
She places her hand over her mouth. “I need to brush my teeth.”
“Baby, that’s not going to stop me. I have less than twenty-four hours left with you.” I lean in and kiss her again, but she still refuses to open. This won’t do. Climbing over her, I stand from the couch, stretch and lift her into my arms, bridal style.
