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I could feel the tears coming and my heart wanting to burst. I couldn’t even read the rest of the notes before I reached for my phone to call Iain. But just as I told myself it was 3AM in New York, I realized there was no postage on the envelope.
Frenzied, I turned it around, inspecting it from all sides and looking for any indication of how it had gotten to this office. To my desk. I spent another twenty seconds wondering before I grabbed my phone again, heart pounding as I texted Iain what felt like crazy talk.
ME: Are you here?
The reply didn’t co
me immediately and I spent the next twelve minutes so riled up that I was sure I wouldn’t survive waiting, wondering for another second, so I attempted to put my own nerves at rest by making an executive decision and sending another quick text.
ME: Never mind don’t answer that.
ME: If you’re here I’ll be at the museum on Via Tortona at 12:15. Meet me there.
The Museo delle Culture on Via Tortona was the only place I’d visited in Milan so far. It was a bunch of boxy, ultra-modern buildings centered in a large courtyard, and I actually had no idea why I told Iain to meet me there, because I didn’t know the place well enough to name a specific spot to find me, and it was probably going to take forever, assuming he’d even gotten my message.
“Crap,” I hissed to myself, skipping the elevators and looking at the time on my phone as I flew down the stairs. Five past noon.
Whatever. Just go. That’s all you can do, I told myself as I crossed the lobby of the building, flashing a polite albeit rushed smile at the security guard before pushing hastily through the front doors.
And then stopping right in my tracks.
My heart leapt right into my throat and all the air left my lungs as I stared through the busy stream of morning commuters walking by.
Because standing past them on the other end of the sidewalk was Iain.
Hands in the pockets of his jeans. Wearing the hell out of a white T-shirt and a grin that spread slowly wider as he watched my bright-eyed shock turn into a breathless, open-mouthed smile.
I wanted to run to him, but I had to wait for everyone to pass.
Just as well.
It gave me time to drink him in again. To run my awed eyes all over him for the first time in what was as good as forever. He looked so overwhelmingly beautiful to me that I wondered if my legs would even work. My knees felt weak, but the adrenaline coursing through me helped bring me forward, across the sidewalk till I was standing close enough to touch him.
And I did.
I needed to. Just to make sure he was real.
He looked down, watching me as I confirmed it, and when I looked up again, his eyes were glimmering like stars at me.
“You found me,” I murmured.
“I tend to,” he smiled.
“How did you know I was here?”
“I didn’t know for sure that you were,” he admitted with amusement. “But you planned your last escape for years, and I knew you were too smart to leave without having somewhere perfectly secure to go.”
I raised my eyebrows, realizing he made the Freya connection. “Very true. Good read,” I nodded, making him laugh. “Speaking of good reads, I got your gratitude journal,” I smirked. “You know, I would’ve been happy to give you one of my notebooks if you’d just asked.”
“Good to know. I think I’ll take you up on that once I get you home.”
I was still smiling, but my heart jolted at the mention of home. It had me remembering the reason I’d left in the first place.
And it made me realize I didn’t even know if things had gotten worse.
“Iain… I haven’t even been reading the news lately.”
“Nor should you,” he said firmly, pulling me closer and looking at me with a sudden heat in his eyes. “Nothing about it makes a difference to me. It hasn’t once for a second since it happened, and I don’t need anymore time to think in order to know that I want you, Holland. I want to keep seeing you come home to me after work. I want to be at your side for all your new firsts. I know what it’s like to wake up next to you every morning now, and I can’t give that up. You were made to be mine, Holland. And I was always made to be yours.”
