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Although, now his lips on mine were even better than I remembered. I appreciated him because I knew what it was like to be without him. There was so much sizzle and spark and something powerful I thought I’d be consumed on the spot.
He put his forehead to mine, breaths shallow. “I thought you only kissed people you love.”
“I do.”
“Hell, Beau. I love you too. I never stopped.”
Words I’d needed to hear. Needed to soak in to heal my brokenness.
“So, will you stop thinking you’re not enough, please? It’s only ever been you, and it will only ever be you.”
He took my lips again in affirmation, this time with even more determination and lust. Finally. Home. “I’ll try. For you.”
I smiled and reached up and kissed him one more time. Because I could.
I pulled him toward the ticket line and he followed me in a daze. But it didn’t take long for him to be back in command.
He moved with purposeful strides to the first ice cream cart we saw.
“I should know what flavor you like,” he said more to himself than me.
“Cookies and cream.”
He ordered for both of us and offered me a cone.
“Did we ever have ice cream?” he asked as we wandered toward a bench.
“I don’t think so.” I licked a taste and hummed. “Why did I ever give up sugar?”
“You don’t eat sugar?” he asked as if I’d told him the sun was never coming out again.
“Believe it or not, before I came back to New York, I hadn’t had any in . . . two, three years maybe.”
“Don’t tell Ma that,” he said. “She’ll have a heart attack.” Then he flashed me a sly smile. “Actually, you just keep right on not eating sugar. I’ll suffer through eating all her desserts.”
I narrowed my gaze. “That piece of Italian cake is mine. I don’t even know what it is, but I’m having it.”
He smirked. “Not this round. You shouldn’t doubt me about these squirrels.”
My face nearly cracked, I was grinning so wide. Garrett looked years younger, like he’d let go of some of that weight he carried. I wanted to keep it that way. Share the load so he wasn’t all alone.
And I didn’t mean financial load, although I was still in shock from how much he’d been looking after his family all these years. My father was critical of him, thought Cal beneath him. But a man who looked after his family, even to his own financial detriment, was extraordinary, not a man deserving of my father’s scorn. Or anyone’s for that matter. No, I had been right all those years ago about Garrett Calhoun, and I was right now. He was worth any sacrifice. And he was mine.
I popped the last piece of cone in my mouth. “I’m ready for camels.”
He scarfed the rest of his ice cream down. “Let’s go find some to feed.”
“Baby sister,we can’t take him home. He won’t fit in the apartment.”
I hugged Aldo one more time. We’d done something better than feeding camels. We’d ridden them.
“But we’re friends now,” I protested.
“Even if he spits in your face?” Garrett laughed.
“Even if he spits in my face.”
“Do you want to ride him again?”
