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He felt his brow furrow. “You have a complex?”
She pressed into his arm with her front. “No, honey, I’m teasing. Though, you are kinda perfect.” She looked to his mom. “But I lied. He isn’t always right in an argument. But he is too often for my liking.”
His mother’s lips were twitching, but then her expression shifted, and it tore at Hale when she focused on him.
“Sometimes, when you know you’ve gone too far, you can’t backpedal,” she admitted. “You just have to keep going and hope eventually you’ll get back on the right track.”
“Stop pedaling, Mom,” he ordered. “I’m right here. You don’t have to work so hard to get somewhere when where you want to be is right here.”
She fell back in her chair and lifted her napkin to her face like she was dabbing something, but instead, she was hiding her emotion.
Hale gave her time.
Then he said, “Elsa and I met when I called her to warn her off talking about Tom and Mika on her show. She was a little brat. Totally not afraid of me. I was intrigued. That’s how it started.”
His mom lifted her gaze to him as he spoke, and he saw wet sparkling in her eyes.
“She’s still a brat a lot of the time, but I guess I like strong women who don’t let anyone shit on them. You might have something to do with that,” he concluded.
“Just…I’ll be right back,” Sam said quickly, clumsily getting up and hustling toward the bathroom.
He saw Elsa’s neck twisted, watching her go, then she turned back to him and said, “Okay, I think we might be getting somewhere.”
“I love you,” he whispered. “You’re pretty perfect too.”
She smiled and cupped his cheek. “I know. I’m awesome.”
He cupped her jaw in return, but he didn’t speak. He used it to pull her to him.
It was a racier kiss than he’d intended. They weren’t alone in that restaurant, and it wasn’t lost on him when they arrived, they’d garnered attention.
But fuck it.
Sometimes, you couldn’t worry about what the world thought. You needed to focus on what was important.
His mom came back, and although she tried, you could tell she’d been crying.
“Right, Mom,” Hale said quietly. “Let’s start again. Hey, Elsa and me are here to have lunch with you. Then we have to go to Arizona for Chloe’s wedding this weekend. We’re heading back to New York after that, because Elsa is moving in. I’m training a talented man to help me do the things I want to do with what Dad gave me. This, I hope, will free my time so I can have some to do the things I like and be with people I care about. It’d be cool if you came out to New York sometime. There’s plenty of room at the penthouse.”
Sam sniffled.
Licked her lips.
Then she replied, “I’m glad you’re going to slow down a little bit, Hale. I’ve been really worried about you.”
That was when Hale reached across the table to his mom.
He’d left her hanging.
But she met him halfway.
EPILOGUE
LOVE YOU TILL THE END
Elsa
“These are healing nicely.”
