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“Hell yes. What do you want?”
“Surprise me,” I told him, not knowing the menu, trusting him with my food as I’d been for the past month anyway.
He kissed me, then headed off to get in line.
As I leaned against the back, I spotted Chloe, Holden, Olivia, and a couple of guys I didn’t recognize from here, sitting in a group on the grass near the stage, eating and drinking. Olivia saw me and waved, then gestured to me to join them.
I waved back and shook my head, then pointed toward Cash. She gave me a thumbs-up with an exaggerated smile, making me laugh.
This was people-watching at its best. All ages. Friend groups and families. Locals and tourists, although the number of out-of-towners had dropped to a fraction now that Labor Day had passed and we were officially in the off-season.
My phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket, expecting it to be Cash with a question about my dinner preference. Instead, it was Willa, and my heart skipped a beat.
“Hi, Willa.”
Willa, my seasoned, normally sedate fifty-something agent, let out a squeal like I’d never heard from her. “Avaaaaa!” She cleared her throat and said in a more level voice, “You did it, hon. I just talked to Sheldon. They want you for the job.”
“Oh, my god.” I popped up off the bench, put my finger over my ear to hear better because I didn’t want to miss a single word of this. My heart was galloping and it was all I could do not to squee in joy myself. “Is this for real?”
“It’s a thousand-percent real, honey, and it is a sweet offer.”
I listened as she rattled off all the details, only retaining half of it in my state of utter disbelief. Somewhere along the line, Cash came up beside me, a look of confusion on his face and a bag of tacos and two bottled waters in his hands. He set the bag and bottles on the bench and sat on the edge of it, as if to respect my phone call.
I held up a finger to tell him I was almost done as Willa promised to email me a summary of the details and the contract so I could sort through it all. I already knew I’d missed about half of what she’d told me as I tried to keep my cool and not come across as someone having a conniption fit in the middle of the town square.
When Willa and I disconnected, I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my lips together, which was the only thing I could do other than scream with joy.
“Is it the job?” Cash asked, grinning widely as if my happiness was contagious. “Was that Stream?”
“My agent,” I said breathlessly. “Yes. Yes! I’m trying to not lose my mind, but they offered me the head writer job!” I clasped both of his hands and squeezed excitedly.
“Holy shit, Ava. Fuck yeah. I’m so damn proud of you. Hell yes!”
I laughed sort of hysterically, in a good way, and bounced on my feet, then I threw my arms around him.
Cash pulled me close. “Congratulations, my little writing powerhouse. You deserve this and more.”
With his arms around me, I closed my eyes again, overcome. So overcome. With elation and disbelief and a measure of hell yes thrown in.
I breathed in Cash’s scent, savored every inch of his firm, big body pressing into me, cherished the low growl of emotion that came from his chest. I felt his support and genuine happiness for me in every cell. He was my biggest supporter, and in his arms celebrating was exactly where I wanted to be.
Even if it was only for a short while longer.
When we finally pulled apart, I ignored the sinking feeling in my chest and plastered the goofy grin back on. There’d be time later to miss Cash, but right now, I didn’t want to miss a single second.
“What do you say we take our tacos back to my place and celebrate privately?” I suggested.
With another sexy growl, he banded an arm around me, pulled me to him as he grabbed the food with his other hand, and laid another toe-curling kiss on my lips. “I say yes. One-hundred-percent yes.”
Chapter22
Cash
It felt like I’d been asleep for an hour tops when the mattress dipped beside me and I felt a light touch on my arm.
“Cash, my car will be here in ten minutes.”
I cracked one eye open enough to see it was still dark outside. The bathroom light was on, the door pulled nearly closed, letting only a small beam through.
