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A fine-boned hand slips into mine, and in the next second, we’re face to face.
“Hi.”
“Hello,” I say back.
Moments pass, and everything around us fades into the background as I stare at her, just holding her hand. Serenity’s heart-shaped face is exactly as I remember it. Her deep brown eyes have the same hopeful spark that made me fall for her the first time. Her teeth are straighter and whiter, and her makeup and eyebrow routine have been updated since 2013, but she’s still the girl I remember. I sigh in relief that her Instagram photos didn’t lie, and she hasn’t been starving herself to impress more Hollywood directors. Her grown-up curves are even more lush and tempting now than they used to be.
I haven’t let go of her hand yet, and the two of us stand there like jerks until her father clears his throat.
“You kids have a nice time. Have her home by midnight,” he jokes.
My throat dries up as I turn to the man. “Amazing to see you again, Mr. Hyman.”
Serenity’s father pats my back in a side hug. “We’re all grown-ups now; you can call me Jim. How you doing, kid?”
How am I doing? I’m so nervous I might soil myself. “I’m grand, as always, and you?”
“I’m a proud papa. Always better when she’s home.”
“I keep telling him to move to L.A. with me, but he won’t listen,” Serenity says.
“First, she buys me season tickets to the Reds, and then she wants me to move. Which is it?” Jim jokingly complains with a twinkle in his eye.
Serenity rolls her eyes as her dad kisses her on the cheek. “Be careful. Call if you need me,” he says.
“I will, thanks, Dad.”
The last time I saw the man was graduation night when Serenity was called to LA to audition for a part. My flight home was the following day, and I never got to give her a proper goodbye.
But I’m determined not to fuck it up this time.
Serenity takes my offered hand, and I lead her into the lobby, her short black cocktail dress sliding over every curve as she moves. She’s not dressed for a high school class reunion in Ohio. She’s dressed for a hot date, her neckline so deeply plunging that I can see the beginning of the crease at her…under-boob area. I’m going to have a hard time thinking about what she could be wearing under that thing because whatever is holding up those breasts is not a bra. At least not the kind most women wear that I know of.
“Eyes up here, buddy.”
“Shit, sorry.”’
“Teasing.”
I tear my gaze away from her breasts and meet her lovely brown eyes.
Serenity’s hair is down around her shoulders in long, relaxed curls that frame her face. The smile in her eyes and on her wine-red lips is exactly as I remember her.
“You look…amazing isn’t the word…”
I’m trying to think of the right thing to say, but words elude me.
Serenity smiles and smooths down her dress, then looks me up and down.
“Thank you. You look sexy,” she says, touching her delicate fingers to my lapels, over my tie. Her face is flushed as she blinks up at me.
“I seem to recall a big plan to hug me when you saw me?” I say with a teasing look.
With a laugh, she rolls up on her five-inch heels and wraps her arms around my neck.
I surrender to her enthusiastic embrace and hug her small frame against my body.
With this hug, I don’t feel only reunited with my old high school pal. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she feels like I’m hugging my forever person.
