Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“You wrote a letter to your wife every single day?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s quite the commitment.”
Noel grinned. “Well, I wanted to keep her interest. That goes back to your lust with a side of like.”
“Yes, it does.”
“These days you have it easy. You just pick up the phone, call, use FaceTime, and see their beautiful face whenever you want, so there’s no excuse now not to make sure you’re always connected.”
“Fifty-two years?” I teased him.
His laugh was warm. “When you know, you know.” He smiled at his wife. “It was like lightning for me. She needed more convincing.”
Kiyomi shook her head.
“It was because I drove a motorcycle and she didn’t want to wear a helmet, and every time she tied a scarf in her hair, we’d look behind us and it was lying in the road.”
“Was it hard for the two of you in 1972 in Los Angeles?” Ash asked.
“Of course,” Noel told him. “But you don’t give up just because something is hard, now do you?”
“No, sir.”
“Good, now we’ll start a tab for you because you’re going to need cobbler. In the meantime,” he directed us, “walk down those steps and all the way to the back. There’s a fireplace near a table by the window overlooking the bay. Not a lot to see today, but that’s all right.”
The table was oak, the chairs teak, and the fact that they were mismatched only added to the charm. It was comfortable, the rain was lovely on the water, and once we were both sitting, I smiled at Ash.
“So, do you think that was the universe giving us a sign?”
“Of course that was the universe giving us a sign!” he shouted at me. “Are you kidding? I am calling every day when we’re apart. And yes, I will probably call at bad times, wake you from a dead sleep, and generally make a nuisance of myself, but I don’t care.”
I was crazy about his adamant declarations, the besotted look in his eyes, his silky tone, and the way he got up from his chair and dropped down into the one beside me. I couldn’t stop smiling.
“I’m already invested, Cooper, and I know I am because I’m over here riding a roller coaster of emotions, but I have no desire to get off.”
“No? None?” I asked, grinning.
“And see, you’re nasty, just like I am. You’re made for me.”
“I am,” I said, and it came out lower and more growly than intended.
He sucked in a breath.
“I promise, Ash, no more second-guessing, only moving forward.”
“We don’t have to do the spitting again, do we?”
“No. It’s still good from the last time,” I murmured, standing up and then sitting right in his lap, straddling his thighs and taking his face in my hands. “But I do think this promise needs sealing.”
His breath caught. “Yes. I—me too.”
“And when we get back to the room, we’ll seal it again more thoroughly.”
Lots of nodding.
“I want you to take this bracelet back. It’s not necessary,” I said, tilting his head, lifting his lips to mine. “I have what I want,” I said, and kissed him.
I sank into the kiss, and he opened and received me, and somehow, it was different from the others because we were on the same ground and it was solid. I wanted him. Not just in my bed, but in my life, with me, as a constant presence, the man who would stay and be mine. And yes, it was crazy and fast and all the things that were supposed to be wrong, but I’d actually had the wrong guy, and I could tell the difference.
His hands were clutching my thighs, holding so tight, not wanting me to move, wanting more of the kiss, more of my tongue, his whimpering moan making me smile against his mouth.
“Boys, it’s almost cobbler time,” Kiyomi called.
“Tell her,” Ash whispered, “that we need to take it to go.”
I kissed him again because he was a man after my own heart.
ELEVEN
Before we left, I apologized to Kiyomi and Noel about kissing my boyfriend at the back of their sweet little store.
“Well, since you two are the only ones in here at the moment,” Kiyomi teased me, “I’ll forgive you.”
“And since you’ve only been together for a day, that kind of thing is to be expected,” Noel said knowingly. “Best go back to the inn and stay there.”
It was both embarrassing and funny.
“They think we’re horny teenagers,” Ash said as we left the store with two pieces of warm blueberry cobbler and two travel cups of tea. “Like we have no self-control at all.”
When I shrugged, he laughed.
“Fine,” he acquiesced, “but I will remind you that we did not have sex in their bathroom, which to me, showed a staggering amount of willpower.”
“Agreed,” I said and took his hand.
Halfway back, the rain started really coming down again, at which point we realized we’d left the umbrella at the bookstore. We ducked inside the empty visitor center, where there were several benches in the lobby, to wait for it to slow to a drizzle.