Page 24 of Hot Stuff

“You did?” I whispered, feeling like I was on the edge of my seat. He saw the star! We both made wishes on the same shooting star!

“Hmm.” His lips brushed my temple again. “I was feeling lost and made a wish like some sap, and guess what?”

“What?” I wanted to turn around to look at him to tell him I’d made a wish on that same star.

“For a moment, I thought okay, something’s gonna happen…. then nothing did.”

“Oh.” My body tensed.

“Then I looked out, and BANG! There you were.”

“What?” I couldn’t help it. I turned around, my hands on his chest as I stared up at the handsome man who had turned my life upside down in the sweetest of ways.

“You were right there,” he repeated. “I couldn’t see your face, just the back of you, and you weren’t looking at the water. And I was wondering, what could she be doing? She’s not lookin’ out there. Doesn’t she know she’s missing it? To me, the ocean, the water’s always been beautiful. A great place to be. But you were sitting there, painting rocks. I didn’t see your face, just your back, your hair dancing in the wind, and fuck.” He lifted my hand up to rest over his heart. “And I felt something right here. Forty years of living on this earth, moving, doing shit being in the middle of crappy situations…. I’d never felt what I felt right then.”

“Dan—"

“I went inside. Thought I was a crazy fuck. All I wanted to do was rush out and find you. I got as far as the kitchen, ignoring that damn pull I felt.”

“Honey—"

“And I went out, but you were gone. It was like you had vanished into thin air, and all I found was this.” He pulled something out of his front pocket. My eyes widened at the smooth skipping rock I’d painted. A stifled giggling sound escaped from me.

“Dan…” My eyes searched his.

He’d picked up the bright pink Believe rock I’d left behind. Not only that, but he’d been carrying it with him this whole time.

“Your art means something. What you do, on your own time and at the rec center, means something.”

“Baby, you’re sweet but?—"

“If you didn’t mean so much to this community, I would have asked you to come with me. Travel the globe and surf and swim all over the fucking world with me.”

“You’re leaving in a couple of days,” I reminded him, but all he did was shrug. He didn’t deny or confirm it. And those feelings of missing him grew despite the fact he was standing right in front of me.

How could I know I’d miss him so much? The loss of seeing him, being around him, would feel devastating. But we’d just met! How could I be so silly?

Because you love him, my heart and mind both gently said, and I blinked.

I love him. I’d gone and done the worst, stupidest possible thing! Fallen in love with a man who wasn’t planning on staying. Even right then, as he was telling me the sweetest story about when he first laid eyes on me, how we’d both made wishes on the same shooting star, he was still planning on leaving.

And I was going to let him.

“Thank you for being more than the promise of what I thought I saw that night.”

“I don’t know if I should call you Mr. Hot Stuff or Smooth Operator now,” I teased, blinking away tears. My emotions were getting the better of me. Three little words hung off the tip of my tongue, ready to spill, but I couldn’t let that happen. I love you.

“You’re everything I didn’t know existed, kitten.” His nose brushed against mine. I had to get him to stop talking, and fast, because I could only hold things in for so long. I rose on the tips of my toes and pressed my lips to his.

Like anytime we were alone, and sometimes not alone, when our mouths came together, the world around us disappeared. He picked me up, and my legs wrapped around his waist. Dan started to walk us back inside when I pulled back. His gaze searched mine, and I asked for what I wanted.

“Out here,” I whispered. I wanted him to make love to me on the balcony under a sky full of stars while the waves broke on the shore. I had never thought of myself as an exhibitionist, but Dan brought out a side of me I hadn’t met yet.

“Here?” His eyes heated, and he nodded. He carried me to the light switch and bumped it off “I’ll take you under the stars, but there is no way I’ll ever risk anyone seeing what’s mine.” For now, I thought but quickly shook away the thought. I love him.

“Love me, Dan. Please.”

“How could I say no to that?” he grunted, then his tongue dove into my mouth.

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