Page 82 of Haunted Ever After

Well, that was an easy decision. He caught her hand and pressed it to his heart. “Oh, I definitely love you.” He bent his head, laying a kiss on her forehead, her cheek, the tip of her nose. She closed her eyes, giving a happy hum in response.

On the television, a girl in a barely-there pink bikini pushed an overly muscled guy into the pool, declaring she was over his bullshit. But Nick wasn’t paying attention, because Cassie was warm in his arms, and the scent of her shampoo made him dizzy. He leaned down to catch her mouth with his, sinking into a kiss that didn’t need to be hurried. There were no barriers between them now; they had all the time in the world.

“I was thinking…” Her mouth moved against his, punctuating each word with another kiss. “That recliner of Elmer’s.”

“What about it?” How was Cassie thinking at a time like this? Nick wasn’t doing his job right. He kissed his way up her throat and behind her ear.

“I was thinking it might look nice over there…” Nick reluctantly raised his head to follow where she was pointing, over by the front window. “In that nook. Cozy, you know?”

Nick caught his breath while his heart continued to pound. Was she asking what he thought she was asking?

He swallowed hard. “You’re right. It would.”

“And I have a lot of space in my closet upstairs. I’m only using, say, half of it.”

“Really?” He hadn’t thought of himself as a domestic guy in a long time, but damn if what she was offering didn’t sound perfect. “I hardly have any closet space in my apartment.”

“Just something to think about,” Cassie said. Her hand lingered on his cheek, her fingertips tracing his cheekbone. She looked at him with wonder, as though she couldn’t believe he was there. Nick knew the feeling. Her mouth was right there, kiss-swollen and inviting, and he couldn’t resist another second.

It didn’t take long for Cassie to straddle him on the couch, their kisses becoming deeper, their hands wandering over and under clothes, rivaling the making out that was happening on the long-forgotten television screen.

“It doesn’t have to be tomorrow or anything…” Cassie gasped as he tugged gently on one earlobe with his teeth. Nick liked that sound. Would she do it if he bit the other earlobe? A worthy experiment. He grasped her chin, turning her head to the side and kissing a path to her other ear. Damn, she made the same sound there too. Incredible. “Just something to keep in mind, in case your place ever feels too small.” Her voice was breathless, her chest heaving against his, her fingers twining in his hair.

“My place is always too small,” he murmured into her hair. He skimmed his hands up her sides, pushing that soft T-shirt up to reveal even softer skin.

She pulled away and looked at him, her expression suddenly unsure. “Probably too soon for that kind of thing, huh?”

But the astonishing thing was, it wasn’t. It was just like the night Nick had kissed her for the first time. On paper, it was probably way too soon. Nick should probably be scared of this kind of commitment, but this was different. This was Cassie. And everything with her felt just right.

He shook his head and pulled her close. “Feels just in time to me.”

Much later that night, while they were sound asleep in Cassie’s bed, magnetic words moved to the center of Cassie’s fridge. A special message for Nick to find in the morning.

welcome home

Epilogue

SEVEN MONTHS LATER

Sunsets came much earlier in January.

At five on the dot, Cassie logged out of her laptop, firmly closing it for the day. For the weekend. It was Friday night in Boneyard Key, and she had someplace to be. After filling a plastic tumbler with white wine and getting a bottle of water out of the fridge, she headed down to the beach. Nick was already there, straddling the seawall.

“There you are.” He took the bottle of water from her hand, twisting off the cap and setting it on the seawall next to an open bottle of beer. Cassie scooted onto the wall, swinging her legs over to sit next to him.

“Just in time.” She gestured with her wine toward the horizon, where the sun hung low in the sky.

Nick nodded, dropping a kiss on her temple as she leaned against his shoulder. “Show’s just about to start.”

This was their favorite time of day, and they always tried to spend it together. Some days were easier than others; with Florida currently full of snowbirds, Nick’s two o’clock closing time often stretched to three or four. But he was always home before sunset, waiting for her on the seawall with an open beer for the Beach Bum.

Home. Not just her home, or Sarah’s home. But Nick’s home too. They’d spent that dead season in August—when it was too hot even for tourists—moving his things into her house, and the space over the café was back to being storage for the first time in years. After a good cleaning, Elmer’s leather recliner was a cozy addition to her front window—the perfect place to read in the evening tucked under Cassie’s crocheted afghan.

Combining their lives had been just as easy. Especially at the holidays: half the time with Cassie’s parents in Orlando, then up the Turnpike an hour and a half to The Villages where Nick’s family gathered. Sure, Cassie’s mom’s eyebrows had crawled up her forehead when Cassie announced at the Thanksgiving dinner table that she and Nick lived together, but she’d sent them home with extra pie, which was the surest sign that he was now a member of the family. Likewise, Nick’s family had welcomed Cassie at Christmas with open arms; his sister Courtney had even drafted Cassie to her team for the annual (strictly unauthorized) neighborhood golf cart relay race. They’d won.

During those first few months they kept checking in with each other—is this too soon? Are we rushing things? But Nick fit into Cassie’s life as easily as she fit into his, and by the time the new year ticked over, it was as though they’d always been together. Like two puzzle pieces that had found each other, just in time.

A breeze kicked up as the world darkened around them, and Cassie gave a shiver and pulled the sleeves of her hoodie down to cover her hands.

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