Page 103 of The Spark Between Us

He was saying things I’d needed him to say while I was still there. Before, I made myself believe he didn’t feel them because he’d so easily let me go.

“I love you, Sarah. I love you so much. And I want you with me on the journey—wherever it takes us—even though I don’t deserve it.”

I put a finger over his lips. I melted at his words, but I couldn’t take it anymore. “Stop saying you don’t deserve it. If you don’t deserve to be happy, then neither do I. And I won’t stand for that. I deserve it. And I want you. So there’s nothing left to discuss. You’ve got me. And I’m not letting you go.”

I didn’t know how it was going to work with him living an hour away and me being a disaster in a car, but maybe...maybe we’d figure something out.

He crushed my lips with his kiss, pushing his hands into my hair. Our tongues tangled and he wrapped me in his arms. Things could have escalated quickly from there if we hadn’t both realized we were in a fire station yard.

Speaking of which...

“Braden, how’d you find this place? What town are we in?” I asked. It was certainly picturesque.

“Richmond.”

“Where?”

“Woman, please get a map. It’s one town over from Berkeley.”

“No, I know where Richmond is. I’m asking why we’re here.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Captain Michaels was offered a transfer.”

My brain whirled as I put the pieces together. “Wait, here? You’re going to work here? So I can keep my job at Berkeley and still live with you and not have to get in a car?”

He nodded, and my eyes welled with tears.

As he blotted them with his thumb, he grazed my neck with his lips and whispered in my ear, “There’s beauty in the unexpected, Sarah. Love is the beauty.”

He was right. I loved him. And it was beautiful.

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