Page 33 of Fall For You

“But you know,” I tell him. “There is one condition.”

“Ohhh, soyou’remaking conditions now?” he replies in teasing tones. “How about that?”

“Yeah. But just one. I don’t want to hide anymore. I don’t want to sneak around. I want everyone in town to know that we’re together. And I really need you to be okay with that.”

“Sounds definitely like more than one condition,” he says, mocking me with my own words.

I shake my head. “It is what it is. Take it or leave it.”

Carter smiles. “Oh, I’m definitely going to take it.” And then he reaches for me.

This time, we make love slowly—because, suddenly, it feels like we have all the time in the world. I hope we do.

“So, how long can you stay?”Carter asks, a long time later.

I raise my head and frown at him. “I told you. I can stay forever. However long you want me to stay.”

He shakes his head. “No. I mean now, today. When do you have to get back to the house?”

“Oh.” I think about that. “I don’t know. Probably not for a while yet? Why? What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I thought maybe we could have dinner.”

My glance strays toward the kitchen. “Here?”

“I was thinking more like…downstairs. In the restaurant. Out in public—no more hiding. Isn’t that what you said you wanted?”

“Yes.” I throw myself into his arms, kiss him with all the strength at my disposal—not as much as I had earlier, before we exhausted ourselves with each other. “Do you want to go now?”

“Well, Iwasthinking we should dress first,” Carter says. “But going like this would certainly meet the definition of not hiding from anyone.”

“Yeah,” I say grinning back at him. “It would do that. But I think it’s okay to keep people guessing a little bit.”

“Up to you,” Carter says. Then he draws me back down, and kisses me again, and… You know what? Maybe I’m not that tired after all. Dinner can wait.

EPILOGUE

Carter

The Valentine’sDay dinner is an absolute success, so much so that I can barely take it all in.

“Well, you did it,” Jo says as she joins me near the bar.

“No,” I correct as I snake out an arm to draw her close. “We did it.”

“Yeah, we did,” she agrees, grinning back at me.

Despite her smile, I’m suddenly nervous. Trying for a nonchalant tone I say, “So. I, uh…I think we should start planning our next event.”

“Really?” Jo eyes me curiously. “Okay. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, what I was thinking,” I begin, then immediately stop again when she clutches my arm.

“Wait. Just, please, whatever you do, don’t say St Patrick’s Day, okay? Because that’s not a lot of lead time, and I don’t want to have to scramble. Maybe next year we can do that. But, this year, I’m still settling in.”

“Uh, no, that wasn’t…” My thoughts stall out a little at the unexpected reassurance. She really is planning on staying.Which is good—it’s great, in fact. It’s exactly what I needed to here. I clear my throat and start again. “No. What I was actually thinking was…maybe sometime in June?”

“In June,” Jo repeats, frowning a little. “Okay. Sure. If that’s what you want. We can do that. But…is there a reason? I mean, you know that’s already a big graduation month, right? And then there’s Father’s Day, but?—”

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