Page 58 of Two Steps Ahead

“This is where I come to recenter. It’s my safe space, I guess. You’ve been through a lot lately and I thought maybe it could be the same for you.”

“Weston,” she choked, standing on shaky legs before she reached for him. He wrapped her up, nuzzling the top of her head when she sighed and relaxed into his embrace. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”

“I’ve never wanted to share this place with anyone but you.”

She leaned back, looking over his face like she was waiting for the punch line, but there wasn’t one. Weston had never had an inkling of a desire to show anyone the greenhouse cabin before. Not even his mother. It was the only place in the world that was truly just his.

And now it was Kayleigh’s too.

They stood there quietly holding each other until Kayleigh sighed again and loosened her arms. She chuckled, disentangling herself, and he tried not to miss the feel of her against him.

Spying the leather-bound cover of a scrapbook near the bed, Weston debated on whether or not to show it to her. Finally, he decided he had to let her see.

Hopefully, she’d understand, not think it was creepy.

He sat on the bed, patting the space next to him. She joined him, eyes darting between his face and the album as he handed it to her.

“What is this?”

“Open it.” He didn’t want to tell her; he wanted to see her reaction.

She opened the book and promptly stopped breathing.

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered, her eyes scouring the pages of the scrapbook like she’d never seen the pictures before. Ridiculous, because she was the one who’d taken them.

Since she’d gone professional with her photography, Weston had followed her career. Every project she’d been a part of, he’d printed and put in the scrapbook, along with any news articles raving about them. He had clippings of her winning awards and volunteering with young kids glued in place beside the photos she’d taken. Pictures of small villages in far-off continents and animals who’d crept up while she’d been distracted. Beautiful forests and barren deserts.

“Why?” she asked, her voice heavy with emotion.

“Because they’re you. Because your love for nature shines through in every image. Plus, each picture is like seeing the world through your eyes. It was the closest thing I could find to having you in my life again.”

She flipped through the book, laughing at certain pages and telling him the stories behind some of his favorite photos. Wading through thigh-high water to cross a flooded creek for a picture of a single bird. Getting snowed in to a hotel for over a week so she could take a picture of a frozen waterfall. Weston laughed as she talked about falling off low branches in trees and embarrassing herself with locals.

When the stories were done and she’d seen the whole scrapbook, she turned to him. “I’ve been working on a secret project for a while now that I think you’ll love.”

“Oh yeah?” He raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Plants that survive in circumstances that they shouldn’t. I’ve been collecting images for years.”

It sounded amazing. “What made you start that?”

Kayleigh shrugged, putting the scrapbook back on the table and shifting to face him on the bed. “It started as a side project when I was traveling. It’s always so surprising to see flowers that should wither and die, but they thrive. Like finding violets in the desert, thriving in pure sunshine, or air ferns surviving in a rain forest that should make them waterlogged. They shouldn’t be able to live in those conditions, but they do.”

She stopped, looking up at him with swimming eyes. “It reminds me of us. We’ve been through so much and yet, here we are. Thriving. I always wondered what you’d think of it. I just never expected to have a chance to tell you.”

At her words, Weston couldn’t help himself. He palmed the back of her head and brought their lips together. The kiss was soft and sweet, a brush between two people who obviously cared for each other.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered when he pulled away, his thumb tracing her bottom lip. “Even when I didn’t know I was missing you, I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” she said, tugging him back to her.

This time, there was heat behind the kiss. Weston’s hands slid around her until he could pull her onto his lap. While she gripped his hair, he let his hands wander, slowly meandering up her thighs until he slipped them under her shirt, just stroking his palms along her hips and the curve of her waist. He nearly groaned at the feel of all that soft skin.

Despite everything else going on in their world, at that moment, all he could think about was Kayleigh. He wanted to see her laid out underneath him, wanted to feel every inch of her softness against the hard lines of his body. He wanted to tell her how he felt about her with every touch.

“Off,” she groaned, clawing at his shirt. He slipped it off and returned the favor, exhaling sharply when they were skin to skin.

He was positive that nothing in the world would ever feel as good as having Kayleigh Delacruz in his arms.

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