Page 103 of Friends Don't Kiss

thirty-seven

Kiara

We’vereachedtheforkto Emerald Creek, where the only place the road can now take us is back home. In any journey, this is the point where I feel a sense of peace. Today, that feeling is tinged with a little bitterness: we’re each going back to our own apartment. The party’s over.

It would have meant the beginning of the end, however slowly it may come, if Colton’s words at the A-frame weren’t still ringing in my ears: “This is where we begin.” And somehow, I believe him.

Giving myself entirely to Colton unlocked something inside me. I feel loved. Supported. Invincible.

“You ever talk to Alex about your business?” Colton asks me, taking me out of my thoughts.

Alex inherited a fortune from her grandmother—in the baking business, no less. She’s transforming the company to help independent bakeries get started. She could solve my problems with one stroke of a pen on a checkbook, and it would make no difference to her life.

Colton shakes his head. “You’re too proud.”

“I didn’t say anything!”

“I can hear you thinking, sweets. Can’t say I don’t understand where you’re coming from, though. But if she’s the solution to your problems, what are you waiting for? She’s helping people she doesn’t even know. Why not you?”

Because I want to prove myself, and I don’t think I’ve done that yet. I don’t think I’ve given it my all, tried everything I could to make it on my own. There are still things I should be doing. Like training in Paris, or taking a chance on my own shop.

He pushes. “D’you hear what Annabel said?”

I shuffle in my seat. “She went through all the normal channels. The schools, the internships, the right jobs at the right places. It’s easy for her to say it was all useless. No offense, but I’m not sure it’s true.”

He grunts. “I didn’t look at it that way.”

He’s right, though. “I’m talking with Emma about setting up my business at the barn, see if the numbers work out.”

He smiles wide but doesn’t say anything.

We’ve arrived at Sunrise Farms, and he pulls up to the front door. “Dropping you off, then I’m going straight to the garage. I’ll see you at Lazy’s?” he says as he leans over to kiss me.

Lazy’s goes without saying. It’s a given when you’ve spent any time outside of Emerald Creek that you’ll go there for a beer. It’s the part after Lazy’s I want to figure out.I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.It feels too brutal. How do I bring it up? “I wish we could have stayed another night,” I whisper against his mouth.

He puts a little space between us, and I dip my gaze to his leather jacket. “Yeah… about that…” He tugs me back against him, his jaw caressing the crown of my head. “Not sleeping without you if I can help it. Wanna wake up with you tomorrow. You choose the place. Yeah?”

And just like that, another weight lifts from my chest. “Yeah.” I twine my fingers tighter around his neck as I kiss him, relishing the coarseness of his stubble.

I spend the rest of the day with his taste on my lips, running numbers, and texting Emma. Basically, filling my day until I can be with Colton again. Despite my actions, my mind isn’t on my work. All I’m doing is thinking about Colton, about everything he said to me, everything he did to me, and everything he means to me now.

Colton texts me out of the blue. I tease him a little, then I decide it’s time to text Willow.

So

Something happened

Willow

No shit. Get your ass here.

I laugh. The evening is closing in on us anyway; I might as well go to Lazy’s now and get all the gossip fodder out of the way.

I hit the remote starter of my car and quickly change into a bottle-green turtleneck that brings out the color of my eyes, fix my hair, and put makeup on.

Then I’m on my way, low-key excitement coursing through my veins. Now that I’m with Colton, everything looks different to me.

thirty-eight

---