Page 55 of Falling for the Guy Next Door

I felt my cheeks get warm. “I vaguely remember it,” I said with a smile.

“You were absolutely my inspiration. Moonstone’s sales are off the charts today. I’m not sure how long it’ll last, but I think I’ll at least have enough for the initial payment. Maybe even more.”

“Wow, I had no idea. I knew it was getting a lot of views this morning when Emily showed it to me.”

He stood up. “It’s getting hot. Let’s go for a swim.”

“You don’t have to ask me twice.” I started walking and then picked up my pace. “The sand is hotter than I expected. My sisters love to tease me about my overly sensitive feet. They used to imitate me running down to the water. Nonna used to say I looked like a high-stepping, gaited pony.”

Nash put out his hand. “Hop on my back. I’ll carry you down to the water.”

I hesitated. “Really?”

“Hop on.”

I climbed on his back and wrapped my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my legs. I rested my chin against his shoulder and pressed my cheek against his. “I can’t remember the last time I had a piggyback ride. I highly recommend it on hot sand, although I don’t think I’ll be able to return the favor.”

Nash started jogging to the water. I laughed and tightened my grip on him. His feet plunged into the frothy water lapping at the shore. He carried me a few more feet, then I let go and floated into the cool waves. Seconds later, I was wrapped around him again, this time face-to-face. He held me while treading water. The tide lifted us up and dropped us down.

Nash kissed me lightly on the lips. “Hmm, salty. Not bad. Ever have one of those days when you can’t believe how great everything is going, and because things don’t always go great, instead of enjoying the day, all you can do is worry that all the greatness will stop and something terrible will happen?”

“I think that’s a normal feeling,” I said. “Nonna used to say ‘enjoy the good stuff and don’t fret about the bad because you know both of them will always be somersaulting through your life.’”

“She sounds like a cool grandmother. You and your sisters, you were really nuts about her, weren’t you?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s still with all of us in spirit. Always. She just had that kind of presence, and she was such a big influence on our lives. So, I guess what I was trying to say, in Nonna’s words, is just enjoy it for now and deal with the bad when it happens.” I wiped a streak of sand off his face.

I hadn’t planned for the simple gesture to turn into something, but it did … turn into something. Nash reached up and held my hand against his face. He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. “This is turning out to be so much more than I expected, Layla. I can’t stop thinking about us. I feel like there’s been something important, something crucial missing in my life for a long time. Even when the band was doing well, I never felt settled, and that was long before my mom’s accident. And now it feels like I have that missing piece. It’s you. I needed you in my life.”

Every word was winding its way softly and soundly around my heart. “I feel the same way, Nash. I’ve never felt this. This is different, so much more, so significant that I almost feel like I can’t let go for fear that you’ll disappear and this will just be a dream.” I knew now how my sisters felt when they met their soulmates. There was dating and relationships and then there was this. I couldn’t put a solid description to the way I was feeling. All I knew was it felt overwhelming and right.

We stayed entwined together floating up and down in the cool water of the cove. Yep, it felt overwhelming and it definitely felt right.

ChapterThirty-Two

Nash

My phone vibrating on the coffee table and overly loud music on the television woke me from a deep sleep. My eyes skimmed past the clock on the wall. I was sure it said 2:30. I assumed since it was still dark outside that meant 2:30 in the morning and not afternoon. Soft hair brushed my arm, and I woke up fully. I was slumped back on the couch, and Layla was sleeping soundly with her head in my lap. There was an empty pizza box on the coffee table. The evening was coming back to me. Layla and I had spent the whole afternoon and evening together, mostly talking about family, future dreams, childhood embarrassments. We ordered a pizza and binged a marathon of old comedy movies. We were so comfortable in each other’s company that at some point during an Abbott and Costello movie, we both dozed off.

I rested my head back, not wanting to wake Layla. She moaned softly and curled herself deeper under the blanket I’d carried out from the bedroom. My phone buzzed again, and I startled, obliterating my plan not to wake her. A text in the middle of the night was never good news.

Layla stretched and yawned, then sat up suddenly. “Oh jeez, did we fall asleep?”

“We did.”

Layla stayed cocooned in the blanket as she sat back on the sofa.

I reached for my phone. My heart rate had jumped into overdrive. I was relieved to see it was a text from Ronnie and not Becky.

“Is everything all right,” Layla asked.

“It’s from Ronnie, which is weird at this hour.”

Layla looked across to the clock. “Oh wow, it’s the middle of the night. I guess none of my sisters are home, otherwise they’d have called me.”

I opened the text. “Call me if you’re up. I just opened an email from Concord Records, and you’re going to want to hear what they have to say.” I stared at the text, trying to decide if I wanted to call her. It was late, and my head wasn’t on straight enough to hear about business deals.

“Is Ronnie okay?” Layla asked.

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