Page 86 of Love Fast

The lights in the cabin are on when the bus pulls up.

“Do you want me to wait?” the driver asks.

“I’ll be fine. I can Uber back if there’s no one home.”

“Right you are.” He gives me a quick salute and the doors hiss closed. The bus pulls off, leaving me standing in front of Byron’s cabin. But the lights are on in the cabin where I stayed, not Byron’s. Maybe someone else is renting? I climb up Byron’s porch, ready to knock on the door of the darkened cabin, but I pause. I can’t hear any signs of life at all.

What am I doing here?

If I wake him up, he’s going to wonder what the hell I’m doing. We’re due to meet in a little over seven hours. And I’m in my pajamas. It’s not my best look.

I pull out my phone and double-click the get-me-out-of-here also known as Uber app. Just then, there’s a noise over at my old cabin.

Byron stands in the doorway wearing plaid pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt stretched over his muscled torso.

We lock eyes from across the cabins. “Rosey?”

“I just couldn’t wait until eight,” I say, as if that explains everything. “I have all these things I want to say. And I’m sorry I woke you but?—”

“You didn’t wake me,” he interrupts. “And I want to hear all the things you want to say.”

“You weren’t asleep?”

He lifts his hand to scratch the back of his head. The hem of his t-shirt lifts, exposing his stomach. I want to talk about important stuff, but his body? It has the ability to distract me from a nuclear war. “Way too much on my mind,” he says, breaking my focus on his abs. “I’m making ragu. Want some?” A sexy smile curves around his lips.

I definitely want some ragu. Especially if “ragu” is a euphemism for something else entirely.

I scramble down the steps to get to him and he meets me halfway.

“You moved?” I say, glancing back at his old cabin. But I don’t wait for a response before I say, “I went to Oregon and I figured all this stuff out and I want to tell you about it. Because it involves you. You and me. And I realize… so much now.”

He gives me a small smile, scoops up my hand. It feels so good to be touching him, to feel his hand in mine. It feels safe and secure. He’s protective without being controlling. I see the difference now. We head into the cabin as if all the time since I’ve moved out has been erased.

“Come inside and tell me everything.”

He heads to the burner and turns off the heat.

His skin against mine feels so right. Warm and safe and solid. I’ve never experienced Byron as controlling or selfish. He’s always let me do what I want to do. I’ve met his friends and seen how they love him—as much or more than this town does. I’ve been expecting him to be like the people around me in Oregon, but I’m not in Oregon anymore. I’m right here in Star Falls, Colorado.

My life changed forever the day I was supposed to marry Frank. Because I met Byron.

“You want some hot chocolate?” he asks.

I just want you, I want to say. I manage to hold back. “Sure.” That should give me room to breathe, time to organize my thoughts. I glance around and see Athena curled up on the floor by the fire. She opens one eye, sees me, but goes back to sleep. Cats.

I take a seat on the couch and he sets about heating milk in the pan and taking mugs from the cupboard. He’s calm and considered, like me turning up in the middle of the night telling him I’ve been to Oregon happens every last Tuesday of the month.

“How come you couldn’t sleep?” I ask.

“Tell me about Oregon first. That’s why you’re here.”

He’s right. I’m stalling. I just don’t know how to start. “I saw Mom and my sisters.”

He turns, catching my eye. “You okay?”

“Yes. I mean, no.” I sigh. “Kinda. It was tough to leave my sisters. But they’re all adults. They have their own journeys to take with my mom. I can’t force them to break free.”

He sighs and turns back to the stove.

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