Page 140 of With a Little Luck

Fireworks.

Trumpets.

Shooting stars.

A symphonic crescendo.

And when she kisses me back … it is a freaking Level 8 Sunburst spell.

347

Chapter Forty-Five

She’s in my arms, the ends of her hair brushing against myknuckles, and both of her hands in my hair and, great mother of Gandalf, I am disintegrating by the time I manage to pull away.

Struggling for breath, I lean against her and watch as her eyelashes flutter open.

We stare at each other a long, speechless moment.

Slowly, Ari slides her hands down my neck. Her thumbs brush against my ears. Fingers spread across my shoulders then stop at my chest, where my heart is thundering beneath the surface.

Finally, the words come.

“I want to be with you,” I say. “On whatever quest or adventure we go on. I want to be with you. Always. All the time. And I hate that it took me so long to figure that out.”

She makes a sound that’s a bit of a laugh and a bit of an exhale.

“Jude … I—”

A knock raps against the front door.

We both yelp—but rather than jumping apart, we draw closer together, her body tucking instinctively against mine.

“Whatnow?” I mutter.

A man is standing outside the front door, fully visible through the glass. Even in the dim lighting, I can see that he’s smartly dressed in a khaki sport coat and long plaid scarf.

“Who is that?” says Ari.348

“I don’t know,” I say.

But then the man smiles at us and gives us a casual wave, almost more of a salute, and—

Holy crap.

Idoknow who it is.

“Wait a minute …,” says Ari. “He kind of looks like …”

“Sadashiv,” I whisper.

And it is.

FreakingSadashivis standing outside Ventures Vinyl at half past ten on a Saturday night.

Beside me, Ari whispers to herself, “This dream just got weirder.”

I almost laugh when I glance at her. Except—I think she might be serious. “Do we let him in?”

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