Page 50 of Runaway
“Are they pity people?”
He snorted. “No, but almost.”
That didn't feel great either, but he dove back into his food. Didn't seem to bother him that his plan for keeping Adventura halfway relied on the charity of others, but it wasn't a thought I wanted to voice. The congenial, warm air between us was too nice and I wanted to bask in it a bit more.
“I grabbed a few things for Seiko while I ran to the store,” he said. “I'd forgotten shampoo and soap for the bathroom out there. I'll get a firmer date and time for when her band will be here, then we can do the official booking.”
“Thanks.”
“After we eat, I'll send some texts.” He waved his fork around as if to illustrate his point. “We'll find someone.”
A hundred more questions rose to the tip of my tongue.What's your online plan? Is the website live? How long until we can book online?I quelled them for later. Before I could speak again, he grumbled about spam calls but didn't seem to need a reply. I let him speak through things while I half-listened, my thoughts still churning in the background.
Once our appetites slowed and I folded my container closed to eat the rest tomorrow, he lifted both his eyebrows.
“So,” he drawled, “you ready for 007 3.0?”
A rush of butterflies in my stomach took me by surprise. I hadn't watched a movie with touchy Mark yet.
Perhaps this would be my new favorite.
“Yes, I am. Are you?”
He grabbed my wrist and tugged, pulling hard enough to yank me to my feet and back into his arms. Then he easily lifted me off the ground. I squeaked, startled to be airborne, and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Born ready,” he said.
Minutes later, we sat next to each other on the couch, the bag of dark chocolates on his lap, and the next 007 movie flickering across the screen. He had an arm around my shoulder and had tucked me into his side. I leaned against him and enjoyed the way he absently played with a lock of my hair.
Somewhere in this day, I'd settled into something that felt like coming home again. The low, warm glow I hadn't felt in so long I'd almost forgotten that it existed. The one that felt like being happy.
And I couldn't hate Joshua for the gift he'd given me at Adventura.
20
Mark
“If someone knocks on that door one more time . . .”
The drawled threat no sooner dropped off my lips than anothertap tap tapcame from the front door. Stella had the gall to look amused from where she stretched on the floor, having just returned from a run. With the rock music that had been blaring out of the dining hall for the last four hours, there wouldn’t be an animal in sight for days.
An exaggerated sigh escaped me as I shoved myself off the couch and headed for the door, pasting on a wide smile as I pulled it open. Seiko's agent, a middle-aged man with an oily black mustache and smile as flexible as steel, waited on the porch for the 1,764th time.
“Can I help with something?” I asked. If he noticed my gritted teeth, the man gives no sign. I hadn’t even bothered to learn his name. Another rendition of the same song we heard an hour ago blasted in the background. I loved it when I first heard it after Seiko and I went on a date four months ago, but now wanted to drive nails into my ears just so I'd never have to hear it again.
“Water bottles.” The man pushed his lips up in a strange duck-face imitation. “They're looking for chilled, bottled water.”
“There's a tap in the kitchen.”
The man's eyebrow rose. “About that—”
“Have a good day.”
Stella schooled a chuckle when I slammed the door in his face and groaned when he knocked again.
“Don't get that door,” I muttered. “Not one more time.”
She held up two hands in silent acknowledgment, then slowly straightened. The last three days of living around each other had been . . . blissful? Was that a word? Sublime? Something that straddled the world of this-is-stuff-of-dreams and I-can't-believe-she's-into-me, whatever that was.
