Page 125 of Hang the Moon
The wait was worth it. Worth this. Annie was worth it. She’d have been worth waiting weeks, months, for. This feeling, this rightness in his gut, in his soul, had no expiration date. He’d meant what he said; forever couldn’t be rushed.
A tear slipped down her cheek, fast and furious, dripping off her chin. One of his hands lifted and his thumb swept against the thin skin beneath her eye.
She clutched his shoulder and sniffed hard, eyes filling, tears spilling over.
His stomach somersaulted. “Hey. What’s wrong?”
She blubbered out a laugh. “Nothing, I’m just... verklempt.”
His whole body shook with laughter. “You’reverklempt?”
“Shut up.” She batted his hands away and swiped at her eyes.
He threaded his fingers through her hair and cupped the back of her head. “I’m not making fun of you.” When she leveled a glare at him, he laughed. “Okay, I am. A little. But mostlyI feel the need to tell you that if you say the wordverklemptagain, and with a straight face, I’m absolutely going to fall in love with you.”
He rubbed the lobe of her ear between his fingers and she leaned into his touch, letting him cradle her face in his hand.
“Fair warning?” she whispered.
He smiled and drew her in with the hand cradling the back of her head. Her lips were warm against his and yet he shivered all the same.
“Fair warning,” he murmured against her mouth.
“Verklempt,” she whispered, lips curling.
His heart soared. “Is that a dare?”
She beamed up at him. “A double-dog dare.”
“I’ll do you one better,” he muttered. “How about I promise?”
Annie’s smiled softened when he dropped his forehead down to hers. “Brendon?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
Epilogue
Sunday, December 19
Brendon, you know I love riding Space Mountain almost as much as I love you, but isn’t five times in a row a little excessive?”
He paused, tugging at the double neckline of his shirts, and beamed at Annie. No matter how many times she said those words—I love you—they’d never get old. His heart, already lodged in the back of his throat, swelled.
“One more time,” he begged, tangling their fingers together and dragging her to the winding line rapidly growing longer.
Annie adjusted the Minnie Mouse ears perched atop her head, the matching set to his Mickey ears. She then tugged on the hem of her denim romper. Over the course of the last three days in sunny California, her skin had turned the same shade of gold it had over the summer. Even in December, the temps were sweltering, the sun oppressive.
“All I’m saying is, maybe we could change it up a little andcome back later. Ride something else in between. Like, Pirates of the Caribbean. Or the Haunted Mansion ride.” Her smile turned sly and she leaned into him, stretching up onto her toes. He bent down so she could whisper in his ear. “I’ll even let you feel me up when the lights go out.”
His brows rocketed to his rapidly dampening hairline, his scalp sweating. All of him was sweating. “Kinky,” he said, winking as well as he could, which wasn’t at all.
She beamed up at him. “Is that a yes?”
As tempting as her offer was, he had a plan. A plan he’d failed to enact four times in a row. A plan he’d be damned if he didn’t get right. Not right, perfect.
He shook his head and tugged harder on his neckline. Wearing two shirts in the middle of the Anaheim heat was a bad idea, but it was part and parcel of his plan. He had no intention of wearing both shirts all day, only until he did what he’d come here to do.
