Page 91 of Eight Years Gone

She felt herself grow slipperier—and for the final time, she came, collapsing against him, listening to his heart pounding against his chest.

“Damn, Grace,” he said moments later, wrapping his arms tighter around her.

She smiled, lifting her head to kiss his chin. “Welcome home.”

He grinned. “Thanks.”

She moved in again, her lips lingering on his mouth, forever remembering how she’d yearned for something like this a mere two months ago. “You were barely gone two whole days, but I missed you.”

He slid her hair back from her face. “I missed you, too.”

“I’ve also wanted to rip off your clothes for the last couple of hours. You know how to wear slacks and a tie.”

He laughed. “I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

Her smile returned. “Thank you again for such a wonderful surprise.”

His fingers moved to slide along her jaw. “You’re welcome.”

“We haven’t had much of a chance to talk about your trip. How was it?”

“Fast.” He shrugged. “Pretty good. Or at least until I got to the hotel.”

She frowned. “What was wrong with the hotel?”

“Just about everything. It took me less than five minutes in the lobby to spot half a dozen ways someone could get up to the penthouse if they really wanted to.”

She shook her head, not understanding.

“They’re doing construction at the client’s preferred accommodations. Trying to convince him that staying somewhere else—just this once—turned into a thing.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Oh.”

He shrugged again. “Mostly, that’s Jason’s problem, but I have a feeling it’s about to turn into mine.”

“How come?”

“Jason called me during my sprint through the airport. There’s a chance I’ll have to go back and rerun routes. The client’s talking about changing his plans to skip an overnight stay altogether.”

“Oh,” she said again.

“If I go, it’ll most likely be this next week. Just one day—two tops. Maybe Friday and Saturday again.”

“Okay.”

“It’s not going to be like this regularly. I promise.”

“You have a job to do. I understand that.”

“Yeah, but if I’m going to do this, I want it to be a once-a-month-type deal. Todd’s counting on me. And I want to be here with you. I know you’ve been taking on even more with Aunt Mags having her setbacks.”

She loved how much he wanted to help, but she only ever wanted to rely on herself when it came to running the business.

Simplicity had been her light in the darkness—a place to rebuild and create something new. When everything had fallen apart, the store had been one of the only places where she’d felt like she had a modicum of control. “Aunt Maggie and I are fine.”

“Once a month with the exceptionally rare occasion of two. That’s what I told Jason. That’s what I’m promising you.”

She nodded. “That sounds nice.”

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