I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut. I felt as if I’d been dropped on a train already speeding down the tracks, and I didn’t know how to slow it down. “Caden, I don’t know when I’ll be back in Seattle again. I’d love to meet your friends, but—”
He shook his head sharply, angling to face me more directly and cupping my cheeks with his palms. “This isn’t just a one-off for me, Brynn. You have to know that. I came back to find you, to find us again.”
My stomach flipped. Caden was so far from the young boy I’d known, laughing and carefree. The look in his eyes was intense, and I didn’t doubt he meant every word.
“I never forgot you,” he insisted.
My heartbeat kicked hard, and blood rushed through my ears. Swallowing, I stared at him and gave my head a little shake. “I don’t know. It feels crazy to jump into this that fast.”
“Not really. I know you.”
Caden’s palms slid down, one coming to rest just over my collarbone where his thumb traced an idle path and the other brushing back my messy curls. My mind was spinning with all the anxieties pinging through my body. When he pulled me onto his lap, I tucked my head against his neck and just breathed him in. He was my touchstone, and I couldn’t believe I’d ever doubted that.
His palm slid down farther, splaying possessively on my hip. When I finally lifted my head and met his eyes, my heart gave a resounding kick. It was as if it recognized him and knew he was the only one who’d ever held claim to me.
“Okay, but if this goes sideways again, I don’t know what I’ll do.” My voice came out in a ragged whisper.
Caden lifted his shoulder slightly, his intent gaze coasting over me. “Maybe we were only sixteen, but I still broke your heart. I hate that.”
Lifting a hand, I trailed my fingertips along the edge of his jaw, the shadow of stubble prickling my skin. “Now, we get to fall in love all over again.”
Then his lips were brushing over mine, and we tumbled into the fire again.
Caden
Six months later - Seattle
Brynn’s dark lashes brushed her cheeks. “Brynn,” I whispered.
Those lashes lifted, and her blue eyes collided with mine. Fuck me. I was so jaded. Yet despite all that, I found my way back to the one girl who could make me forget the rest of it.
She cocked her head to the side, her dimple peeking out as a slow smile stretched across her face. “Yes?”
“I’m glad you sent me that card.”
“The Christmas card?”
“Absolutely. If I hadn’t found it, I might not’ve looked for you.”
She placed her palm on my chest over my heart, and it banged against my ribs, trying to get closer to her. Because being with her was the only time I felt like my whole self. The boy I’d once been was dragged forward into the present. I was still cynical and guarded my privacy fiercely, yet I loved Brynn. With her, I could remember who I was behind the bright lights of fame that could be blinding.
We were still picking our way through this, and she’d finally come to Seattle with me. I’d spent most of the past six months in Willow Brook. I’d needed to travel to Seattle a few times to check in on things, but with the band on break, the time had been a blessing for us. She was having somewhat of a reaction to my world here.
Brynn’s teeth sank into her bottom lip. “How are we going to do this? Your life is nothing like mine. I mean, you’re famous and rich.”
She gestured around my living room. I caught a wayward lock of her hair with the sun glinting on it and twined it around my fingers. My eyes coasted over her freckles, and I dipped my head to kiss one before replying, “It doesn’t matter. This is just the surface of my life. You can have your flowers, and I’ll go back to playing music how I like it. We are the touchstone. The rest is superficial,” I insisted.
Brynn
Another six months later – Alaska
Caden’s arm was warm where it rested over my shoulder. We were watching a movie on Christmas Eve at his place. Although it was his old childhood home, he’d hired Amelia and Lucy to renovate the place down to every nail, or so it seemed. The space was modern, open and airy now. Even though it had been a full year, sometimes I still had to pinch myself to believe this was real and that we were together. He reached for the bowl of popcorn that I held on my lap, and I swatted his hands away. “You’ve eaten almost all of it.”
I felt the rumble of his chuckle against my shoulder reverberating through my body, spinning into the ever-present desire that hummed whenever we were close.
“There’s more, Brynn. I’ll make it.”
When he moved to get up, I shifted closer to him. “I was just teasing. I don’t really want more popcorn, and I definitely don’t want you to get up.”
“Okay,” he said easily, immediately relaxing back into the cushions.
As had been happening almost daily since I’d finally given into the temptation of him, I couldn’t stop the questions that circled in my thoughts. I leaned forward, angling to face him. “Is this really happening?”
“What?”
“Us.”
He stared at me, his gaze intent and clear. “It is for me. I don’t want anybody but you.”
Oh, geez. This man. He went and said something like that. I blinked at the rush of tears.
His gaze was solemn as he lifted a hand, catching one of my tears with his thumb and swiping it off before leaning forward to press a lingering kiss on my lips.
“I know you think it happened too fast, but we know each other. You were my girlfriend for a whole year in high school. That’s like an eternity. And now, it’s been another year.”
I laughed. “A year is an eternity in high school.”
Caden shrugged. “Does it feel right?”
My heart hollered its answer by stamping a thrashing beat in my chest. “Yes.”
He lifted my hand, opening my palm and dropping a kiss in the center. It felt like a drop of lava that spun into the heat suffusing me. When he curled his palm around mine and pressed our clasped hands together over his heart, I could feel the steady beat.
The thing was, although doubts poked their way into my thoughts, it did feel right with him. Once I’d gotten over my initial anxiety, the comfort and familiarity we had once before fell into place. That, and the fierce desire that only seemed to grow over time with him.
I pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “Merry Christmas,” I said as I lifted my head.
“It’s not Christmas yet. You’re staying tonight, right?”
I debated whether to torture him by telling him I wanted him to take me back to my mother’s house. Since it was the holidays, I’d made sure to spend some time with her and had spent the last few nights at her house. Caden returned to Alaska several days behind me as he was tying up loose ends on some recording with his band.
I didn’t bother to torture him. “Yes.”
Then we were kissing, and I forgot that he’d eaten most of the popcorn.
Epilogue