“When will we see each other again?” She’d considered applying to a college closer to home so she wouldn’t be so far away, but Zach shot that idea down fast. He didn’t want her to sacrifice any opportunities for him.
“You’ll come home after your internship, before you head out East for school. Then we’ll do the long distance thing until you come home for good. It’ll work out. I promise.”
She snuggled her head into his chest. Enough talk about the future. Tonight was their last night together for a while, and she wanted to make sure it would be one they’d both remember. “Do you think they set the timer?”
“I don’t know. They won’t be able to push the door open if I lean against it, though.”
Reagan put her hands on his shoulders and positioned his back against the door. Rising on her toes, she aimed for his lips, but caught his cheek instead. She worked her way around his face, breathing in his scent: shower gel mixed with laundry detergent. The smell she’d come to associate with feeling safe and secure. The planes of his cheeks, the scruff on his chin so familiar, but they still had so much to learn about each other.
His hands wrapped around her waist, nestling her against him. “What do you have in mind?”
She didn’t answer, preferring to show him instead. Her chest pressed against him. Heat radiated through his T-shirt, and seared her skin. His hands tangled in her hair, cupped her head, and drew her mouth to his. Need simmered inside her. Need for him to know how much he meant to her. Need to make him her first.
They’d stolen moments before, after school before her driver came looking for her or during lunch period. They’d even managed a few make-out sessions in his dad’s car when she’d lied and said she had to stay late after school to work on a project.
Finding time together outside of the prying eyes of their classmates and her family had been challenging. Having a chance to be alone in a dark closet did seem like heaven, and, if Zach barred the door, they could take as much time as they needed.
She stepped back, lifted her dress over her head, and dropped it behind her.
“Where did you go?” Zach’s hand landed on her stomach, inches under her bra.
She sucked in her breath, attempting to prevent the spasm in her chest from exploding into a full-blown hiccup. No use. A loud hiccup escaped.
“Come here.” Zach planted his lips on hers, stealing her breath, obliterating her hiccups. His fingers roamed, over her ribcage, up the center of her breastbone, along her collarbone. Everywhere but where she wanted them the most. She reached behind her, unhooked her bra, let it fall forward.
Zach groaned, finally touching her with tentative hands. “You sure about this?”
She nodded against his chest as she pulled her arms free of her bra straps and tossed it somewhere near her dress. He knelt in front of her, kissing her navel, working his way up to her breasts. She pulled his shirt over his head then let her fingers ruffle his hair until she couldn’t take it any longer. Sinking to her knees in front of him, she fumbled with the button on his shorts.
His hand stopped her. “Whoa, Reagan. What are you trying to do to me?”
“I want to make sure you don’t forget me.”
In the pitch blackness of the closet, her other senses heightened. The thudding of his heart became the unrelenting thump, thump, thump of a bass drum.
Zach kissed along her jawline. “Are you freaking kidding me? We’ll have plenty of opportunities like this. I don’t want our first time to be next to Mrs. Baldwin’s mothball-stuffed fur coat.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Is that what that smell is?”
“I love you, Reagan Campbell.” Zach leaned forward, pulling her into an embrace. “You’re not a quickie in the closet. You’re the kind of girl who deserves candles and champagne.”
She burrowed into him, her chest against his, skin-to-skin, heart-to-heart. “I love you, too, Zach.”
Light flooded the room. Reagan squealed, turning toward the door. Flashes exploded before her eyes.
“Seven minutes is up, Anderson. Holy shit, what an eyeful!” Jimmy held his phone up one more time, cementing her embarrassment for all eternity.
Zach lunged toward Jimmy. Before he could reach him, Jimmy pulled the door shut, sending the closet into darkness again.
“Get dressed, Reagan. I’ll take care of Baldwin.” He flung the door open and disappeared.
Reagan shrugged into her dress and yanked it down over her head, not even bothering to find her bra. The bedroom was empty. Where had everyone gone?
Sirens wailed. She ran down the steps to join the chaotic crowd trying to push their way through the front door.
Zach caught her hand. “It’s the cops. They can’t find you here. If your name ends up on a police report, I’ll never have an opportunity to win over your dad. Come on, out the back.”
She followed through the sliding glass door and into the backyard. Other kids flowed out of the gate toward the front, but Zach led her to the back fence instead.
“There’s an easement back there. When you hit the ground, head to the road. You should be safe there.”
“But what about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.” He made a basket out of his hands and boosted her to the top of the fence.
She scrambled over, falling to the ground in a heap.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, come on.”
Zach reached the top of the fence. She saw his face in the glow of the twinkle lights strung through the trees. She saw the relief in his eyes when his gaze met hers. She saw the exact moment his smile turned to panic as someone on the other side of the fence yelled.
“Freeze!”
That was the last time she saw Zach Anderson.
2
Eight Years Later
Reagan smoothed a non-existent wrinkle from the lapel of her three-quarter sleeve, out-of-season black blazer. Trying to figure out what to wear as she made the transition from the raging March blizzard in Chicago to the white sandy beaches of the Florida Keys had almost made her late for her afternoon flight at O’Hare.
The sooner she got on the plane, the better she’d feel. She leaned against a pillar and glanced at her watch. Any minute they should be making the boarding announcement.
On cue, the gate agent picked up the microphone and a crackle sounded through the gate-area speakers. “May I have your attention, please? For passengers traveling on flight 542 to Miami, we’ve received word from the ground crew that they’ve shut down one runway due to snow accumulation. We’ll be delayed for at least an hour while they work through the backlog of departures.”
A collective groan rose from the disgruntled passengers, like someone stood in front of them with a conductor’s baton and told them to let their disappointment out in unison on the count of three. An hour or two? Reagan’s hand shook as she slipped a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Teddy would kill her for not taking the flight with the rest of their family earlier this morning.
The gate agent continued, “Things might change if they can get another de-icing machine up and running. So please stay close to the gate area.”
Reagan glanced out the wall of windows at the blustery, late winter snowstorm. A mid-March blizzard wasn’t outside the realm of possibility in Chicago. But how dare the weather try to interfere with her plans? She’d orchestrated her brother’s wedding down to the tiniest detail. And now Mother Nature wanted to mess with her?