Sam shook his head impatiently. “I’m looking for Lucy. She wasn’t at the condo or the studio. I was wondering if you had any idea where she was.”
“She’s gone to New York,” Justine said.
“It’s too soon,” Sam said tersely. “It wasn’t supposed to be until tomorrow.”
“I know, but her professor called, and they wanted her there for a meeting and some big party—”
“When did she leave?”
“I just dropped her off at the airport a little while ago. She’s taking the eight o’clock flight.”
Sam yanked out his phone and looked at the time. Seven-fifty. “Thanks.”
“Sam, it’s too late for you to—”
But he was out of the inn before Justine could finish.
Leaping into the truck, he drove toward the airport and called Lucy on his cell phone. The call went to an automatic voice mail box. Swearing, Sam pulled over to the side of the road and texted her.
don’t leave
He pulled the truck back onto the road and floored it, while the words ran through his mind in a constant loop.
Don’t leave. Don’t leave.
* * *
The Roy Franklin Airport, named after the World War II fighter pilot who had founded it, was located on the west side of Friday Harbor. Both scheduled and chartered flights took off from the airport’s single runway. Passengers and visitors who were obliged to wait for one reason or another could usually be found in Ernie’s café, a blue-painted coffee shop right next to the airfield.
Sam parked beside the terminal and went to the door in ground-eating strides. But before he had even made it inside, the snarl of a Cessna turbine engine filled the air. Shading his eyes, Sam looked up at the yellow and white nine-passenger plane, climbing high and fast on its way to Seattle.
Lucy was gone.
It hurt more than he’d expected to watch the plane carrying her away from him. It hurt in a way that made him want to go to some dark corner and not think or talk or move.
Making his way to the terminal building, Sam propped himself beside the doorway. He tried to straighten out his thoughts, tried to think of what to do next. His eyes were burning. He closed them for a moment, letting the fluids soothe away the sting.
The terminal door opened, followed by the rattle of suitcase wheels. Through a blur, he saw the small form of a woman, and his heart stopped. He said her name on a breath.
Lucy turned to face him.
For a moment Sam thought she was a figment of his imagination, conjured from the magnitude of his need to see her. In the past few minutes, he’d gone through lifetimes.
Reaching her in three strides, Sam hauled her against him, the impact spinning them both. Before Lucy could say a word, he covered her mouth with his, devouring every word and breath until the suitcase handle dropped from her fingers and clattered to the pavement.
Her mouth yielded and clung to his, her arms lifting around his neck. She fit against him as if she’d been made for him, so perfectly close, and still separate from him. He wanted to pull her inside himself, to make them one being. He kissed her harder, almost savagely, until she turned her face away with a gasp. Her fingers came to his nape, stroking as if to soothe him.
Sam took her face in hands that weren’t quite steady. Her cheeks were fever-colored, her eyes hazed with bewilderment. “Why aren’t you on the plane?” he asked hoarsely.
Lucy blinked. “You … you texted me.”
“And that was enough?” Sliding his arms around her, Sam asked huskily, “You got off the plane because of two words?”
She looked at him in a way no one ever had before, her eyes lit with brilliant tenderness. “They were the right two words.”
“I love you,” Sam said, and set his mouth against hers, and broke off the kiss because he had to say it again. “I love you.”
Lucy’s trembling fingers came to his lips, caressing them gently. “Are you sure? How do you know it’s not just about sex?”
“It is about sex … sex with your mind, sex with your soul, sex with the color of your eyes, the smell of your skin. I want to sleep in your bed. I want you to be the first thing I see every morning and the last thing I see at night. I love you the way I never thought I could love anyone.”
Her eyes flooded. “I love you too, Sam. I didn’t want to leave you, but—”
“Wait. Let me say this first … I’ll wait for you. There’s no choice for me. I can wait forever. You don’t have to give up New York. I’ll do whatever’s necessary to make it work. Long-distance phone calls, cyber-whatever. I want you to have your dream. I don’t want you to give it up or have less of a life because of me.”