“What is it about actors and wanting attention?”
“Funny. Very funny,” he teases before leaning in and kissing me again. This time though he slips his tongue between my lips and takes the kiss a little deeper. His hands tremble as they frame my face and that little action tells me everything I need to know. If he’s nervous, then this matters to him, and I’ve been worth the trouble. “What I have with you, Saylor, I don’t want with anyone else. You’ve marked me. Not just my heart with your love or my mind with your words, but more so my soul with everything you are. Everything you aspire to be. And everything you think we can be together.”
He puts a finger to my lips when I start to speak. I try to tell him this is all too much, too kind, too overwhelming when for so long there was nothing but emptiness without him. But how can I say to stop when my heart feels so full, my soul so completed, when I can’t remember it ever feeling this way before?
“I know it’s been sudden, and that all of this has come out of nowhere. Knocked us on our asses in bright paparazzi camera flashes of light. But it’s real, Saylor. We’re real. The realest thing I’ve ever had in my life that I’ve built on making believe.” He looks down at our fingers linked together before lifting his eyes to mine and smiling softly. “I can’t promise you it will be easy because you’ve gotten a taste of my craziness, but I can promise you that we’ll make us work. We’ll figure out a way. Buy a house between our jobs. Or open a second bakery in Hollywood. Buy a damn chopper if need be so you can make your deliveries. Whatever it takes, I’ll do it because I don’t want to go another day without knowing you’re mine. We’ve lost too much time already, and I don’t want to miss any more. So what do you say, Ships? Want to try to make this thing work long-term for us?”
My whole body trembles from the truth in his words and the honesty in his eyes. Tears blur my vision but when I look at him, I remember the boy with gangly legs and a Star Wars obsession. I recall our first kiss and reminisce over the nerves we shared our first time together. Then I think of the few occasions he held me while I cried and the numerous times we’ve laughed so hard our sides hurt. And then I see the man he’s turned into. The considerate, funny, handsome, intelligent, romantic man he is, and I know without a doubt we can make this work.
He’s my soul mate.
There’s only one love that matters more than your first love: Your last love. How damn lucky am I that both of mine are the same person?
With that thought on my mind, I lean forward and press the sweetest of kisses against his lips. Lean my forehead against his. Close my eyes. And feel at home.
“I know you say words are cheap but those words you just said? Those words were priceless, Hayes Whitley.”
“So are you.” He wraps his arms around me and pulls me tighter into him.
“And I think long-term suits me just fine.”
“Good. Because I wasn’t taking no for an answer. I brought my A-game again, and you know how good that is.”
My laugh fills the space around us. So many things set right in our world. “About that A-game of yours . . . there seems to be some unfinished business it needs to take care of . . .”
And so by the light of the rising moon, in the place we shared our first kiss, we also share so much more with nothing more than love and possibility between us.
ONE YEAR LATER
“Where are you taking me?” I laugh out as the breeze blows against my cheeks and the ground beneath my feet becomes uneven.
“You’ll see,” Hayes murmurs, his hands covering my eyes over the scarf he’s already secured to ensure I don’t sneak a peek. “A little birthday surprise never hurt anyone.”
We’ve been driving for what feels like forever. I’d like to say I’m good with direction and which way we went, but for all I know we’ve driven in circles for hours and he’s just taken me back to the home we share nestled in the Hollywood Hills to mess with my head. I’ve tried to be patient. Tried to relax and wait for the surprise he has in store for me, and so I occupied myself thinking about the supplies I needed to order for the Brentwood store. And when I had that figured out, I moved on to the list DeeDee had sent over for the original State Street location she runs now.
Shut it down, Saylor. Enjoy the anticipation. Take in the moment. Love your man. Appreciate that Hayes is still trying to be spontaneous and do a little something special for you. Still trying to put you first despite his hectic schedule and the ridiculous demands everyone puts on him.
“Are we going to get a puppy?” There’s amusement in my voice over our long-running joke. How while a puppy is permanent, it’s also the death of so many couples once they realize how hard it is mixing two different ideals to raise something together.