Page 93 of When Annika Met Thom

“Tacoma and—” Thom fell silent for a minute and turned to look at her. Annika grinned. “Your sister, the one with the fur babies, is married to a mechanic.”

“Uh huh.”

“Don’t they live in Portland?”

“No. Tacoma. His family is there.”

Thom smiled as he surveyed her, not looking in the least bit displeased. “Did you fix this?”

“I just asked him if he knew of anyone selling parts for a 1969 Triumph Bonneville T120R. Turned out he had one himself, but he doesn’t like selling online. He was cheated once, so he just trades locally.”

“But you convinced him to look for me.”

“TriumphThom120?” Annika scoffed. “You were easy to find.”

“And you,” he said quietly, spearing his fingers into her hair and lifting her to her toes. “You were worth waiting for.” Annika had no chance to reply because Thom kissed her to silence, his touch so potent and sweet that it made her dizzy. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, knowing that she was in exactly the right place.

“Believe in kismet yet?” she asked when he lifted his head.

“No.”

“Of course not,” she said with a smile, not having expected otherwise. She put on the helmet. “But if we’re doing this ten-year test run, I want the clock to start from when we first met. Not today. I have nine years and ten months to convince you.”

“Okay,” he agreed easily, swinging one long leg over the bike. He held her hand as she got on behind him.

“You gave that up easily.”

“It was predictable,” he said his tone teasing. “And that’s unusual for you.”

“How so?”

“You usually surprise me,” he said, pulling out into traffic. “That’s part of what I love about you.”

Annika smiled and wrapped her arms more tightly around him, knowing she was exactly where she should be, whether Thom believed in destiny or not.

She was going to change his mind, one way or the other.

Just the prospect made her smile in anticipation.

* * *

“And that was it?”Meesha asked when Annika and Thom fell silent. They were smiling at each other, so obviously crazy in love that she felt like an intruder.

“That was it,” Thom said with satisfaction.

“Flowers?”

Annika smiled. “Big bouquet on the counter.” Thom looked amused.

“And Percival and Cerberus?”

“Fast friends from that day forward,” Thom said.

“You should have seen Percival that day,” Annika said with a laugh. “When we got here and he saw Cerberus, he did the weasel war dance for the first time.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a sign of extreme happiness,” Annika explained. “Ferrets jump and squeak and bounce around.”

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