Page 56 of Lost With You
She bounced up on her toes to sling her arms around his neck. “Clear a little space for me in the cabin.”
“You’ll move in with me.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “You’ll move out of that rusty old van.”
She laughed softly. “It’ll be nice to set down new roots.”
“I’ve got a townhouse not far from the Bridgewater campus. You can use the spare room as an office.”
“I’ll stay with you, wherever you go.” She whispered, “Shall we seal the deal?”
He couldn’t hold her any tighter, but he could try.
“We’ll have to be inventive.” She passed a hand across the bandages beneath his shirt. “You’ve been told no strenuous activity, I suspect.”
He shifted his head and nipped the warm lobe of her ear. “To hell with doctor’s orders.”
“I could get on top of the situation.”
He pulled away. “With those knees?”
She wrinkled her nose, envisioning the problem. “I forgot about my knees.”
“We’ve been in more challenging situations.”
“We sure have.” The mischief came back into her eyes. “We can make this work, Dylan.”
“Yes.” His heart turned over. “I know we can.”
EPILOGUE
“It’s all right, Bessie.” Casey smoothed her hand over the dashboard of her minivan as the vehicle hiccupped its way into Bridgewater. “The university is just ahead. Dylan’s home can’t be too far now.”
Casey pressed the brake as she approached a traffic light in the middle of this quaint college town. A cluster of amber leaves danced across the windshield, buoyed by a crisp, late-September breeze. College students, backpacks slung over their shoulders, strolled the wide sidewalks and chattered over coffee outside cafés. The little brick-faced bookstore appeared to be doing brisk business, as did the bicycle shop across the street.
She flexed her fingers over the steering wheel, taking in the whole scene as she waited for the light to turn green, her heart fluttering with excitement. She’d been driving for six long hours since she left her sister’s home. She’d developed a cramp in her calf from pressing the gas pedal and a crick in her neck from keeping her eyes on the road, but anticipation had washed away those irritations for now. It had taken her three years to run away from the world.
It took only three weeks with Dylan to bring her home.
The light changed. She drove a slow mile through the center of town, stopping at multiple pedestrian crossings before the GPS directed her to turn onto a quieter street. At the sound of a ringing bell, she checked the bike lane and let a family pass before turning onto the tree-lined street. Center-hall colonials lined each side of the road, modified over the last century with roof dormers and attached garages and sunrooms. Most of the lawns were minutely mowed or creatively landscaped. But the lawn that the GPS directed her to was riotous with wild roses.
She loved roses.
Shutting Bessie off to a series of coughs and sputters, she swung open the rusty door and eased herself out to drink in her new neighborhood. The heady fragrance of the flowers washed over her. She made her way to the sidewalk, noting the black shutters that framed every window of the house, the front door painted a muted red in welcome.
The house was gorgeous. She adored every last detail. Even more when the front door swung open, and Dylan came into sight.
She sank back against Bessie’s warmth as he loped down the three stairs to the walkway, a slow, sexy smile spreading across his face. He’d cut his hair short and crisp. The ends of his unknotted tie flapped in the breeze on either side of his unbuttoned oxford shirt. He looked as he did the first time she’d seen him, a delightfully, sexily undone professor, fresh from teaching class, showing off the carved beauty of his chest like a tease. Except he looked happier, and that warmed her from the inside out. They’d been apart for only a week, but her libido screamed as if it had been a century.
He growled in a low, sexy voice as he came in like a fighter jet landing, “I’ve been waiting for you all day, woman.”
She squealed as he seized her and hauled her off the ground. He spun her around on the sidewalk. Her head fell back, and the tree boughs blurred in her dizzy sight.
“Missed me, did you?” She clutched his head, dropping her chin to focus on his hungry blue eyes. “I missed you so much.”
She leaned down for a kiss. Their mouths locked, and suddenly they were in the deep woods, light dappling their naked bodies, his hands roaming. Not another lucid thought passed through her mind until he reluctantly pulled away.
His grin lit up the world. “That’s the kind of welcome I was hoping for.”
She could barely feel her toes, her body was so alive with sensation, her mind bright with joy.
