Page 110 of Situationship
With phone to ear, he started toward her.
“What are you doing here?” she said into the phone, her legs moving toward him as the distance between them grew closer and closer.
“You told me you missed me,” he said, and then he was right there, in front of her, flashing that smile. The one that said,Hi, hello and I’m yours. It was so achingly familiar, her heart melted.
“But you’re here.” Still talking into the phone, she looked up at him. “At my nonna’s house.”
“Actually, we’re on the beach.” He took the phone from her and pocketed it along with his own. “I’m short doughnuts but I can get some if it would make you stop crying.”
“I’m not crying.” She felt her face to discover that she was, in fact, crying. “They’re happy tears.”
He stepped so close she could smell his familiar cologne and ten months of memories.
“Then they can stay.” He reached out and cupped her face, the pad of his thumb wiping away her tears.
“Why are you here?” she repeated, because she needed to make sure this wasn’t some Otter Pop–induced hallucination.
“There’s this girl who drives me crazy.”
“A good kind of crazy?”
“The best kind of crazy. Only she needed to be here for her family, so I decided someone needed to be here for her. Do you need me, Har?”
“So much, you have no idea,” she admitted. “How did you know I’d need you tonight?”
“Your sister may or may not have called.”
Harley didn’t know what to say, but her tears were back. “Teagan?” Her loving, amazing, wonderful sister, who’d had the worst night of her life, had reached out to him. “Wait, when did she call you?”
“She texted. You Ashford sisters must have some big beef against calling.”
“Bianchi sisters,” she said. “My grandma was a Bianchi, my mom is a Bianchi, my sister is a Bianchi. And all along I was a Bianchi, but I was too scared to recognize it. See, I come from a long line of powerful women.”
“Makes sense.”
She looked up at him. “It does?”
“Honey, you are the strongest, smartest, and sexiest person I’ve ever met.” His hands slid around her waist, tugging her snug up against him. “Did I mention sexy?”
She hugged him tightly. Her heart, which had been beating frantically, slowed to match his grounding rhythm. Why had she assumed he was the reason for her antsiness? He was her rock, the one person in her life who understood her, had her back no matter what. Well, she had Teagan now, but her sister was the rock for a family full of people. With Bryan, she was it.
He hadn’t just told her, he’d shown her in the way he held her, listened to and respected her, and the way he kissed her. Speaking of kisses. He wasn’t just all-state in cross-country.
“I’m so sorry I ran. I started missing you the moment I left, and every day it’s gotten worse,” she admitted.
“I love you.”
She stilled, her hands breaking out in a sweat, her heart racing. He loved her. “How?”
“How can I not?”
She did too. The day she’d figured it out was the day she’d run. It terrified her because she wanted to stay.
“When did you know?” Suddenly, this was the most important conversation of her entire life, and she didn’t want it to end.
“I think it was that time at O’Malley’s bar when I asked to buy you a drink and you told me to fuck off.”
“That was the first night we met.”
