Page 61 of Falling Into Forever
Determination sets in when Saylor’s thigh presses against mine. I’m not losing this game. For some reason, it’s symbolic, and a loss is not an option.
Finally, I snatch up the last cherry, and Saylor is so wound up that she crashes into me. She may have tried to hide it, but her competitive streak would make any professional athlete proud.
She drops the pit into the bowl and jumps up with a loud, “Whoop! We did it!”
I stand, wiping the whipped cream from my face, smiling as I watch her feet tap into the ground in a victory dance. She lifts her head, and I stalk toward her slowly. When I reach her, I wrap my arms around her and pull her to me so her feet dangle in the air, and I fucking consume her.
It’s a kiss meant for the bedroom. It’s a kiss that feels like home. And when we finally break apart, she’s gasping for air, but I don’t set her down. Not yet. Holding her fills a Saylor-sized space in my soul, and I want to keep her forever.
“Ah, hell,” she mutters, dropping her forehead to my shoulder. “I guess that was good for the amateur paparazzi over there, huh?”
“That’s a bonus.” She lifts her head, but her face furrows into a frown, so I lick a dollop of whipped cream from the corner of her mouth and say, “That kiss was for me.”
Her shoulders tremble, but she says nothing, so I slowly lower her to the ground.
“Dante and Sassy are the winners,” Cassie announces, then hands us our certificate for free fried dough. “You’d better get moving. Grady is growling at anyone who comes near him. He’s removed three tags and is pissed that he’s the target again this year.” She laughs, and I’d bet good money that she had a hand in choosing him. “But come on, he makes it so much fun.”
She shrugs and returns to her Cherry Pie duties, but dread sits in my gut. How the hell am I going to tag a grumpy Grady Reid?
Saylor watches my face like she can read all my thoughts.
“Fine,” she says with an eye roll. “The secret to tagging Grady…” Apparently psychic after all, she leans forward and crooks her index finger my way. “Is Lilly,” she whispers. “She’s his weakness because he’s responsible for her. And I guarantee she’ll be on board to help.”
Her face shines brighter than the sun, and the slight lift of her lips is an arrow to my heart. She’s still grumpy. She still doesn’t care for crowds. But for the first time since I’ve been home, she’s the Saylor she used to be, and I’ll take any progress I can get.
“Why, Saylor Greer. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted us to win.”
“Whatever. I just don’t want to listen to you whine if you fail.” The muscles tighten around her mouth, but the hard edge that usually accompanies her words is nowhere to be found.
“Fair enough. Let’s go win this thing, huh?”
My phone sounds with a series of pings, and I fish it out of my pocket before she can respond. I set a notification for anything with my name or Saylor’s attached to it, and sure enough, social media updates flood my screen.
Sassy Thompson offends prominent mother’s group.
Trent Bailey is worried for the future of Ascendancy Inc.
The king of spin is getting cozy with Sassy Thompson. Is it possible that her international bestsellers are based on their real-life love story?
It’s the last one that has sweat beading at the base of my neck. That was almost too fast.
Sassy leans over my arm to read the headline, and her body tenses against mine, but I can’t tear my gaze away from the photo accompanying the short article about us.
It’s a still from the video that Kate took. But the expression Saylor’s wearing as I leaned in to kiss her gives me pause—hope, and heat, and fear. I swallow, but messy emotions are stuck in my throat. Hope and heat I can work with. It’s the fear that scares the hell out of me.
“We’d better head back to the bookstore and talk to Lilly,” Saylor says quietly.
“Yeah, okay.” I lead her away from the crowd with a hand at the small of her back, but the fear in that picture brands itself in my mind as a reminder of how much pain she’s been living in.
* * *
“So, wanna help?”Saylor asks Lilly after explaining the situation.
“Oh, heck yeah, I do. Grady will hate it! I know exactly how to get him here too.” Her face beams with excitement. She seems like a good kid, but I imagine the chance to prank an older brother like Grady doesn’t come along often.
“He’s seriously going to hate me now,” I mutter.
“Grady hates everyone,” Lilly says with a shrug. “Well, except me and Sassy. So blame us.”
