Page 155 of Bottle Shock
Slowly—because I’m terrified that I’m imagining this, that I’ll turn around and it’ll be no one. My heart is too fragile for the crash if he’s not there.
But when I turn around, he’s there.
I blink a few times just to make sure it’s all real.
Standing under the flickering streetlamp across the alley, hands in his jacket pockets, hair pulled up, same sexy glasses.
He’s real. And he’s here.
The phone slips from my hand and I don’t even care that it clatters onto the pavement because I’m already moving. Half-running. Half-sobbing. And suddenly I’m in his arms.
He catches me, and it’s like landing home. My legs wind around his waist, arms cross at his neck. I breathe him in and he smells like pine, and soap, and wine, and Red Mountain, and I want to cry.
His hands slide up my back, my shoulders, like he needs to feel me all at once. I bury myself in him, kissing him everywhere. His neck, his cheeks, the tip of his nose, his forehead, before finally capturing his lips with mine.
I pull back, cradling his jaw in my hands, brushing my thumbs over the scruff of his beard. “What are you doing here.”
He smiles. “I missed you.”
I laugh, but it’s half-cry. “I missed you too.”
He reaches up, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear before his fingers slide down to my neck, tracing the edge of my collarbone. “You were incredible,” he murmurs, his voice rough and quiet.
My breath catches. “So itwasyou in the third row. I knew it.”
He grins, a knowing curl of his mouth. “Couldn’t take my eyes off you.”
The sound of a little throat clearing draws my attention to the sidewalk below.
Lily is staring up at me, all blue eyes, her backpack still on like they came straight from the airport.
“Are you guys done?” she asks, tilting her head. “It’s gross.”
A laugh bursts out of me as I hop off Gavin and crouch down to give Lily a hug.
“Surprise!” she says, bouncing on her toes.
I squeeze her tight. “Oh my gosh, I missed you so much.”
“We came on a really big plane,” she tells me proudly. “And Dad said we could live here for a little bit so we can watch all your shows and so you won’t miss us too much.”
I straighten and look at Gavin.
He watches me, wearing one of his easy grins, looking totally relaxed, like his daughter didn’t just drop a bomb on me.
“We found a place by the theater.”
“For how long?” I don’t want to get my hopes up when it could just be a weekend.
“Two months with an option to extend.”
My head rears back, throat closing on the spot.
“But what about work and Lily’s school and…everything?”
He shrugs, like it’s nothing. It’s the furthest thing fromnothing.
My laugh spills out again. I’m in disbelief. Shock.
