Page 136 of The Grump Next Door
It has to be.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Edge of Everything
Dean
The song’s ending and I can’t let go.
Won’t let go.
Poppy’s pressed against me, face buried in my shoulder, and I’m trying to memorize everything. The vanilla scent of her hair. The way her hand fits in mine. The small sigh she makes when I pull her closer.
“Dean.” Her voice is muffled against my jacket.
“Not yet.”
The band’s packing up. Guests are filtering out. Mason’s carrying Ivy’s shoes while she laughs at something our cousin said.
Normal wedding shit.
Except nothing about this week has been normal.
“People are leaving,” she says.
“So?”
“So I should—”
“You should come with me.”
She pulls back. Looks up at me with those eyes that have been destroying my sanity since she showed up with a goat and an attitude. “Where?”
Anywhere. My bed. Italy. The fucking moon.
“Just… somewhere quiet.” My voice sounds shockingly in control.
I can see her wrestling with it. The smart part of her brain versus whatever this thing is between us.
“Dean—”
“Five minutes.” My hand finds her face. Thumb tracing her jaw. “Give me five minutes.”
She leans into my touch. “That’s all?”
“That’s all I’m asking for.”
Lie. I want hours. Days. A lifetime to figure out how she crawled under my skin so quickly.
“Okay,” she whispers.
I take her hand. Lead her away from the tent, the lights, the noise. Around the side of the house where it’s just moonlight and the sound of her heels on gravel.
“Where are we—”
I spin her against the wall. Stone at her back, me crowding her space, and lower my face to hers.
“Hi,” she breathes.
