Page 122 of Between the Lines

“You’re scaring me!” I shriek with a smile, but he wraps his arms around my waist, spinning me around, and leans down so his lips are next to my ear.

“I’m firing you.”

I twist back around so fast I get dizzy. “Wait—you tell me you love me, and then you fire me?” My voice echoes off the bare walls.

“Not right away. And only if you want.” He turns me around to look at the bare retail space. “This place is yours if you want it. You still dream of opening a used bookstore, or have you moved on?” He flashes a cocky grin, stepping back, arms open wide to the room around us.

“You are ready for it. I know it, Fia. And you deserve to have something that’s all yours.”

My head spins, my vision blurry. Maybe it’s the candles.

“I need to sit down,” I whisper, and Caden laughs, helping me drop to the floor. He drags me forward so I’m sitting between his spread-out legs, face-to-face. “I don’t want you to hand me a business, I want to work for this.” I hold up the silver key still clutched in my now-clammy palm. It suddenly feels like it weighs a ton.

Caden nods once. “Would expect nothing less. But I know the owner of the building, and he is a pretty generous guy, so he’s willing to work out a deal on the lease.”

I know that smile.

“You own this freaking building, don’t you?” I raise my brows, and Caden shrugs one shoulder.

“Did I fail to mention that?” He drapes his arms over my knees.

Then the weight of his words settled into my skin.

“So what do you think?” he asks.

I trail my fingertips over his shirt, up his chest.

“You say I’m the sun,” I begin, “but the sun is nothing without her moon. I can’t do this without you.”

“I have to disagree.” Caden’s face splits into a smile that could make me weak, and he brushes his hand under my jaw, fingers around the back of my neck. “I think you can do anything.” Our foreheads touch, and I close my eyes. “But I promise, I’ll be here, however and whenever you need me. I won’t leave you, Fia.”

I inhale as he pulls me in for a kiss. A kiss that takes my breath away, a kiss that feels like the beginning of something new.

48

Caden

Ipark three houses down like I’m casing the place instead of meeting her family. The thing is, I’m not normally like this. I don’t get sweaty palms, I don’t rehearse conversations in my head, but I also don’t do this—walk into a house full of people who are going to measure me up and decide if I’m good enough for the girl I’ve already fallen for.

The sidewalk is quiet as I trek down it, second-guessing the bottle of whiskey and homemade bread in my arms. I push down the thoughts of how this could all go sideways and just focus on seeing her.

It’s been two weeks since I told her I loved her.

Extra cars sit in the driveway, and as I approach the front steps, shadows move behind the curtains in the cracked-open window. Laughter faintly spills through, and the freshly painted front door swooshes open before I can knock.

Fia steps onto the porch, a coy smile playing on her pink lips. My own pull into a smile without restraint. A long blue-and-white sundress sways around her legs and bare feet. Her copper hair flows down her back, and her green eyes light up like night stars as she closes the gap between us.

Fia’s arms slide around my neck, her body fitting against mine like it was made to.

And just like that, I know there’s no backing out of this dinner, I’m already sucked into her orbit tonight.

“I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show,” she teases, caressing my face, which has fully healed.

“I told you I’d be here.”

I kiss her gently, resisting the urge to drop everything I brought so I can wrap my hands around her waist.

But the door behind her might as well be a warning sign with her family on the other side. And even if she has made this night sound casual, I know this matters to her a lot.