Page 35 of Reeve
“Yeah,” I say, wondering where he’s going with all of this. “I guess so.”
“And someone who’s been alone might be afraid that the big days in their life, and in the life of their child, could be forgotten. Another way to look at it? Because she doesn’t have any built-in ‘memory keepers’ from her childhood, it’s important that shehas some way to be herownmemory keeper. For ‘onlys’ like McKenna and me, it’s important to have a back-up plan that doesn’t rely on anyone else.”
And then it dawns on me. The photos with Santa. The photos of the cousins on their first Christmas together.
“You got her that camera, didn’t you? The real nice one she’s been using all month. You did that.”
He chuckles, looking at me with surprise and admiration. “Yeah. I did. I figured if she had a really awesome camera, she could collect her own memories. She wouldn’t have to worry about any moment of Madden’s life ever being forgotten.”
I stare at his profile for a few seconds as he drives, and it occurs to me that I’m probably sitting next to the nicest guy on the face of the earth. “Thoughtful” doesn’t even begin to cut it.
“You’re amazing,” I whisper.
“So are you,” he says, taking his hand off the wheel and offering it to me.
I take it in mine, lacing my fingers through his for the rest of our drive into town.
***
So, you’d think I’d have learned my lesson aboutnotthinking the worst of my siblings, but I guess I’m still a work in progress.
We park two blocks from the Parsnip because every spot is taken, but when Aaron tries to take my hand, I pull away.
“Let’s not give them an excuse to say something.”
“Reeve,” he says, putting his hands on his hips as I stand across from him on the sanded boardwalk, dreading our entrance into the Parsnip. “Your family has known me for four years. Joe has known for every day of those four years exactly how I feel about you, and he’s your brother-in-law. Now, I don’t expect that he keeps a whole lot of secrets from Harper, do you? So, it’s highly likely that your family alreadyknowsthere’s something going on between us.”
“Somethinggoing on? This is only our second date!”
“Reeve.” He gives me a look. “I didn’t meet you last week. I didn’t fall for you yesterday. This may be our second date, but—”
“Wait…what?” I lean closer to him. “Fall for me?”
“Fuck, Reeve,” he sighs, leaning against the car. He stares at me like it hurts a little. “Fall for you? Hell, yes. I have been head over heels for you for years, woman.”
For whatever reason, this makes me giggle, but my laughter stops when he snakes an arm around my waist and pulls me up against his body.
“I’m crazy about you, Reeve,” he murmurs, his face close, his eyes scanning mine. “Youcannotbe in any doubt about that.”
My heart thunders in my chest and though there are two parkas, a slip of a dress, and at least one shirt between us, I swear to God I can feel his heart thundering back.
Something going on.
Head over heels for you.
Holy shit. It’s New Year’s Eve.
“You can’t kiss me at midnight,” I blurt out. “Not with all of them watching.”
“Then I guess I’d best kiss you now,” he says, lowering his lips to mine.
I haven’t been kissed by that many guys.
I am probably a late bloomer, owing partially to the fact that I was the youngest of six, and partially to the fact that I was raised by my dad…but suffice it to say that this feels like the very first real kiss of my entire life.
He holds me with one arm, so his palm is free to cup my jaw, to keep my face angled to his and steady as his lips touch down on mine. I feel his index finger behind my ear and the pad of his thumb close to the corner of my mouth. I smell him all around me and taste him as he parts his lips and slides his tongue against mine. There’s this soft smacking sound as his lips leavemine for a moment—I almost panic that it’s over—before they land on mine again.
This time I close my eyes, winding my arms around the back of his neck as he holds me close. I open my mouth to his, welcoming the warm, wet velvet of his tongue against mine, knowing that something is happening between us that can’t be swept aside or overlooked. I hold him tighter, digging my heels into the moment, because I don’t ever want for either of us to be able to deny that this happened—that once upon a time, on New Year’s Eve in Skagway, Aaron kissed Reeve, and Reeve kissed Aaron, and everything between them changed. I want this to be a beginning, not an interlude, and not an ending. I want to kiss Aaron Adams a million times under the night sky. And then I want to kiss him a million more.