“But you did contact me,” she said, and reached into the purse and pulled out an envelope. He knew exactly what it was. He’d sent her an anonymous letter with cash in it. Because he knew she needed help with her business. Because he knew she wouldn’t accept his help unless she didn’t know it was from him.
But she did know.
“You figured out where I lived,” she said. “You could have come to see me anytime, yet you didn’t. Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to scare you,” he said simply.
She nodded again, and then to his utter shock, she stepped forward and kissed him. He wanted to pull her against him, he wanted to deepen the kiss and let her see all his longing for her. But he didn’t dare.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she said against his lips.
“Even though I’m a monster,” he whispered.
She smiled up at him, shaking her head. “You are not a monster. You are the only man I’ve ever known that I could trust one hundred percent.”
“How do you know that?” he asked, even though it was absolutely true.
“Because you believed me. You protected me.” She lifted the envelope again. “You wanted to help me. You let me go because you knew I had to figure all this out. And most of all, because when I look in your eyes, I can see you love me.”
He groaned. “God, I do. I love you.”
He pulled her against him and kissed her hard this time. “Is it possible to love someone this much after just one night?”
She grinned up at him. “I don’t know, you tell me. You’ve lived a lot longer than I have.”
“All I know is in all those years, I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”
“And I know I don’t have as many years as you, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone either.”
They gazed at each other a moment longer, then kissed like they were the only ones in the room. But alas they weren’t, and soon Drake felt a thump on his back.
“Hey, it looks like we won’t be forced to be ancient bachelors together after all, huh?” Johnny grinned at Drake, fresh off the plane from Paris. He loosely held Lizette’s hand, happy to be back in his adopted hometown even if it was only for a week to pack up his apartment.
“Thank God for that,” Drake said, smiling as he stuck out his hand to shake it. “Welcome home, bro.”
“At least it didn’t take a wake this time to spawn true love,” Stella said joining them, giving her brother a pointed look.
“Well, it kind of did,” Johnny said, giving Lizette an affectionate smile. She was wearing her hair down loose and he thought she was the most gorgeous woman on earth. “My fake death made this all happen.”
“Don’t say that with such pride,” Lizette said in admonishment, laughing. “It was still a terrible thing to do.”
“Yeah, that was like so rude,” Saxon said appearing in the group. “Unlike my wedding, which was beautiful.”
Yep. Saxon was still smoking the wacky weed if he thought that debacle could be classified as beautiful. But, Johnny couldn’t argue that it had played a role in bringing him and Lizette, and certainly Drake and Josie Lynn, together.
The ever-sweet Katie said, “Maybe it was just meant to be.” She leaned into Cort’s side, smiling up at him. He kissed her.
“I think you are all wrong,” said Benny, twirling his drumsticks like he was an overenthusiastic majorette. “I think it takes blacking out and getting one helluva hangover.”
None of them could argue that.