Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
I opened them, and my jaw dropped. The Abelard Vineyards food truck was parked right in front of me, except that someone had written Moe’s on the Go in a fat black marker on the side. “Dashiel Buckley! What have you done?”
“I bought a food truck. That’s what I need help with.”
“You bought this truck?”
“I did.” He wrapped his arms around me. “I had this idea, see, about elevated comfort food, and I was wondering if anyone at Moe’s Diner would like to partner with me.”
I started to laugh. “Just anyone?”
“Well, I did have a particular someone in mind.” He slipped out from behind me and took my hands so that we stood face to face. The sun lit him from behind, making him look otherworldly handsome, as if he needed the assistance. “It’s yours, Ari. I got it for you. And I didn’t even break any promises because you said you wouldn’t borrow money from me, but you never said you wouldn’t accept a gift.”
“Oh my God.” I shook my head. “You are impossible to argue with. You twist everything around. I don’t even know what to say!”
“Say you’ll accept this. Say you want to be with me, even though it will be hard. Say you feel what I feel, and you want to be in this with me.”
I cradled his face in my palms. “I want to be in this with you. I feel what you feel.”
His arms slid around my back, and he rested his forehead on mine. “Then say you love me.”
I smiled, and I felt it with my whole heart. “I love you.”
He kissed me, and my entire body radiated with happiness. “I noticed you didn’t say anything about accepting the food truck.”
Laughing, I let my head fall back. “I accept. And I will work my tail off for you, partner.”
“God, I missed the sound of your laugh.”
“I missed everything about you. And we were only apart for six days.”
“I know. The separations won’t be easy. But when I’m not on set, I’ll be here with you. And even though we’ll be apart sometimes, we’ll know what we have. Say we can do this.”
“We can do this, Dash. I’ve waited so long for you. We can make this work.”
“I think so too.” He kissed me again, then wrapped me in his arms, speaking low in my ear. “I know not every love story can have a happy ending. But this one does.”
I had to choke back a happy sob to reply. “This one does.”
After I finished my shift, Dash accompanied me to the hospital, where we visited with my parents and told them about the truck. My father offered to pay Dash back right away, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
“I want to be business partners,” he insisted. “It’s an investment.”
“Moe’s Diner doesn’t have partners,” my father said. “We’re family.” He opened his arms, and Dash gave him a hug.
My mother leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. “He’s very handsome, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” I said, laughing. “But he’s a lot more than that.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
dash
Finally, we were alone.
As if we’d been apart for six years and not just six days, we lost control the moment Ari’s front door was shut behind us. Our mouths sealed together, we tore at each other’s clothing, bumping into walls as we made our way to her bedroom. In mere minutes, I was moving inside her, my hips driving hard, her hands pulling me deeper.
“Sorry,” I said after the shared climax had shuddered through us both, “that was way too fast.”
“It was perfect.” She was still panting. “I didn’t want to go slow. I missed you too much.”
I rolled to the side, taking her with me, our bodies still joined. Pushing her hair off her face, I rubbed her lower lip with my thumb. “I feel like I have so many things to tell you. Like I’ve been gone for months, not days.”
She smiled. “Tell me everything.”
I filled her in on all that had happened, starting with the birthday party mix-up. She listened with wide eyes—until I got to the part about sitting around with the girls wearing the shark onesie, which made her laugh so hard she cried.
“You should have heard them giving me advice on my love life,” I said. “They were so sure they had it all figured out.”
“Just like me and Mabel at that age.”
“You guys were never that bossy. They were like, ‘Just call her, just tell her you love her, just turn your life upside down in an instant. Don’t be a jerk.’”
“You weren’t a jerk,” she assured me, stroking my hair. “I never thought that. It would have been easier if you were.”
“I was so fucking miserable the next few days.”
“Me too,” she said. “I went to work, I visited my dad, I even saw Veronica, but I just felt hollowed out.”