“Thanks for taking such good care of my father,” Aaliyah told her.
“Of course. Good luck to you, Aaliyah.”
“And you,” Aaliyah said.
She then made her way to the front desk. Tammy, the receptionist, had not only been an invaluable go-between for Aaliyah’s meals and random requests like clearing the rooftop, but she’d become something of a friend for her as well.
“Hi, Tammy.”
“Heading out?” Tammy asked, taking in Aaliyah’s collection of suitcases on the resort’s luggage trolley behind her.
“How’d you guess?” Aaliyah joked.
“How long will you be gone?” Tammy asked.
“That remains to be seen. I just wanted to say goodbye.”
Tammy smiled and ducked below the desk, retrieving something and setting it on the counter. Aaliyah’s heart gave a little flip. River’s lamp. She’d asked the staff to keep an eye out for it.
“You found it? Where?”
“Tucked into one of the bushes on the rooftop,” she said. “Must have fallen from your towel on your way back inside.”
Aaliyah clamped her hand over the lamp. Her heartbeat pulsed to her fingertips. The timing couldn’t have been better. “Thank you, Tammy. You don’t know what this means for me.”
Tammy’s eyes twinkled. “Good luck to you, Aaliyah. You’ve been a delight to work with. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Aaliyah held the lamp to her chest. “I think I’m about to.”
“Do you need me to send for a car?” Tammy asked.
The slightest trace of mischief settled into Aaliyah’s smile. “I’m good on that score. If I could just get some help with these bags?”
“You got it.”
A few of the bellhops she’d gotten to know approached. They guided the luggage trolley toward the main doors.
“Not that way, boys,” Aaliyah called. “I’m taking my own car.”
She led the way to the elevator, tripping inside with anticipation. Things had worked out all on their own. The lamp hadn’t been lucky after all, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t special or important. Right now, she was more than eager to return it to its owner.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
River bent beneath the open hood of his 1964 Mustang. Hands stained with grease, he twisted the wrench around the cylinder head. Cylinders for the new engine were the final parts he’d put off purchasing, but now, with time and money on his hands, he decided to finish what he’d started.
Fewer cylinders would get him better fuel economy, he knew, but more would give the car more gusto. He’d decided to go with gusto.
Since he’d quit his job working for Zayn and packed his office, he’d been living at a pre-furnished apartment in Central Harbor while the purchase of his first home went through. He was going furniture shopping with his mom later. She and his siblings were waiting to close on their new home as well, a long-awaited gift from River.
He’d considered letting her choose the location, the design, whatever she wanted, but surprising her had been too much fun. He’d blindfolded all three of them, convinced them to take a drive, and his ears still hadn’t recovered from their excited shrieks at the sight of the modern, two-story brick house.
His mom had taken his face in her hands, told him how naughty he was to keep this from her, kissed his cheeks, and then demanded the keys.
River chuckled at the memory even now, days later. He’d been careful in his selection of it. Something manageable but new, with the earth tones he knew his mom loved. Granite countertops, plenty of closet space, all the things she’d mentioned in passing over the years.
He’d added specifications of his own as well. Not too close to his new house, but not too far either. His mom had been completely over the moon about its every aspect and hadn’t stopped talking about it since.
Lucas was inside River’s apartment. He’d stopped by once school was out and smugly fanned a few applications in River’s face. He was filling them out now while waiting for their mom to get off work.
Not wanting to be a distraction, River decided to head outside to work on his car.
The music throbbing from his phone fed his energy. Summer heat pounded against his back, and he sang along to an old song as the sound of wheels on the pavement gravitated his attention from the engine’s coils to the lime green Lamborghini pulling up beside him.
The wrench slipped from River’s hand.
The driver’s side door of her car swooshed open, lifting toward the sky, and she placed a single red heel onto the gravel. Just the sight of that shoe and her amazing legs undid him. His heart rate ratcheted higher, more so when Aaliyah emerged, looking like a goddess in capris jeans and a loose cream blouse. With her black hair trailing down one shoulder, with her transcendent, glittering eyes piercing him, and those lips of hers curving upward just enough, he melted on the spot.
“You’re here?” he asked.
Why? How did she even know where to find him? The only person he told was…
Of course. Her father would have asked, and Zayn would have answered.
River attempted to wipe the grease from his hands, but this cloth wasn’t quite cutting it. This was a soap and water kind of job.
“Hi, River.” She closed her car door and leaned against it. A woman in heels beside a sexy car was enough to tie him in knots. Especially when that woman happened to be Aaliyah Elir.
He’d been thinking of her every day since he left, trying to figure out how to make his way back into her life. It was another reason he was so eager to finish work on his Mustang. He’d been planning on driving it to Florida to see her.
“What are you working on?” she asked, as though it’d only been hours since they’d seen each other instead of a few weeks.
He bent for his dropped wrench and then gestured with it. “Remember I told you about my project? Here she is.”
The Mustang was as red as her heels, though still rusted in some places. He intended on getting a new paint job as soon as he finished fixing her up on the inside. She had updated upholstery, cream leather seats, and a low, smooth design, with a new dashboard and a wide steering wheel indicative of the original style.
“A convertible?” she said, sounding impressed.
“Yeah. I’ve just had the top canvas replaced so it actually works to block out rain. Ask me how I know the other one didn’t.”
She laughed. “It’s great. You’ll have to take me for a ride.”
He slammed down the hood and rested against it. “Sounds like you’ll be in town for a while if you want a ride.”
She shrugged a single shoulder. “I might be.”
She licked her bottom lip and then offered him her hand. Beats rapped between them, stuttering and insistent. “I came because I found something that belonged to you.”
He squinted at her slowly opening fingers. His lamp was in her palm. River placed the dirty rag on his car’s red hood. “You found it?”
“Tammy did. Remember her, from the front desk? I took it to the pool that day. I wanted as much luck as I could get for the conversation with Zayn,” she added with a discomfited chuckle.
He smiled too, lowering his head as though to hide it. “I don’t think it’s lucky.”
She stepped toward him, lowering her hand. “No?”
“Do you?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I think it’s like a motivational speaker. Sometimes we need reminders of what we already know. I think we need little boosts of encouragement to take that scary step toward the unknown, toward something we’ve always wanted but haven’t had the courage to go for. That’s what this lamp did for me.
“Maybe it’s not luck, but it’s bolstering just the same,” she finished.
“My lamp gave you courage?”
There was that shrug again. “It got me to lay things out for my father,” she said. “It helped me end things with Zayn. It brought me closer to you.”
She was r
ight in front of him now. Her lashes flicked fully upward to meet his gaze.
His fingers tingled to reach for her, to close the distance and offer reassurance in the best way he knew how. She’d driven all this way, and something told him she would have done it whether she found the lamp or not.
But he was filthy. His hands were covered in grease and a good amount of it had ended up on his shirt and jeans as well.
She seemed to read his lack of response as him needing more convincing. “I’m sorry you got tangled up in my father’s marriage scheme. I was so embarrassed to have you and Zayn think I wasn’t woman enough, that I had to have my father pick a husband for me. Being around you helped me feel like it was my choice. Being around you helped me realize if I wanted something to happen, I had to make it happen instead of waiting for Papa to dictate that for me.”
“I’m glad,” he said stupidly. He was still so shocked by the sight of her he didn’t know what to say.
“We only had days together, River. But it felt like so much more than that. I’m not going to be CEO of Elir Resorts. I’m not even going to live at them anymore,” she added with that little chuckle of hers. “I’m going to find a job and start piecing together who I really am, and I wondered if you wanted to be a part of that.”
What was she saying? “Your father?”
She smiled. “He’s okay. He’s going to be fine, and I told him I was leaving. He’s the one who helped me find where you were.”
So his suspicion was correct. She paused, standing before him. She’d made her play, and now the ball was in his court.
River wasn’t sure how to go about this. He said the first thing on his mind.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I left.”
Her eyes gleamed. “Really?”
“Really. I’d hold you in my arms right now if I wasn’t covered in grease.”
She took another step, filling the air with her scent of berries and rose water. She placed a hand on his chest. “I don’t mind,” she said.
After only a moment of uncertainty, he gave in and closed his hand around hers. His other arm swept behind, crushing her to his chest. A sense of completion filled every crevice inside of him. All of his jagged edges were being smoothed out, the cracks filling with her.
“What do you say?” she asked. “Are you willing to give this…you and me…a try?”
“I’m so willing. Just as long as you let me kiss you right now.”
Her lips became a grin. “Your wish is my command.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, feeling the kiss enclose them as though they were the only two people in the entire world. The music from the phone in his pocket, the jangling laughter of children a few doors down, it all drowned out beneath the delirious movement of her mouth. He deepened the kiss, giving it a new perspective, cradling his hand against her neck, fisting the hem of her shirt, battling between disbelief and utter rapture that she was here.
She pulled away, smirking. “I’ve been waiting too long for that.”
“I’ll be sure not to keep you waiting too long next time.”
A single finger stroked his collarbone. “Care to prove your statement?”
He closed in, giving her another delicious kiss. A whooping sound came from the door, and Aaliyah pulled away to glance at Lucas, who was cupping his hands around his mouth from his position on the porch.
“That’s my brother,” River said apologetically without glancing anywhere but at her. “He’s here waiting for my mom to drop by.”
Aaliyah’s brows rose with interest. “Your mom? I’d love to meet her.”
River stroked her cheek with his thumb. “And she can’t wait to meet you. I told her all about you. She’s the reason I was fixing this baby up. I was planning on taking a road trip of my own, right to you.”
“You were coming to see me?”
“I’ll come anywhere you are,” he said.
“That won’t be a problem,” she said, tilting into him. “I’m staying right here.”
River’s lips found hers again, caressing them, coaxing them, making up for lost time, for lost words, for everything he wished he could have said and every kiss he wished he could have given her.
He reveled in the moment. Everything was brighter, newer. Breath had a taste, the wind had fingers, and his blood spun in his veins. She was here. She’d come to see him, and she intended to keep it that way.
“What are your plans?” he asked, breaking away just enough to rest his forehead against hers. Chagrined, he noticed a streak of grease on her neck but decided not to bring it up. He didn’t want to give her any reasons to move away from him, not now that he was holding her again.
She toyed with the hair at his nape, and gnawed at her delectable lower lip. How had he not remembered how long her lashes were?
“I don’t know what they have by way of jobs around here, but I was thinking of something along the lines of architecture,” she said.
“Oh? Not business?”
“I might start my own, who knows? I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, trying to decide what I really want to do. The only reason I went to business school was to work in resort management. But I dabbled in creating designs for hotels and homes, and I really enjoyed that.”
“You’d be great at that.” He glided his hand along her side until it slid into hers. “Come on, I’ll wash up, you can meet my family, and then I’ll show you what I’ve been working on lately.”
“Sounds perfect,” she said.
While he was grateful to have nicer accommodations to invite her into, something told him she wouldn’t have minded the pallet-door leading into the patchy grass and the tumble-down trailer that used to belong to his family. River knew Aaliyah would be as accepting, as warm and friendly, as she’d been in luxury.
He couldn’t wait to tell her about his change of luck and how it’d been in part because of her suggestion to invest where he had. He felt like he owed everything to Aaliyah and couldn’t wait to tell her about the house he’d just bought in the countryside.
He’d take her furniture shopping with him. No doubt, she had great tastes. And he’d see what the future held for them both.
Epilogue
Aaliyah lay on her stomach on the faux fur rug. Her bare feet were kicking in the air, and the fire in front of her flickered happily behind its glass pane. She flipped the page in the magazine, thrilling at the sight of beautiful women in stunning wedding gowns. One, in particular, stood out to her. It was form-fitting, dripping with lace, and set off with a sage green sash.
“This looks cozy,” River said from behind her.
Aaliyah shifted. River wore a striped gray and red sweater with jeans, his hair careless and easygoing, his face glorious and exactly what she wanted to see. He held two mugs in his hand. She sat up on the rug, took the steaming mug he offered her and patted the white fabric beside her. “It is. You going to join me?”
“Looking through bridal magazines? If I remember, it didn’t turn out so well during our last experience.”
“Yeah, well, they’re a lot more interesting to me now that I’m planning a wedding I actually want to have.” The ring on her left hand’s fourth finger twinkled. River had proposed to her a week ago, and she hadn’t been able to stop staring at the diamond that symbolized so much for her. For them both.
He released a small laugh and sank onto the rug beside her. She sipped the hot chocolate he’d brought. The liquid was infused with peppermint. Her favorite kind. “Delicious,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. With you here, on a rug in front of this blazing fire, I don’t know how much magazine inspecting we’re going to get done.”
She punched him gently in the shoulder. “Keep your mind on the task at hand. We need to plan our wedding.”
“All right then.” He set down his mug and pulled the nearest magazine to him, feigning interest as he turned pages.
“What do you think of these flo
wers?” she asked, edging in closer and offering the open page for his perusal.
“Lilies?” he said without looking.
His eyes smiled at her. “You haven’t even seen them.”
“I don’t have to. You told me lilies were your favorite.”
She was touched he’d remembered but determined to continue pestering him. She nudged the magazine a little more in his direct line of sight. “I love the simplicity. The way they trumpet open all together like this.”
River looked then, blinking as though there was some kind of hidden message in the picture. “Perfect.”
“And what do you think of this dress? I want to try it on; I wonder if we could get in with this designer…” She showed him the dress she’d been admiring in a different magazine.
River perused the image. “Pretty,” he said too quickly.
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re just going to agree with everything I show you, aren’t you?”
He laughed and pulled her to him as he propped himself against the couch. Aaliyah settled against his chest, loving the feel of this. Once they married, this was going to be their home—her home. Not a resort where she’d be moving from place to place constantly, living out of a suitcase, but an actual house with a living room and a bedroom for them to share, with places for her to leave her mark, to decorate, to accumulate stuff they probably didn’t need, to make memories and call their own.
“You know what I think?” River said, stretching his legs in front of him. Aaliyah trailed a hand along his. “I think we should get married in that fancy car of yours.”
She sat up. “In Roxy? No way. How would that even work?”
“Good point. How about my Mustang, then? We could have the pastor sit in the front seat, with us in the back. We’d say our vows as we’re flying down the freeway at top speed.”
“That’s not romantic at all,” she argued.
“Isn’t it? That’s how my life has been since I met you. A rush of exhilaration that I never want to end.”
She knelt up, pressing herself against his chest. His arm wove around her, keeping her there. “I like your car,” she said. “And while exploring the backseat with you any other time might definitely be worth looking into—”
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