“All right,” I said, throwing him a bone. “I’ll send you pics. Maybe. If I remember. I’m hoping I’ll be too busy.”
He huffed out a quick ha! before saying, “I’m hoping you’ll be too busy too. That way I won’t have to hear about this girl anymore.” His voice went up an octave as he mimicked a girly voice. “All your stupid-ass questions about if she remembers you, or if she still thinks about you, or if she might like you, all that whiny bullshit.”
“You’re the one who wants to live through me, remember? So you must not hate it too much.” I pulled my car off the freeway and made a left turn. His groan filled my speakers as I spotted the hotel up ahead in the distance. “All right, buddy, I’m about to pull into the hotel, so I gotta go.”
“Okay. Go get your girl, Caveman.”
“That’s the plan,” I said before ending the call and pulling up to the parking attendant.
He’s Here
Cammie
“He’s obviously not coming. I think I’m gonna head up to our room.” I faked a yawn and looked at Kristy, who pulled out her cell phone so she could check the time.
The thought of staying here another minute no longer appealed to me. My disappointment level had hit an all-time high. Dalton wasn’t here, he most likely wasn’t coming, and I was clearly a crazy person for believing that he would. Or more so, for believing he might actually come here to see me the same way I had come to see him. I felt like a fool, and I hated feeling foolish.
“Uh-uh. It’s only nine twenty. You’re not going to bed yet. He could still show up. This thing goes until midnight. Come on, Cinderella, don’t give up on your prince just yet.”
“No one shows up this late. We’ve already eaten dinner and dessert. You don’t really think he’s coming, do you?” I asked Kristy seriously, pleading for an honest response.
She tugged at her bottom lip before admitting, “Probably not.”
I wanted to cry. I hadn’t realized just how badly I truly wanted to see Dalton until him not showing up was an unavoidable truth. Disappointment and I had become one. Look up the word in the dictionary, and you’d see my face right next to it.
“Oh God, look who’s here!” Jenna squealed as she pointed toward the open double doors. “Look.” She nudged Kristy. “You were asking about him earlier, and now he’s here!”
I turned to look in the direction Jenna was pointing, and it was as if the room had become the Red Sea and parted in the wake that was Dalton Thomas. My stomach clenched as a flood of emotions filled me.
He was here. And as far as I could tell, he was alone, thank God. Right when I would have bet my hard-earned money that he wasn’t showing up, here he was. And Christ on a cracker, had he aged well. He might not have been all that good looking in high school, but the years had been more than kind.
His sandy-brown hair was still a little too long and almost hung in his eyes, the way it had back then. The charcoal-gray suit he was wearing looked damn good on him, like it was tailored for him. He might have been a boy ten years ago, but his body was all man now, complete with broad shoulders, defined arm muscles, and thick in places I could only imagine.
Stop imagining.
My world immediately imploded at the sight of him. Everything I’d tried to convince myself of over the last ten years had been an absolute lie—that he no longer affected me, that I was all but over him, that it was just a high school fling that meant nothing. Seeing him now made me realize that Dalton would always be a part of me. It was as simple, and as complicated, as that. Whether he wanted to be or not, he was my first love. Whether I wanted him to claim that title or not, it was his, and it always would be. You could never give the firsts of anything away to someone else; life didn’t work like that.
My stomach rolled and churned as he walked deeper in the room, his presence even more commanding than it once was. The invisible cord that stretched between us tightened, yanking on my heart. Knowing Dalton was near, my body reacted. My breath came out in shortened bursts, my heart pounded so hard I heard each throb in my ears, and heat flooded my entire body.
Fascinated, I watched as grown men ran excitedly to his side and slapped him with high fives, fist bumps, and manly back-patting hugs. Women ran from all directions to greet him with full-body hugs. Was it my imagination, or was Dalton looking past the people who surrounded him? He searched the room, his eyes scanning for something, and hope lurched in my silly chest.
“How you doing?” Kristy whispered, the question innocent enough.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” I admitted before abruptly shoving away from the table and making my escape, heading as far away from Dalton as I could get. Pushing open the women’s bathroom door, I raced to the sink and gripped the counter with both hands. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to steady my breathing, which was unsteady, to say the least.
Memories of kissing Dalton filled my head, and I shook it, trying to release them . . .
• • •
“What are we doing? Not that I mind kissing you or anything,” I’d mumbled against Dalton’s lips as I broke the kiss and struggled to catch my breath. Pressing against his hard body in the photography darkroom, I’d silently prayed that no one would come in and interrupt us. “But what is this?”
“Do you want to define it, Cammie?” He squared his jaw to look at me before he leaned down and kissed me again. “Is that what you want?” he asked between kisses, his hands firmly holding me in place. “Tell me.”