“Good, huh?” Malia wipes some salsa from the corner of her mouth. She’s adorable.
I nod, my mouth too full to respond.
“Want to try the nachos? It’s enough to feed a group of people. We’ll both go home with leftovers.”
I swallow. “Sounds like a plan. What do they use to make the salsa?”
“I’ve always tried to figure that out by taste, but it’s such a blend I have a hard time telling what all the spices are.”
“They won’t tell?”
“Nope. Not even for money. I’ve tried.” She scoops a heaping pile of salsa onto a chip and barely gets it into her mouth without spilling.
I laugh, then try to get even more onto my chip, but then it splatters onto the table.
Malia roars with laughter. She’s beautiful when she smiles and gorgeous when she laughs. “Try again.”
“I can’t beat you. You’re clearly the master.”
We joke and tease each other through the whole meal. I love how spending time with her makes me forget about everything else. It gives me hope that I can actually move on one day, stop living with the lingering sadness that never seems to leave my side—until she showed up in my life. I’ll have to remember to thank her brother for being a screw-up, which allowed us to meet.
By the time we walk outside, we both have to-go boxes and my stomach is fuller than it has been in a long time.
She turns to me before unlocking her car. “Up for dessert?”
I don’t know how I’ll be able to eat in the next week, but I can’t say no to more time with her. “You’d better believe it.”
“Not too full?” She glances at my stomach, the corners of her mouth twitching, then back to me. “Lookin’ a little green there.”
“Green? Ha. You underestimate me. Bring on the dessert.”
“Perfect.” She unlocks the doors.
What have I gotten myself into? There’s no way I can possibly have another bite of anything, but I also can’t say no to more time with her. Maybe my stomach will settle before we get to wherever we’re going. If I’m lucky.
I’m grateful for the music playing so she can’t hear my stomach gurgling. I really should have said no to the jalapeño peppers, but the look in her eyes was practically double-dog dare. You don’t say no to those.
She turns down a street with a strip mall that has an exquisite chocolate shop next to a coffee house. “You like chocolate, right?”
“Who doesn’t?”
“I know a few weirdos.”
“I’m not one of them. At least not regarding chocolate.”
We fill a small box with hand-made chocolates and head next door to the coffee shop. My stomach is threatening to explode, but I order a drink nonetheless. I can always pretend to sip it and warm it up tomorrow. At least I’ll be able to weasel this extra time with her.
She picks a table in the back where the lights are dimmed and a large potted plant gives privacy. Then she scoots her chair right up to mine and snuggles up to me. “This is nice.”
I wrap my arm around her. “It sure is.”
Malia opens the box of chocolates. “Which one do you want?”
“You pick first.”
“No. You.” She turns to me, a gleam in her eyes. “Unless you’re too full.”
“They don’t call me the bottomless pit for nothing.”
She motions toward the sweets.
My stomach twists a little as I think about filling it with more. I pick the smallest chocolate, and before I can stick it in my mouth, Malia snatches it from me and pops it in hers. She smirks.
I laugh. “What was that for?”
“The smallest one? Why bother? You’re clearly too stuffed to eat.”
“I had twice the nachos you did.” And it’s true. They were so good, I couldn’t stop myself.
She shrugs. “Try this one.”
Before I can respond, Malia picks up the largest candy and slides it into my mouth. When her fingers brush my lips, my heart leaps into my throat. She closes the space between us and kisses me. We share the caramel chocolate, and I discover I like the dessert more than I ever thought possible.
We continue sharing the rest of the chocolates, and I worry that the workers will kick us out but nobody seems to either notice or care about our affectionate display.
She snuggles up to me again as soon as we empty the box. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No.” I clear my throat. “Not at all. I’d be up for that again anytime.”
Malia threads her fingers through mine. “Is tomorrow good?”
“It’s perfect.”
She turns to me and bats her lashes. “Actually, speaking of tomorrow. There’s that Halloween Carnival just outside of town. My friends and I are going. Want to join us?”
“I don’t want to intrude.” I’m an idiot. She’s inviting me to spend more time with her and I just said no.
“Never, and besides, they really want to meet you.”
“They do? You’ve told your friends about me?”
“Of course. And I know you’ll love them. They’re my besties. We all grew up together, and it destroyed us when my parents moved me away, so we hatched our plan to go to college together so we wouldn’t be separated any longer.”
“Wow, you guys sound really tight.”
“For sure. They’ve been there for me through a lot of stuff. Still are.”
I frown. “Things like Holden?”
She nods. “Him and my whole family.”
“You’ve always had a lot of family drama?”
“Unfortunately.”
Silence settles between us. I’m not sure how to respond, and I definitely don’t want to start talking about my family.
“What about your family?” she asks. “They seem nice. Based on the three minutes I spent with them, anyway.”
I sigh. “Yeah, they’re nice. I really can’t complain.”
“I get the feeling there’s more to it than that.”
My body tenses.
“But you don’t have to talk about it,” she says quickly.
“I’m not trying to hide anything. It’s just …” I let my voice trail off as I consider my wording, as my heart hardens trying to protect me from facing the pain.
“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t mean to drag anything up.”
“No, you’re not.” My voice cracks.
She turns to look at me, pain in her eyes. “Your heart’s been broken too.”
I look away, unable to hold her gaze—not without falling apart. “Yes.”
Malia rubs circles on my palm. “It sucks.”
I nod, tears misting my eyes. This is why I hate thinking about all I’ve lost.
She presses her lips on my hand. “You don’t have to talk about it. But you can if you want to. I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”
My breath hitches and I dare to meet her gaze again. “I’ve lost people. People I loved more than life itself.”
Her mouth curves down, she squeezes my hand. “Oh, Linc. I’m so sorry.”
She blurs as the tears overpower me. I turn away and wipe them away, but more return.
“I can’t imagine losing one person I love, much less more than one.”
I nod, trying to wipe the tears away.
“You know what? It’s good that you can cry. Too many guys try to tough it out, and it’s not healthy. The fact that you can shed tears, especially in front of someone, makes you stronger than all the others.”
That’s where she’s wrong. I’m not tough—I can’t control the tears. She’s just managed to break through my barrier, the enormous wall I’ve built around myself.
She goes back to rubbing shapes on my palm. “I hate giving into the tears too, but it’s a good release. It lets me move on and face life again.”
“I guess.”
“Don’t feel bad. Your secret’s safe with me.”
I turn and meet her gaze again, her beautiful green eyes filled
with kindness. She hands me a napkin, and I blow my nose. So attractive.
Malia wipes a tear from my eye. “I haven’t lost anyone, but I have my own share of heartache. And not just because my middle brother is an idiot.” She takes a deep breath. “Holden makes the stupid decisions he does because our family is so screwed up. I’ve never told anyone outside of my besties about any of it. My parents would freak if they knew I’d said anything.”
“Every family has its dysfunction.”
“Yeah, but some of it is worse than others. Much worse.”
I wince, remembering the bruise on her face. “You’re right. My family isn’t perfect but—”
“Don’t feel like you have to compare. Mine is screwed up big time, and that’s just the way it is.”
I run my fingers over her cheek. “Do things get violent?”
“Not too bad.”
It takes me a moment to recover. “What do you mean? Violence is violence.”
“It’s not like any of my bones are broken or anything. And I get nice stuff. I won’t have any debt when I graduate.”
“And that makes hitting you okay?”
Malia looks away this time. “No, it doesn’t. I’m just aware that some people have it worse than I do. I try to see the positive.”
I run my fingers through her hair. “Why do you live at home if it’s that bad?”
“My youngest brother. Plus, my parents don’t want me living on campus if I’m not going to study anything related to running the business.”
“You’re an adult. They can’t control you.”
“But they are paying for my education.”
“So?”
“If a company pays for schooling, the employee has to study what they pay for. It’s no different.”
“Except you’re their daughter. They should be supporting your dreams.”
She snorts. “That’ll be the day.”
Silence rests between us as I consider how good I have it, and that I should stop by home more often.
When she turns to look at me, I cup her chin. “Are they the ones who hit you? Your parents?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
Malia meets my gaze and gives me a sad smile. “I mean, it isn’t going to change anything. Once I graduate, I can walk away.” It feels like she’s leaving something unsaid.
“But what?”
“I didn’t say but.”
“You didn’t have to.” I rub her jawline with my thumb. “You said you won’t judge me. I’m not going to judge you, either. What’s said in this coffee house stays in this coffee house.”
She nods, her gaze averted. “Maybe we should talk about something else. We were having so much fun until we started talking about families.”
“Do we have any chocolate left?” I pick up the empty box and manage to pull out a few crumbs.
Malia lifts a brow.
“Open up.”
She laughs, and I drop the crumbs into her mouth and press my lips on hers, first gently then with more passion. I can feel my heartache melting away, hopefully she’s experiencing the same.
After a few minutes, someone clears her throat next to us. “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s closing time.”
I pull back and try to recover from the kisses.
The barista smiles at us. “Three minutes, you two.”
“Thanks.” Malia gathers our things then turns to me when she lifts my cup. “Did you drink any?”
“Not a drop.” I hold back a grin.
“You were too stuffed.” She gives me a playful shove.
“I’ll warm it up tomorrow.”
She makes a face. “Really?”
I nod. “Lattes always taste better the second day.”
“You’re a weirdo, you know that?”
“As long as I’m your weirdo.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She blows me a kiss before taking our trash to the garbage bin.
My breath hitches. Does this mean we’re officially a couple?
Chapter Fourteen
Malia
My heart races as we near the fairgrounds. I’m glad Lincoln is driving this time because I’m actually nervous about my friends meeting him. They’ll love him, no doubt about that. And though they might be a little much for him all at once, I can’t see him not loving them back. But these four people have become my two favorite, but very separate, parts of my life.
Now they’re going to collide together. And meeting my friends is the equivalent to most people’s meeting the parents.
I don’t want Linc to meet my crazy family. Not that I should worry, I suppose. Our first meeting was Holden in all his glory, and Linc still likes me. Still, meeting my parents isn’t something I want to do to him. And he’s definitely not meeting my extended family. My parents are actually sane compared to them.
“You okay?” Linc’s voice brings me back to the moment.
I turn to him and smile. “How could I not be? We get to spend the whole day together.”
“You sure you don’t want to do one of our experiments today? There are going to be a lot of people to test our ideas on.”
“I don’t want to think about school today. Let’s just have fun and put everything else behind us for the day.”
“Can’t argue with that logic.” He smiles, melting my insides. If he’d asked again about the project, I’d probably give in. It’s getting harder and harder to say no to him, especially when he looks at me like that.
Linc turns back to the road and hits the gas.
Now the fair is in sight—tall rides and balloons in the distance. Not to mention all the signs pointing us there. We couldn’t get lost if we wanted to.
A text comes in from Samara letting me know they’re stuck in traffic and to go in without them. They’ll catch up to us.
“Everything okay?” Linc asks.
I update him on my friends’ tardiness.
He takes my hand. “Just gives us a little more alone time.”
“We’ll have to get a bunch of selfies.”
“Are you going to put that on your social media?”
“Maybe.” I say it in a teasing tone. “Don’t think you can replace your brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s photo though.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
I laugh, but I’m already planning on replacing it later after I’ve had a chance to find the best selfie of us. I’m picturing one on a Ferris wheel with as much of the fair behind us as possible, but maybe I’ll have a favorite somewhere else.
We pull into the parking lot and follow the long line of cars until we find a place to park.
I step outside and am greeted by the scent of manure. “We must’ve parked by the farm animals.”
Linc steps out and wrinkles his nose. “You think?”
We share a laugh and make our way down the long aisle before we come to another. My legs are going to be tired before we even get there. But then a cross between a tractor and a bus stops. A farmer lifts his hat toward us. “Want a ride to the entrance?”
I grab Lincoln’s hand and climb in before he can object. We endure the bumpy ride, and I nearly end up in his lap as we go over a pothole. When the vehicle stops with a jolt, we pile out along with everyone else and get in line. At least it’s the shorter line since we got tickets ahead of time.
Once inside, I look around for our first selfie. There are so many choices—rows of flowers not far away, rides behind us in nearly every direction, and even a clown riding on a unicycle.
He puts his arm around my shoulders. “What do you think? I like those orange flowers. They’re so bright, they draw the eye right away.”
“Let’s start there.” I grab his arm and pull him over to the immense garden. He’s right about the orange ones. They’re phenomenal, and they smell so good too.
“Your phone or mine?” he asks.
I whip mine out and set it to selfie mode. “Mine.”
&
nbsp; “Okay.” He grins.
I snuggle as close to him as possible and beam. We look like the perfect couple. It warms my heart. I never thought I’d find happiness with a guy again after everything I’d been through. My last ex managed to convince me that I deserved nothing more than the marriage my parents share.
Shoving those thoughts from my mind, I snap several pictures. They all come out perfect.
“You’re going to send those to me, aren’t you?” Linc asks. “I feel like I should take some myself. You might even like one or two.”
“I never said—”
“Just teasing.” But he pulls out his phone, and before snapping a picture takes a flower and slides it behind my ear. “Perfect.” Then he snaps a number of pictures. “See? Even better than yours.”
I laugh and pull out the flower, taking in its sweet scent. “I don’t think we’re supposed to pick those.”
“No? Oops.” He takes it from me and drops it on the ground. “Look, it’s on the ground. We should pick the poor thing up.”
My stomach hurts from laughing, and we just got here. I can’t imagine the shape I’m going to be in by the end of the day—or even the night. I hope he’s up to staying late because I’d love to walk around in the dark with the bright lights shining everywhere.
Another text comes in. This one is from Raven saying they’re in line.
“Your friends?” Linc lifts a brow.
“They’re here.”
“Let’s go meet them.” He laces his fingers through mine then blows dirt off the flower and puts it back behind my ear. But before we head back to the entrance, he surprises me by taking a picture of me.
“Hey! Warn a girl first.”
He shakes his head with a heart-stopping devilish grin. “No way. The natural look suits you.”
Linc shows me his screen, and I can’t deny it. I always use my well-practiced grin, but there’s something different about the one he snuck of me smiling at him without a thought of cameras or what people would think about how I look.
“Malia!”
I turn to see my friends waving at me and heading our way. My heart races a little, knowing introductions are coming. I hope they don’t give him too hard of a time. But then again, he isn’t like any of my previous dates. He’s actually thoughtful.
When You Start to Miss Me: A Romantic Suspense (Wildflower Romance Book 3) Page 9
