and when she opened them, she was smiling.
“Did you google ‘best groveling speeches’ while I was passed out?”
Chase smiled slowly, brushing his fingers over her cheek. “Can I kiss you now?” he whispered.
She pulled back slightly. “I have puke breath.”
“I love you,” he said, and her eyes flew to his face, her startled reaction making him smile. “I do. I love you. So I’ll take your kisses any way I can get them, pukey or otherwise.”
Andie inhaled deeply, and when she exhaled, her eyes were shining with tears again. “I love you, too,” she whispered.
Chase smiled, leaning into her. “Then there’s no way this could be wrong,” he whispered against her lips.
She closed the tiny distance between them, bringing her mouth to his, and when his arms came around her, pulling her against his body at last, he knew he would never let her go again.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Andie sat in a long line of cars, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. She should have known better than to think this would be a quick trip. She had learned, through many years of trial and error, that the best time to go to her bank was first thing in the morning, but that hadn’t been a possibility today.
Today she was lucky if she had time to breathe.
It was a good kind of busy, though. Earlier that morning, she had gone to the restaurant to finalize a few things with Dana, the assistant manager who would be taking over as manager for the next three weeks in Andie’s absence. After that she had gone to Chase’s apartment in the brief window of time that she knew he would be out meeting with a client so she could pack the rest of his things. She still couldn’t believe she hadn’t gotten caught yet; she’d been packing him little by little over the course of the past few days, taking only those things she was sure he wouldn’t be looking for, things he wouldn’t need on a daily basis, so he wouldn’t figure out what she was doing. But today, she had packed the rest of the things he’d need—his toiletries, his shoes, his favorite jeans—and taken his bag back with her. Because tonight she’d come clean.
Tonight, she’d tell him about the surprise.
But first she needed to go to the bank so she could make a deposit into the restaurant’s account, as well as a withdrawal from her personal one in preparation for the trip.
She could see what the holdup was. A few cars ahead, a woman was obviously making several transactions at the drive-up window and had not taken the time—or consideration for that matter—to fill out the slips ahead of time. Andie could see her leaning on the dashboard as she filled out each slip, slowly and methodically.
And while the cars in front of her tooted their horns and inched impatiently forward, Andie couldn’t find it in herself to be annoyed.
She had become one of those people.
Unshakably happy, perpetually content.
Completely in love.
She exhaled softly as she rested her head back on the seat, waiting for the line of cars to move forward. She imagined his face when she told him what she’d been planning, and she couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips.
A few minutes later, the woman with the infinite transactions finally finished her business, and as Andie moved forward in line, the new position of her car gave her a clear view of the café across the street that had just opened.
She had never been there, although she had noticed it several times. It looked quaint and interesting, and today it was warm enough to open the outdoor patio; the tables outside were filled to capacity.
We should go there one day, she thought to herself, glancing down at the clock on the dashboard to check her time. And then she froze, her mind registering what she had just seen. Andie lifted her eyes slowly back to the passenger window, but she didn’t need to look again. She already knew.
The mannerisms. The hair color. The deep blue button-down she had loved because it brought out his eyes. The tie she had gotten him for Christmas.
Colin.
She hadn’t realized she’d stopped breathing until she heard the quick intake of breath and recognized it as her own.
The last time she had seen him was over three months ago, the night she declined his proposal. They had only spoken twice after that night, and both were short phone conversations.
Both before he knew about her