On the Run (Whispering Key #2) - May Archer Page 0,103
hair. Beale inhaled sharply, then moaned quietly like he’d missed being touched as much as I missed touching him. I pulled his head up, found his lips in the darkness, and kissed him. He tasted sleepy-sweet and smelled like home, and something inside me settled into place.
It was scary as fuck to be this happy, but that exquisite fear was all part of the joy.
I pulled back a little and cleared my throat. “That’s funny, because I was coming to Florida tomorrow to tell you the exact same thing.”
Beale’s head came up, though it was probably too dark for him to see me, unless green tea gave him superpowers. “You were?”
I nodded. “I wrote you a column today. You probably didn’t—”
“I saw it, baby. That’s what convinced me I needed to come right now. See, I was trying to get ahold of Jay, like maybe if I could get him to make a statement and clear up all this stuff, maybe that would be a good way to apologize, but Gage stopped taking my calls, and their drive here from Colorado has turned into an epic road trip. But when I read your words, I thought maybe I didn’t need to wait. That maybe you just wanted me.”
“I always just want you,” I whispered. “And I maybe helped with the Jayd thing.” I sketched out what had happened with Aron earlier. “I’m not sure if that will fix things for Jayd or not, but I don’t want to wait, Beale.”
“Me neither. That’s why I… hang on.” He levered off me to stand and turned on my bedside lamp. “I wrote a letter for you, too.”
He sat on the bed by my waist and riffled through a backpack there before holding up…
“Excuse you.” I snatched it out of his hand. “Is this a vomit bag from the plane?”
“Maybe?” He snatched it back. “My phone died, and I forgot the charger, but I wanted to… I wanted to convince you to give me a second chance, and I figured maybe if I wrote it down, I could make it clearer, so I used what I had. The bag part’s not important.”
I begged to differ. It was fucking adorable. I wasn’t sure if anyone had ever had an airline vomit bag covered in crossed-out scribbles professionally framed before or if I’d be the first. I was very okay with that.
I sat up further and bent over so my chin was on his shoulder and my hands were on his warm skin. “Well, it’s important to note that I don’t require convincing. But also, please convince me.”
Beale shot me a look, his blue eyes hot in the golden light from the lamp. “Promise you won’t laugh.”
“I solemnly assure you, laughter is the furthest thing from my mind.”
“Okay, so… Ahem. Dear Aunt Hagatha—”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
“Toby!” Beale looked at me severely, though it was clear he was close to laughing, too.
“You didn’t tell me it was a Hagatha letter! Sorry! Sorry, sorry.” I pressed apologetic kisses to his shoulder and neck, everywhere I could reach. “Go on. No more laughing,” I vowed, though laughter and shock and relief still bubbled in my chest.
Then he started reading, and suddenly I was closer to tears than laughter.
“My whole life, I’ve been waiting to find my soul mate. My other half. I imagined he’d like a lot of the things I liked, and believe mostly what I believed, and that he’d be my refuge from a world that constantly asked me to explain and justify myself. I was sure that once I met him, I’d never feel like I wasn’t good enough again, because he’d love me despite all my imperfections. He’d make me feel valued and safe and loved.”
I pressed my forehead to Beale’s shoulder. I wasn’t his soul mate, then. But…
“Instead,” he went on, “I met a man who challenged me from the first minute we met. He annoys me. He exasperates me. He makes me nervous. He lights me up. And he’s not perfect, just like I’m not perfect, but that just means we fit perfectly. We make each other better.”
“Stronger,” I whispered against his skin, thinking of fucking Aron, and how good it had felt to stick up for myself.
“Happier,” Beale whispered back. “Not just content, but really, honestly happy, Toby, for the first time I can remember. I’ve stopped waiting for good things to come to me, and I’ve realized I have the power to make them happen.”