“Is it all the way in?”

“I don’t think it’s going any farther.”

“We’ve got to do this right. Shove it as hard as you can.”

Will gives the eyebolt one last whack into the tree trunk and then tests it in his grip. “I think we’re good. That hammock won’t be coming down anytime soon.”

I thread the rope through, and we haul on it until the hammock looks to be the right distance off the ground. Will ties it off, and I swing back on the canvas surface. My feet lift off the ground. I wipe my brow, looking up through the foliage. The sky is starting to deepen to indigo with the coming evening.

“I think we’ve earned our keep today.”

“And as a bonus, we get to break it in.” Will leaps on beside me and pulls me over so we’re cradled in the swaying fabric. Even as I let out a squeak of surprise, my body shifts automatically to mold to his. He braces his arm around my head and kisses me.

I’m not sure this is the exact purpose Brooke and Trevor had in mind when they asked if we could hang the hammock at their lake house, but right now it seems like an excellent one. I wriggle even closer, and Will makes an approving sound. He eases back and brushes my hair back from my face. I gaze up at him, smiling so wide my cheeks hurt.

It’s been three months with Will, but I’m still hit by these pangs of wonder when I look at him. How the hell did I manage to find my way into the arms of a guy who makes me so fucking happy? Which isn’t even getting into how happy the fucking is.

Will’s eyebrows arch. “What are you thinking, Ruby Walters? No fretting at being apart from your phone for the day?”

“No way. Darlene can handle anything my clients throw at her for at least twenty-four hours.” Hiring an assistant: the best decision of my career so far. “Are you still coping?”

“If anyone asks, I’ll just reassure them that I’m far better at my job for every day I spend with you.” He teases his fingers up my side. “So what are you thinking, then?”

“Oh, just that I’m absolutely the luckiest person in the entire world.”

“That’s not possible. I know for a fact that it’s me.”

I snort and give him a little shove. “Oh my God. We’re getting as bad as Trevor and Brooke. If we don’t watch out, people are going to start gagging when we walk by.”

“Let them gag, then,” Will says with a wink. “They don’t know what they’re missing.”

He tugs me onto him and into another kiss—a little too vigorously. The hammock swings and tips us out onto the grass. We land in a heap, limbs tangled and foreheads knocking.

“What trouble are you two getting into now?” Maggie’s voice carries from the path. She strolls over, shaking her head. “Trevor wants to know where you put the firecrackers.”

“They’re still in the trunk.” Will gives me a peck on the lips and strides up the path. I fall in beside Maggie, following more slowly.

“So far so good?” she asks.

“Yeah. Lots and lots of good.” I can’t help it. I’m smiling like an idiot again. “Will just started developing a property a smidge south of Tijuana, so he can hop between there and LA really quick. He’s been crashing at my place whenever he’s in the city overnight.”

Maggie lets out a low whistle. “That sounds pretty serious.”

“I guess it is.” I think of his bathrobe hanging next to mine on my bedroom door, the bag of his coffee beans on my kitchen counter. A pleased little shiver tickles through me. I’ve lived on my own for a long time, but having those little pieces of him scattered in my space just makes me giddy. We’re heading into territory unfamiliar to me as far as relationships go, but I’ve managed to ignore the occasional bouts of nerves. Winging it is where I’m at my best, after all.

“How’s everything with you?” I ask. This Fourth of July get-together is the first time I’ve seen Maggie since the wedding. “How is the bakery working out?”

She pauses. “It’s . . . off to a bumpy start.” Maggie exhales a weary sigh. “I mean, I knew it would be tough getting things off the ground, but the week after we opened, they started work on a building down the block. Three thousand feet of gorgeous, sparkling space for the Meredith Miles bakery,” she says, naming a famous TV chef.

I wince. “Oh babe, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah. Once she opens, I don’t even want to know what my sales will look like.” She stops herself. “What am I saying? This weekend is about having fun, not me complaining about work!”

“Aww, you can complain to me anytime,” I reassure her. “And if you need some PR, let me know. I can maybe come up with some ideas to drum up business.”

“I’ll take you up on that.”

We find everyone else on the deck that overlooks the lake: the wedding party reunited. Brooke and Trevor are crouched shoulder-to-shoulder setting up the first of the firecrackers—an eco-friendly variety, of course. Lulu and Colin have resumed their flirtation wherever they left off. She giggles, perched on his lap on the hanging swing. I walk up to the railing to breathe in the cool lake breeze, and Will comes up behind me. He wraps his arms around my waist.

“Man,” Brad says, looking around at all of us. “It’s Couple Central with you guys these days. I really need to track down that Deanna chick from college.”

Will smothers a chuckle. He leans to murmur by my ear. “Do you think we should clear that up for him?”

“Nah,” I say. “Why ruin the memory?”

There’s a sizzling hiss, and Trevor backs away. “Here we go!”

With a popping sound, the firecracker shoots up into the air. It bursts against the darkening sky with a crackle of sparks and streaking light. Brad whoops, and Lulu applauds. Trevor hustles to set up the next.

Will hugs me a little closer and presses a kiss to the back of my head. I lean into him as the next firecracker shrieks upward. Maybe the future is as unknowable as the vast stretch of the universe over our heads, but that doesn’t feel like a drawback now. There’s not one interplanetary voyage I’d swap for the adventure we’re on together.

* * *