Epilogue
Simon exhaled slowly as he stepped out of the taxi before the small rambler. Without paying much attention, he paid the driver and hoisted his backpack to one shoulder, winced and moved it to the other one. This was the arm he’d gotten shot in during the issue at his cabin.
Issue.
He snorted. The entire thing had been shot up, but he shook his head and took a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time to think about that. It had been six weeks since she’d gone out of his life. Six weeks of hell on earth for him.
“You need me to wait for you, son?”
He shot the driver a look before shaking his head and walked away, heading for the door and the occupant behind it.
On her porch, he reached out and pressed the doorbell. A few moments passed before the door opened. He blinked a few times, not recognizing the woman there. She gave him a smile. Her brunette hair tumbled around her heart shaped face. A lime green shirt hung off one tanned shoulder, the fringe on it reminding him of something a hippie would wear. Below that, neon yellow spandex pants conformed to lean runner’s legs.
“May I help you?” She ran her gaze up him blatantly and without the slightest bit of shame.
“I’m looking for Geri.”
“She’s out back, come on in.”
He wanted to demand she ask for some sort of identification before she just opened the door and waved him in. But his need to see Geri overrode anything of the sort.
Trailing her through the orderly house, he wiped his hands off on his pants legs as they neared the porch.
“Geri!”
“Christ, Brittany, I’m not across town, you don’t need to yell.”
“Sorry, some hot ass guy showed up here for you.” Sorry or not, her voice didn’t tone down.
Beyond the brunette, he spied Lars and another dog playing out in the yard. Looked like a sled dog but he wasn’t sure what type it was. Past them, Geri.
Heart in his throat, he stepped out onto the wood deck. She looked up at him the exact moment he opened his mouth to say something to her. Geri’s mouth moved but no sound came out. But she said his name, he read her lips.
Bag on the porch, he cleared the steps and strode to her. Simon didn’t hesitate, just yanked her close and kissed her. Poured everything in him into that very kiss. All the words he wasn’t able to say back at the cabin. All the feelings she evoked in him, everything. It all came out in that very kiss.
God he’d missed her.
“I don’t think I’m needed for this. Come on boys.” Brittany took the dogs and left them alone.
He stared into her hazel eyes and pushed some blonde strands from her face. “Hi.”
She licked her lips and touched his jaw, fingers skimming along the scar. “Hey.”
They moved to the swing and sat, he held her tight to his side, unwilling to have space between them.
“What are you doing here?”
“Why didn’t you come back?”
“I sent you a check.” She looked over at him, emotions overflowing in her gaze. “Kept your shirt, but I sent you a check.”
“I didn’t want a check. I wanted you.”
“You never said.” Her amber eyes deepened as she stared at him.
“I never said a lot of things I should have that night we had in the cabin.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “Christ, Geri. I don’t know where this can go, or what happens now but I want a chance. I’ve been miserable these past few weeks. I miss you beside me, feeling your presence in the cabin, hell I even miss your mutt.”
She smacked him even as a smile crossed her features. “He’s not a mutt.”
Geri pulled away and straddled him so they were nose to nose. Peppering his face with tiny kisses she nodded. “I missed you too, Simon. God help me, I missed you too.”
“Can I stay so we can figure this out?”
“At least come inside so you don’t give the neighbors a show,” Brittany called out.
“Go away, Britt.”
“No, I want to know how and where you met this hunk.”
“He nearly ran me over.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. Christ you could just say at the supermarket or in the mountains.”
Simon grinned. “She doesn’t know the truth?”
“And she won’t. Come inside. We should get reacquainted.”
Heat surged through him. with another kiss, he got up and carried her inside, heading straight for her bedroom, as she gave directions, ignoring her friend who was there. Setting her down, he kicked the door shut behind them, closing out everything but the two of them.
“Talk?”
“Later,” Geri said, whipping her shirt off and tossing it aside.
Yeah, he could work with that.