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“Mom, Dad, are you bugging Brooklyn for more pizza?”

“Not this time,” Mrs. Bell said brightly, “but trust me that it’s not far from my mind. I guess I’m not surprised a woman won you over with a handmade brick oven. You know, your father built a smoker when we were in college, and I was just as gone.”

Well, just like that, judging by the knowing glint in his eyes, I think I won over the dad, too—that sidelong look ofyeah, we know how to get a girl.It wasn’t like I didn’t feel good about myself for impressing Ryan with my cooking.

Ryan wrinkled her nose. “Mom, trust me that I appreciate the understanding, but I do not want to mentally compare Brooklyn with my father.”

Mrs. Bell laughed brightly, taking a step back. “Well, you two lovebirds get along now. We’ve been in between you two all evening. Brooklyn’s taken care of us here, but we can entertain ourselves.”

As much as I’d enjoyed the party and the evening, I was all too ready to take them up on it, sneaking a kiss on Ryan’s cheek and leading her with drinks in hand up to the terrace, sitting at the edge where it felt like everyone else was miles away and we could see over everything to where the ocean was a deep cobalt blue in the low sunset glow. She crashed onto the seat next to me as soon as we were there, and she lay her head on my shoulder, tilting her knees to nestle up into my side.

“It’s so nice to be back… I’m exhausted,” she said, just a touch of a pout in her voice. “And I missed you.”

I kissed the top of her head, snaking an arm behind her back and pulling her into my side. “I missed you, too,” I said. “I swear I do love bartending, but I’ve had zero patience for entitled rich tourists while I’m there at work thinking about how much I wish you were sitting on the other side of the bar…”

She stifled a cute little laugh. “I’m glad you work less in the shoulder seasons. I’m going to be very clingy and want lots of attention.”

“All yours, babe. You’ve got some big writeups to do, and I’m going to spoil you while you finish them.”

“Ido.But first I want to wake up slow tomorrow with you and dip down to the beach together, swim in the ocean until we forget what time it is, and kiss slowly on the sand. I want to go back to that café with the arepas, and I want to gaze into your eyes across the table over food, andthenI want to do a little bit of my writing work while I’m overflowing with inspiration from being around you, and then after that, I want to have dinner and drinks by sunset with you right up here on this terrace and make love to you until neither of us can move another inch.” She paused. “I was thinking about that very precise sequence of events the entire time I was gone.”

“Did I, perhaps, get in the way of your work while you were out?”

“I am a professional, Brooklyn Sterling. So… only a little bit.”

“A little bit.”

“Maybe a medium bit.”

I laughed, a sweet and warm feeling bubbling in my chest as I tilted my head to kiss her, soft and sweet and perfect. Not rushing anywhere, just enjoying this moment like I was going to enjoy a million more in the future. “I should apologize,” I said brightly. “But I won’t. Not when that sounds like a perfect way to spend tomorrow.”

“And then maybe… maybe the next tomorrow, too?”

“Mm. We’ll have to mix it up a little bit. Variety is the spice of life.”

“I’m sure you have what it takes to come up with some very spicy variety,” she laughed, closing her eyes and sinking into me, and softly, just barely there, she said those quiet words that I’d spent a long time convinced would make me sick if someone said them to me, but all I thought was how right it felt when she said, “I love you, you know…”

I squeezed her tighter into my side. “Oh, I believe it,” I said, and she snorted.

“Okay, maybe try not to make it sound corny.”

“I love you, too, Ryan.”

She was quiet for a long time, breathing softly, gently, before she said, in the smallest, sweetest voice, “Oh, I believe it.”

“I mean, rightfully so.” I kissed her forehead. “You must be exhausted. And it sounds like we’ve got a big day tomorrow. You think we should get to bed?”

She laughed, tilting her head up to catch me in another kiss, eyes sparkling in the low glow of the lights around the terrace. “Yeah,” she said. “Tomorrow’s going to be good.”

Oh, I believed it.

The End