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Chapter Thirty-Eight
FALLON
I woke up the next morning, angry with myself. I’d spent all night trying to get the surprise out of Mackenzie, only to forget to ask her again after we were finished. I’d fallen asleep in her arms instead. She had a way of distracting me—when I was with her, she was all I could focus on.
Mackenzie refused to talk to me or see me until our date, saying she had a few things to take care of first. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little upset about it. We’d only been apart for a few hours, but I already missed her. Fuck, I was in way over my head with this one.
I wasn’t surprised when she showed up later that night with goodies from Brewed Awakening . She was always doing things like that. I swore, every time I saw her, she had an iced coffee in one hand and a bag of banana bread in the other.
“How did you even get this? They closed hours ago.” I laughed, taking the coffee and pastry bag.
She kissed my forehead as we started walking. “I know people.” She winked, and I knew she’d enlisted Rylee’s help.
“Thanks, baby. You’re too good to me.” I took a sip and did a little happy dance. “Perfection, every time.”
I blushed when I heard the faintest whispered, “Yes, you are.”
I turned to her as soon as we got into the elevator and wrapped my arms around her neck. “You clean up really fucking nice, Wildcat.”
“You look pretty damn perfect yourself,” she said with a wink. I was wearing a floral sundress with sandals.
We walked down the street for a few blocks, pausing every once in a while to share a knee-buckling kiss. When we stopped in front of the bookstore, I turned to her, confused. It was closed, and Drea never stayed past closing, so I wasn’t sure why we were there. “Why are we stopping here? It’s closed.”
“Is it?” she asked with a smirk.
I narrowed my brows. “Yes, it’s nine o’clock at night, first of all, and there’s a sign that clearly indicates the store is closed,” I said, dramatically pointing at the obvious “Closed” sign.
She laughed, stepping closer to the door and reaching for the handle. “Have faith, it might be unlocked.”
I furrowed my brow and tilted my head, trying to piece things together. “Drea never leaves the door unlocked. It’s not…” My words trailed off as she turned the knob, and the door opened.
“What the hell? I need to call her and check around to see?—”
“Fallon, relax, okay?” She took my hand and led me inside.
Relax? How could I possibly have relaxed? What if we’d been robbed or something had been damaged? I couldn’t see anything except for a glow coming from the back of the store.
“What the hell is that?” I whispered. “Kenzie, I’m scared.”
“Don’t be scared. Just trust me.” She grabbed my waist and pulled me closer, shielding me from whatever unknown danger surely awaited us.
I still had no clue what was going on. When she locked the front door, my panic grew. Not only was it dark, but now I was locked in—what if something did happen?
“Look, if you’re planning on killing me, just give me a heads-up so I can at least prepare for it.”
She turned toward me, cupped my face gently, and pressed a soft kiss to my temple. “Fallon, I’m not going to murder you. Will you relax?” She took my hand and led me toward the glowing light.
When we got there, I stopped and gasped. “What… what is this?” My voice came out weak. Right in front of me was the most romantic setup I’d ever seen.
In the corner of the bookstore, she had arranged a cozy little picnic. A large blanket covered the floor, surrounded by soft pillows. A spread of fresh fruit, crackers, and even a damn cake had been laid out beautifully.
String lights twinkled around the setup, and a laptop sat on a chair, ready to play a movie.
When I saw what movie she had picked, I nearly started crying. “ Stuart little ?” I turned to her and smiled.
“I wanted our first date to be something special. This is your favorite place to be, so I thought it was the perfect destination for our date. Do you like it?”
I couldn’t form words. I was too stunned to think of any.
It was the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever done for me, and it was taking all my willpower not to burst out into tears. I was such an emotional wreck.
“I… how did you do all of this?”
She grabbed my waist and pulled me close. “I know the owner.”
“You were in cahoots with my best friend behind my back?!”
She laughed. “Cahoots? And you call me old! We talked while you and Penelope were in the bathroom. I told her my idea and she was more than willing to help. I just had to promise her that we would lock up when we were done. Do you like it, Sunshine?”
I gave her the warmest smile as she wiped the tears away. “It’s perfect,” I whispered before I kissed her softly. “Thank you.”
We devoured the fruit and crackers while watching the movie, along with half of the most delicious chocolate cake.
It was the perfect night, better than anything I could’ve asked for. I couldn’t believe she’d done all this for me—and even got Drea to help. No one had ever done anything half as thoughtful. I wanted to tell her how much she meant to me, but I was scared. Scared she wouldn’t say it back. Scared she would. Scared I’d lose everything.
Instead, I just lay there, soaking in the moment, feeling safe and at home. There was nowhere I’d rather be than in her arms. It didn’t matter where we were or what we were doing, as long as I could lose myself in her eyes.
We stopped watching the movie halfway through, and I had to force myself to pull away. We were kissing like teenagers, but I wanted more.
“Baby, we better go. Drea might actually kill us if we have sex in her store again.”
She laughed softly, her hand drifting down to my thigh. “Don’t worry, I got permission to defile you—as long as she never hears about it.” She winked. “That’s why I brought the blankets. No mess to clean up.”
“You really thought of everything, didn’t you?” I smiled and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Come on, I’ll help you clean up, then we can make a better mess after we leave.”
Her hand stopped dead in its tracks and she looked at me. “Why are you so fucking perfect?”
My cheeks turned two shades of red. “I’m far from perfect.”
I sat up, and she furrowed her brows. “Darling, I wish you could see what I see when I look at you. I see the most beautiful, kind, and amazing woman.”
My gaze drifted to the side as tears began to form. I couldn’t hold in the sadness that had been weighing on me since I left Portland. I stood and turned away, quickly wiping the tears streaming down my face.
“Fallon, are you okay?” Mackenzie asked, concern filling her voice as she stood and wrapped her arms around my waist from behind. “Did I say something to upset you?”
She turned me around and placed a light, tender kiss on my lips as the words I’d been so afraid to say finally started to pour out. “Kenzie, I know you care for me, and I’m so thankful you came into my life after my breakup. But I have a long way to go before I can fully trust that you won’t break my heart.”
Mackenzie’s eyes seemed to shine, but behind them was a sadness that made my chest ache. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “I’ll never forgive myself for how badly I treated you when we first met, but you have to know I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“It’s not about how we met,” I said, my voice quiet, almost distant. “I’ve been broken for a long time, and trusting people isn’t easy for me. It wasn’t just my ex who did that to me... I still think about my dad. It’s hard to hate someone you once loved, you know? If the person who was supposed to love you no matter what can hurt you like that, how do you trust anyone? How can I be sure a stranger won’t do the same?”
We stood there for a moment before Mackenzie finally broke the silence. “Fallon, I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am for everything you’ve been through. I wish I could’ve been there to stop it. But please know that I’m here now, and I will always protect you. I’m always here to listen, whenever you need to talk about it.”
She gently kissed my tears away, and in that moment, with every part of who I was, I knew I loved Mackenzie Thompson—body and soul.
Table of Contents
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- Page 38 (Reading here)
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