Page 92 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

‘Not disrupting me. I like it. I mean, I like this.’

He grinned and the room was suddenly bright.

‘Me too.’

‘I think this was my favorite day.’

Noah rolled so he was on his side too, his face close to hers. ‘Of all our HANSOF adventures, this was your favorite?’ he asked with a smile. ‘The one where we almost died?’

‘Died?! You said you had it under control!’

Noah laughed. ‘I’m kidding! I totally had it under control.’

Hazel frowned and he kissed her nose. And in that moment, she could picture it. She could picture so many days just like this one. Well, maybe with less near-death experiences. But ones where they went on little adventures together and ended the day reading in bed and it was so freaking perfect, it hurt.

‘No, I meant, my favorite day. Of all the days.’ She held his gaze and watched as his smile turned serious. Her stomach rolled dangerously, much worse than it had in the storm.

He brushed a curl from her face. ‘Me too.’ His voice was low and rough like those two words meant so much more than he spoke out loud. Like maybe he meant,me too, you’re my favorite person, too. Me too, I have all my favorite days with you.

‘Me too,’ she repeated and she meant,me too, I want to keep doing this with you. I want more than casual fun with you. I want everything.

Noah leaned forward and brushed a kiss to her lips.

And she hoped that meant he wanted everything, too.

‘I have something to tell you,’ he said and Hazel’s heart tripped over itself with excitement. This was it.Thiswas the moment.

‘Okay,’ she breathed. Finally they would say everything out loud; she would tell Noah how she really felt about him and he would tell her. No more guessing. No more wondering. They could do this for real. Casual fun had become exhausting. Hazel was ready for serious contentment.

‘I’m going away for a while.’

‘Away?’ What? No, that couldn’t be right. Going away? That was not what Noah had to tell her. It couldn’t be. She misunderstood.

‘Well, home, actually. To ... uh ... help out.’

‘Oh.’ Home. Noah was going home. He was leaving just as abruptly as he’d arrived. And just like that, Hazel’s hopes of forever blew out to sea. Everything she’d planned to say rearranged itself, the declaration of love quickly retreating to the safe confines of her heart. She’d clearly misunderstood everything.

‘After your birthday.’ He was watching her as he spoke, waiting for her reaction.

Hazel swallowed hard. She absolutely would not make a fool out herself about this. Their tryst had always had an expiration date. Sheknewthat.

‘That’s ... uh ... good, right?’

Noah frowned, a crease between his brows. ‘I mean ... I guess so. My sister needs some help with things and my tours are wrapping up, it seemed like a good time to go.’

‘Right. Sure. That makes sense.’ Hazel was attempting a smile but her face wouldn’t move. This was good for Noah. Heshouldgo home. His family needed him. This thing between them was temporary. It all made perfect sense but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

‘Look, Haze, I...’

‘I’m happy for you Noah. This will be really good for you.’ She inched away from him, suddenly their closeness was unbearable. ‘We should head back soon, right?’ she asked, her voice too loud, too cheerful for the moment. But she wouldn’t make Noah feel guilty about this. He’d try to hide how much the issues with his family hurt him, but Hazel saw it. He missed them and if he was finally willing to go home and fix things, she wouldn’t dare tell him he shouldn’t. She couldn’t keep him here.

Maybe this was how things were meant to end, anyway.

Noah blinked. ‘Yeah, I guess we should.’

‘Thanks for making this day so memorable,’ she whispered.

‘Happy to help,’ he said, but his smile was anything but happy.