Page 105 of Last Night Was Fun

“This is nice,” Emmy said with a contented sigh.

“It is. No wonder so many people come out here.”

“Have you never been?”

“First time.”

“Really? Well, I’m honored to have your Sunset Cliffs virginity.”

“I’m honored to give it to you. So, what did your parents have to say about all this?” A hint of nerves hid in his voice.

“Don’t worry, they are still smitten with you.”

“Good.” Emmy heard the smile in Gabe’s voice and elbowed him. He stifled a laughing grunt. “I don’t want them to think I’m getting in the way of your career and hold it against me.”

“They don’t. Believe it or not, they want me to make my own decision like an adult.”

“Go, Frank and Vera.”

“I know. We actually ended up talking about my brother too. I told them how my job helps me feel close to Josh, and they finally understood. I’ve spent all these years thinking they disapproved, but I’d just never explained it to them. They get it now, why I care so much.”

He stayed quiet behind her for a long while. Long enough that the emotion over it all—talking about her brother, explaining her love for her job, deciding to give up the promotion—caught up with her. She tried her best to stifle the sob that shook her body.

Gabe stiffened and leaned forward to try to see her. “Hey, are you crying?”

“No,” she said weepily.

“Emmy, I can hear you crying.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Emmy.”

“I’m fine.”

“Tell me what’s wrong, or I’m going to unzip this jacket and expose you to hypothermia.”

She chortled and wove her hand up out of the neck hole to wipe her eyes. “It was going to be me,” she confessed. “The job.”

He stiffened again. “What?”

“Alice told me the other day, before we went to HR. They were going to give the promotion to me.”

She heard him exhale and curse under his breath. She did another spin inside the jacket and felt her hoodie twist along with his shirt. “But it’s okay,” she promised him and wiped her eyes with a shake of her head. “I know what I want, and it’s you, Gabe.”

Pain creased his brow as he looked down at her.

“It’s you,” she repeated and pushed up to kiss his lips.

His kiss was reluctant at first, restrained, but then he leaned into it. Hard. He gripped her face in his hands and kissed her like that night in Mexico in the rain. Like he needed the air in her lungs for himself. Like he couldn’t get enough. Like he was showing her she’d made the right decision by choosing him.

And she knew she had.

She did one final turn inside his jacket to face the water just in time to watch the final moments of the sun dipping the crown of its head below the surface.

“Have you ever seen the green flash?” Gabe asked.

“Of course not because it’s not real.”