Ward beamed. “See. I told you. Keep the receptionists on your side.”
“She asked me to pass on a message. She said, ‘Sorry about the yogurt, but we’re even now.’”
OMG. Yes, Brenda. We are so much more than even if you basically hand-delivered this man back into my life. I owed Brenda a fruit basket. Or a yogurt basket. Were yogurt baskets a thing? Because if not, I was going to make them a thing and give her one.
“You went to HypeKey?”
He nodded.
“Why?”
He tilted his head to the side in confusion, as if the question was ludicrous.
“Obviously to find you, dummy,” Ward shouted at me. “Now are you going to invite him in or make him stand out there in the rain all night for his grand gesture?”
Drew’s head dropped down and his shoulders shook in silent laughter for a second. The smile on his face when he raised his head was a heart-stopper. But his expression quickly turned serious.
“I’ll stand out here in the rain as long as I have to. As long as you want me to, Sadie. I shut the door on you once, but you didn’t take no for an answer. You came barreling into my space, my life, my heart. Uninvited. And it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. When everyone else in my life accepted the darkness that I told them was my story, you refused. You shoved me out into the light and made me believe I could be a better version of myself. I don’t want to creep around in the shadows at the edges of life anymore. I want to live front and center—in the middle of a fucking spotlight if I have to—as long as it’s with you.”
My heart swelled at his words, but I still had so many questions. “The articles—”
“I know you didn’t write them.” He stepped into the foyer, dripping water everywhere, and grabbed my hands. His fingers were icy cold, but his eyes burned with intensity.
A tingle ran up my spine at the contact, and it took everything in my being not to collapse into him before he finished what he wanted to say. My mind was still playing catch-up, but my heart and my body knew without a doubt we belonged together.
“I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain,” he said. “And I can’t promise I won’t screw up again down the road. But what I can promise is that I will always fight for us. There might be times when I need a minute, or a day, to sort out whatever dumb hang-ups I have. But I will always come back. I’ll let the walls down, and we can work it out.”
He stepped in closer and pressed his forehead against mine.
“Or you can shove me back out onto that porch and slam the door in my face. You can slam the door in my face a thousand times if you need me to prove to you I’m serious. But know that I’ll keep coming back every time. Because there’s no one else I want to be with, and nowhere else I want to be than wherever you are.”
My heart thundered in my chest. “I don’t want to shove you away.” I gave my head a slow shake.
“No?” The right corner of his mouth hooked up and he threaded his hands into my hair.
“No.”
“What do you want, Sadie?” He whispered the words across my lips, our mouths close but still not touching.
“I want you to kiss me already.”
He crushed his mouth to mine and my entire body lit up with rightness. This was where I belonged. In this man’s arms. His lips on mine. Our hearts pressed to one another. He was here, and I wasn’t going to run from him again.
“Awwww.” Ward wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.
Drew smiled against my mouth before he pulled away and looked at Ward, lifting an eyebrow.
“Right,” Ward said. “Give me a second.”
He disappeared into the bathroom down the hall, then came back with a couple of fluffy towels he handed to Drew.
“I’m going to go next door and see what new K-dramas Mrs. Kim has ready to stream.” He looked at his watch. “I’d say you’ve got about two hours before Mr. Kim kicks me out and tells his wife it’s past her bedtime.” He winked as he pulled the front door closed behind him. “You two have fun.”
“There’s a lot we need to talk about,” Drew said.
I ran my hands inside his wet jacket, up his pecs—god, I’d missed this chest—and shoved the jacket off his shoulders. “There is,” I said as his jacket hit the floor with a wet thud.
I fisted his shirt and walked backward toward the stairs, dragging him with me.
“We can talk when Ward gets back.” I released my hold on the front of his shirt and reached for the hem instead, lifting it up over his head as I climbed up the stairs still facing him.
“Yeah? What are you proposing we do instead?” he asked with a hungry glint in his eyes.
“How about I show you the guest room?”