“Shhh, shh, sh.” Ma silences me, wagging her finger. “In my mind, I’m still thirty-five. Forever thirty-five.”
“We’re only as old as we feel, right?” Maritza asks.
“Right!” Ma cups her hands, laughing, and leads her to the sofa. “So have a seat. I want to hear how you two met.”
“He hasn’t told you?” she asks.
“No, he has.” Ma rolls her eyes. “But I have a feeling his version is a bit condensed. I want to hear your side of the story—the unabridged version. Women have more of a penchant for the important details, don’t you think?”
Maritza glances at me. “I’d have to agree.”
“All right. I’m all ears.” Ma leans in. “Tell me how my favorite son finally took my advice and found a nice, sweet girl to spend time with.”
I exchange smirks with Maritza from across the room as she starts from the top, when it all began with a stolen pancake and ends with a stolen heart.
When the story’s over, I kiss the top of Ma’s head. “Sorry to have to bail, but I’ve got something special planned for Maritza tonight.”
“You do?” Maritza asks. “You didn’t mention anything earlier …”
“It’s a surprise,” I say, taking her hand. “Bye, Ma.”
“Be good, you two.” Mom waves from her chair, and I take Maritza to my car.
“Okay, so where are you taking me?” She asks a minute later, fastening her seatbelt.
Starting the engine, I glance across the console at a wild-eyed girl with contagious excitement. I still struggle to believe she’s finally mine. And while I never would’ve believed she was my type, she’s somehow exactly what I need.
“I have it on good authority that there’s this little band you love having a jam session at the lead singer’s house in Malibu … and I also have it on good authority that we’ve been invited to sit in and watch.” And by invited, I mean … I called my brother-in-law who put me in touch with Case Malbec so I could explain how important it was that I give Maritza the Panoramic Sunrise experience she deserves.
“Shut. Up.” She reaches for my hand, squeezing it hard as she bounces in her seat. “You’re joking. Tell me this is a joke. I don’t believe you.”
I laugh. She’s so freaking cute when she’s all worked up. “It’s no joke. We’re going to Case Malbec’s place to watch the band write some new songs.”
And then just like that, her eyes begin to well with tears and she covers her face with her hands.
“Are you … are you crying?” I ask, yanking away one of her hands so I can see her face.
Thick tears slide down her cheeks and I can’t tell if she’s laughing or crying or both.
“Maritza, are you crying?” I ask again. “What’s wrong?”
Dabbing her wet cheeks on the backs of her hands, she peers at me through glassy, chocolate-colored eyes. “These are happy tears.”
Unfastening her seatbelt, she leans across the console, cups my face in her hands, and kisses me harder than she’s ever kissed me before.
“I’ve never been this happy in my life,” she says. “You make me so happy, Isaiah. You’re everything.”
There aren’t enough words in the English language to convey to her just how mutual those feelings are, so instead I kiss her back, slow and lingering, savoring her soft lips and relishing in the fact that this woman, this beautiful, sweet, loving soul … has a heart of gold that beats only for me.
She’s mine.
And I’m hers. God, am I hers.
Chapter Forty-Six
Maritza
“I’m not reenlisting after this.” Isaiah hooks his hands around my waist as we skinny dip in Gram’s pool under a moonlit, midnight sky on an unusually warm spring night.
This marks the first time in for-ev-er that I’ve had Gram’s place to myself for a full week. Melrose is shooting some Lifetime movie on location in Vancouver and Gram decided to tag along before she embarks on a fourteen-day Alaskan cruise with Constance.
“Really?” I ask, circling my weightless legs around his hips.
“Yeah. Really.” He pulls me against him and I kiss his chlorine-flavored mouth. “I think it’s time to start thinking about what comes next.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” I hug him, our wet, naked bodies gliding against one another as we bob in the water. “What do you think you’ll do?”
“Maybe I’ll go to school for astronomy or physics?”
“God, you’d be the sexiest freaking nerd I’ve ever seen in my life.” I throw my head back. “Do it.”
Isaiah chuckles. “I’ve got three years to figure it out, but I’m leaning that way. How are your classes going by the way? Finally made it through all those letters.”
I smirk, thinking about how I’d handed him that old notebook from my nightstand where I’d written all those letters I never had the chance to send.
“That was fast,” I say.