“You can stop laughing anytime now, Luke.” An hour later, Gabi crossed her arms as he slammed the hood of the van back down, a brand-new battery now in place.
“I’m sorry.” He grinned. “I really just can’t. I mean, come on. They took out the battery and tossed it in the back of a garbage truck? That takes some serious balls.”
“We could have been stuck here for hours.”
He held up his phone. “Looks like they thought that part through. You couldn’t have even been in White River before I got Sam’s text. These girls are planners, Gabi.”
She rolled her eyes. “And once again, I’m apologizing for them. I’m so sorry you had to drive all the way down here.”
“I’m not.” Before she could think about resisting, Luke reached out and braced his hands on her hips. “I am thrilled that your closest associates are a bunch of scheming teenagers. I’m thrilled that they know how to disable a car and call for a rescue. But the thing I’m most thrilled about is that after only three weeks, they knew they could call me, and they knew I would come.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “I know.”
Luke raised his eyebrows, leaning down so she was forced to fall into those damn smoky emerald eyes of his.
“Gabriela, I know you’re the queen of I-don’t-need-no-knight-in-shining-armor in my life, but in actuality, everybody needs one. Even, y’know, your average hot camp director. Or, say, codirector of the forthcoming Echo Lake Charter School.”
Gabi felt a bubble of laughter sneak out. She couldn’t help it. With his hands circling her hips, and that dimple taunting her as he looked at her, all she wanted to do was close the inches between them and feel his arms pull her close.
He tipped her chin up with two fingers. “Guess what just occurred to me?”
“I can’t imagine.”
“You know how we were talking about how you want the rom-com?”
“I never agreed to that. I just want the happily-ever-after ending.”
He bounced his eyebrows playfully. “Well, we’ve just now had the whole all-is-lost moment, and you did the dramatic run-for-the-hills thing, but you had to careen to a halt because your impish crew of teenagers decided to do your thinking for you, knowing that in your heart, you do belong with the guy from Echo Lake.” He put both hands in the air dramatically. “We’ve done it! We made a rom-com!”
Gabi laughed. She couldn’t help it. “So what comes next, hot camp director?”
“Oh, the next part’s easy.” He smiled. “We do a kiss full of silent promises while we ignore the fact that we’re in a highway rest area, and the cameras pan out to show an idyllic Vermont scene, complete with a big white van making a U-turn and heading back to Echo Lake, where the audience knows it’s just a matter of time before the hero will convince the heroine to follow her heart and stay.”
“It’s that easy, hm?” Gabi smiled, but her butterflies were in full flight.
Luke’s face grew serious. “No. It’s not easy at all. It’ll be hard work, and we’ll have fits and starts, and we might even argue once or twice. But dammit, Gabriela, this is real. You know it’s real, and I know it’s real.” He leaned down, and before she could think to back up, he kissed her softly. “Come back to Echo Lake, Gabi. Come back, and we can build something amazing.”
Gabi looked up at him—at eyes that heated her from the inside, lips that whispered the perfect words, and she knew she really didn’t have a choice. She knew that somewhere not so deep inside, she was secretly thrilled that the girls had taken it upon themselves to disable their ride home, in hopes that they could go back to the very spot they’d dreaded just three weeks ago.
She knew she had to go back. She had to give this a chance, because if what she felt for Luke wasn’t real, then … nothing was. She would hate herself forever if she didn’t give this an honest shot.
She nodded slowly, watching his face break into a grin as she did. “I think I’m completely, utterly nuts to say yes.”
“That’s fine.” He squeezed her tightly. “I can deal with completely, utterly nuts.”
“Are you sure about this?” She blew out a breath. “Really, really sure?”
Luke brought both of his hands up to hold her face—so gently she felt like delicate crystal. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life, sweetheart. If there was a minister in the next car, I’d totally ask him to marry us right here, right now.”
“Good God, Luke.” She laughed nervously.
“But it’s okay that you’re not there yet.” He winked. “I can totally wait another week or two.”
“That’s … very generous of you.”
He slid one hand into her hair as the other encircled her waist, a mysterious smile on his face. “So are you ready?”
“For?” she breathed.
He cocked his head and rolled his eyes to the right. “I think our little matchmakers are waiting for the end.”
“The end?”
“Of the movie. The big kiss. The swelling music.” He shook his head. “You know.”
Gabi smiled, reaching up to link her fingers around his neck, feeling like nothing had ever been more right.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Kiss full of promise. I’m ready.”
He touched her lips with his—softly, sweetly, like they were alone … like cars weren’t whooshing by on an interstate just beyond the grassy median. And she melted into him like four teens hadn’t whooped and clapped the moment their lips met.
He pulled back, smiling. “I love you, Gabriela. And that’s not for rom-com effect. That’s … from my heart.”
Gabi laughed, the butterflies settling down for the first time since he’d driven into the rest area in his beat-up old truck that somehow was exactly perfect for him.
“You know what?” She shook her head like she could hardly believe what she was about to say. “It turns out … I love you, too.”