Jayden froze completely his heart suddenly hammering like he was some nervous teenager again instead of a grown ass surgeon.
“Are yo-” he started, his voire eisming out rough and uncertain.
Hat before he could finish the thought, Arianna was already pushing him toward the bathroom with both hands.
“Go shower first,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “And brush your teeth. Seriously. I can still smell the cigarettes.
“Also,” she added, her cheeks turning pink, “you really need to quit smoking. Em literally a heart patient. Secondland smoke could kill
As the shut the bathroom door between them, Japfen caught a glimpse of her face–red i tomato from her nose to her ears
So underneath all that newfound boldness, she was still the same shy girl who used to blush whenever he so much as looked at her. The readication made his chest feel impossibly warm.
When he emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later–clean, minty fresh, and trying not to have a panic attack about what was happening–he found Arianna fighting a long battle with sleep
ry few seconds before she’d jerk herself awake with determination that was both
She was sitting up against the headboard, her eyes drooping shut every adorable and completely unnecessary
“Hey,” he said softly, sliding into bed beside her. “Stop fighting it. Just sleep.”
The sound he pulled her into his arms, the melted against him like she’d been waiting for permission. Within seconds, she was completely out.
Jayden lay there in the dark, holding her sleeping form and feeling like his heart might actually explode from how perfect this moment was. Having her here, safe and warm and trusting him enough to be this vulnerable–it was everything he’d never let himself dream about.
He pressed the softest kiss to her hair and let himself drift off, more at peace than he’d felt in a decade.
But when he woke up the next morning, the bed beside him was cold and empty.
Terror shot through him like ice water. His eyes flew open and he bolted upright, his heart immediately going into overdrive.
“Ariana?” he called out, his voice cracking with panic.
No Grange curled up on her pillow. No sound from the bathroom. Nothing
He threw himself out of bed and ran from the room barefoot, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste.
The relief that crashed over him when he spotted her in the kitchen almost brought him to his Yoers.
She was humming quietly to herself while she moved around making breakfast, Drange weaving between her legs and clearly hoping for scraps to all
Jayden approached her from behind, his hands still shaking slightly from the adrenaline crash. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her neck
“Jesus Christ,” he breathed against her skin. “I thought–when I woke up and you weren’t there
“Hey, I’m right here,” she said softly, leaning back against him. “Tis not going anywhere.”
“I told you I’d handle the cooking.” he said, his voice strough with residual panic. “What’s the point of having a boyfriend if he doesn’t take care of
Arianna laughed, reaching up to untie her apron and loop it around his neck instead
“Tine, you win,” she said, giving him a gemje push toward the stove. “Show me what you’ve got, chef,”
There was something deeply satisfying about taking over for her, about being useful in this simple, domestic way
Ower coffee and scrambled eggs, Jayden pulled out the travel guide he’d been obsessing over for the past few days.
Alment in love with Your Before That Cruel Summer Took Everything
“So, he said, sliding the book areas the table with her karny Twittleking
way for a weekend? Just us
Arianna’s entice facilit up
Hidra’d act like that. Torn back in high slord, the d been the one with wandered, always entering tred places she wanted to visit.
He remembered the scrapbook she’d made sophomeer year -pages and pages of photos and
He sås remembered destroying it in a fit of a spa sender ye teenage he been.
røvery single page and themeing shole thing in the trash like the
The memory mailte lir
mach clench with
the peshed it does. He couldo and the past, the end ghi ber new
“Pick anywhere,” he sail. “Money’s no object,”
Arianna flapped through the pages with the excitement of a kid in a cately store, her finger finally stopping
spread slowing pottery wheels and
“Seagrove,” she said pointing at the photos. “It’s this pottery town in North Carolina. Look at all the amazing stadion They we been making there for like two hundred years.”
Jayden glanced at the pictures–red clay vessels, traditional wood fired kilns, actiecovered in dust looked practal Ecantly what they both needed.
“Perfect” he said without hesitation Tll book everything”
Within two hours, he’d arranged flights, found a charming bed and breakfast, and even booked Orange into a pet hotel that looked frie human accommodations.
That afternoon, they stood in the security line at Burlington International, each dragging a carry on and looking like the happy couple they were pretending to be.
Jayden went through the TSA checkpoint first, collecting his shoes and belt on the other side while he waited for Arianna
But when she approached the metal detector, something bisere happened.
The TSA agent barely glanced at her–didn’t check her boarding pass, didn’t ask for ID, didn’t tell her to remove her shoes, past waved her through li she was invisible.
***Wow, that was easy.” Arianna said with a grin as she joined him./Guess I have one of those trustworthy faces”
Jayden forced a smile and took her hand, but ice was forming in his stomach. That wasn’t normal. That wasn’t how airport security worked.
After a smooth two hour flight, they landed in the humid embrace of North Carolina–a world away from Vermont’s crisp spring air.
Their bed and breakfast had sent a driver to meet them, and soon they were standing at the front desk of a gorgeous Victorian house draped in Spanish moss
As Jayden filled out the registration paperwork, trying not to overthink the weird airport incident, Arianna suddenly spoke up with exaggerated
Innocence.
“Wait just a minute, Mr. Hiddleston,” she said, loud enough for the desk clerk to hear. “We’re not married. Sharing a room seems a bot improper, don’t you think?”
Jayden looked up from the forms, his anxiety melting a
away at her obvious teasing. He reached for her hand and pulled her doser, grung
“What’s this “Mr. Hiddleston crap? I’m your boyfriend, remember?
Funmar Took Esterthin
