Justin looked up from the TV as Brenna came into the room. “You’re going now?”

She nodded and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “Kate just called. She’s a couple minutes away.”

“Okay.” He stood up and came over. “When will you be back?”

“I don’t know. Around seven or eight?”

“Oh, you won’t be here for supper?”

“Kate said we were eating there. Is that alright?”

He sighed. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll go over to Trace’s.”

She looked towards the doorway when she heard a car horn honk from outside. “She’s here.”

“Don’t life anything too heavy. Remember what the doctor said.”

“I know.”

“Okay.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss, his hands curling around her hips. She lightly looped her arms around his neck and her lips involuntarily smiled as he deepened the kiss. She didn’t bother pulling away until there was another honk.

“I should go. I’ll see you tonight,” she whispered.

Justin’s hands reluctantly dropped from her. “Okay.”

Giving him one last quick kiss, she pulled away and walked to the front door and outside. Kate was sitting in her car in the driveway.

“Took you long enough,” Kate said as Brenna got into the car. “I thought you were ready.”

“I was. I am. I was just,” she shook her head and did up her seat belt.”

“Okay, Hun, fix your lip gloss. It’s all smeared. I take it Justin had something to do with your delay?”

Brenna felt her cheeks go red and quickly pulled down the visor to see the mirror and wiped away the lip gloss. “Well…maybe.”

Kate smiled and pulled out of the driveway. “You guys have a quickie before I got here?”

“No! It’s not like that.”

“Oh, really?”

“We’re going slow, Kate.”

“Okay.” Kate leaned over and flipped on the radio. “So excited about helping Drew move?”

Brenna shrugged. “Sure, I guess. It’ll be nice to see him again. And I don’t mind unpacking.”

“Well Drew’s a packrat so you may be singing a different tune by the end of the day. But I told him we’d only be there until six thirty so we don’t get sucked into it.”

“Is it just us helping him?”

“Tyler is too. And speaking of Mr. Tyler, I went out for coffee with him last night.”

“So you finally did, huh? It’s taken a while.”

“I know. I was putting it off but now I’m kind of glad I did. We had fun talking. I think maybe we’re going to rent a movie later tonight after we’re done at Drew’s.”

“So is this going to turn into something?”

“I don’t know yet. I wouldn’t be opposed to it. I had forgotten how much I liked being around Tyler. I could see myself going out with him again.”

“What about him?”

“He’s a bit hard to read. But I think he feels the same way. Maybe things will get figured out tonight.”

“Yeah.”

“So was Justin okay with you being around Drew all day?”

Brenna shrugged. “I don’t think he’s exactly thrilled but he didn’t say much about it. Just told me a couple hundred times to not lift anything heavy.”

“Well that’s what we have Tyler and Drew there for. I’m not planning on doing any heavy lifting either. I just got my nails done.”

Brenna laughed. “Well then we both have excuses,” she said, leaning back more comfortably in her seat.

It took about ten minutes to get to the condo Drew was moving into. Brenna spent a majority of the afternoon unloading things with Drew while Tyler and Kate got everything set up in the living room. Brenna had fun talking with Drew but in the middle of things she suddenly had a flashback where she had been laying on a bed in a room filled with boxes and Drew had kissed her. It had completely started her and she had realized that it must have been the time years ago when she had helped Drew move.

She didn’t say anything to anyone about it, feeling as though it would just make things uncomfortable. So instead she pretended that nothing had happened and tried to not act any differently around Drew even though it suddenly felt a little awkward.

The entire time she was at Drew’s she noticed Kate and Tyler and how flirty they were being with each other. It was fun to watch and it was nice to see Kate really happy. Kate’s happiness reminded her of how she felt around Justin. It was almost getting ridiculous how happy she got when she saw him. But it was something deeper than just feeling happy to see him. She was still trying to figure out how deep that feeling ran.

At six thirty, Kate announced they were done unpacking and that she and Brenna were leaving. Tyler went with them since he was going to go over to Kate’s and watch a movie. They invited Brenna but she declined. Her feet and back hurt and she just wanted to have a bath and go to bed.

The house was empty and dark when she stepped into it. She found a note on the kitchen counter from Justin saying he had gone over to Trace’s and that he’d be home around eight.

She left the main level of the house dark and went upstairs to her and Justin’s bedroom. Within a few minutes, she had the bathtub filled with hot water and bubble bath and was slipping down into it. She almost dozed off a few times before forcing herself to get out. Once she had dried off, she put on a short terry cloth robe, tying it tight around her waist, and then went downstairs to wait for Justin to come home.

When she heard the front door open, she slowly brought her legs down from where they had been curled beneath her. As she stood, Justin appeared in the doorway.

“Oh, you’re back already.”

She nodded and went over to him. “I got home before seven.”

His eyes examined her. “Did you have a bath?”

“Mm hmm.”

“So how was unpacking?”

She shrugged. “Kind of boring. How was dinner at Trace’s?”

He gave her a half smile and imitated her shrug. “Kind of boring.” He picked up her hands in his and squeezed them. “Think you can get some time off work next week?”

“Maybe. Why?”

“I was thinking you and me should go to that beach house I have in Vancouver for a couple days. Just for a break.”

“Sounds great. I’ll ask Johnny.”

“Perfect. I figure we should get as much time alone now before we have the baby.”

She smiled and pulled her hands away from his so she could raise the brim of his baseball hat that was partially covering his eyes. She moved her gaze over his face before letting it rest on his eyes again. The longer she stared at him, the more happiness spread through her. Her chest was getting tight and her heart felt like it was going to burst.

She raised up on her toes to give his lips a kiss. When she pulled back, she brushed the back of her hand across his cheek.

“Justin?”

His eyes never faltered from hers. “Yeah?”

When she spoke, she heard her voice tremble just a bit. “I love you.”

Justin blinked and stood unmoving for a second before his arms went around her and he pulled her into a tight hug. “I love you too, Bren. So much.”

She heard his voice crack a bit and pulled her head back. He raised his head and she saw his eyes were wet. “Why are you crying?” she whispered.

He wet his lips and smiled. “I’ve just been waiting so long to hear you say that.”

She reached her hand up to his face and caught a tear on her finger as it fell from his eye. “I know.”

“It’s just been so hard to not hear you say it.”

“I know. But you’ve been so amazing about it. You’ve never pushed me into anything and just let me figure this all out for myself. And that’s meant so much to me.”

He leaned down and hugged her again and she closed her eyes, unable to keep the smile off her face.

He pulled away, just enough to bring his hands to her face, holding it in place as he kissed her. He pulled back softly and she smiled.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He kissed her again. “Say it again,” he said when he pulled back.

She laughed a bit. “I love you.”

A smile broke across his face and he wrapped his arms around her, hoisting her up his torso so her feet were off the ground. Her laughter quickly faded as he captured her mouth in a deep kiss. She felt him walk forward a bit and then he was putting her onto the couch on her back, never breaking contact with her lips as he lowered himself over her.

She felt like she could hardly contain herself as his kisses deepened further and further. A gasp of air escaped her as he moved his lips down to her neck, nipping and sucking on her skin on the way down. She felt like she was in heaven as he found a spot in the crook of her neck and began to suck on it. She pushed his hat from his head so she could latch her fingers through his hair and arched her back off the couch a bit.

Justin pulled his lips away from hers and she opened her eyes to look at him. A chill went through her when she saw the dark blue of his eyes. She moved her hands to his back, surprised when she found bare skin. She had been so caught up in everything she hadn’t even realized she had pulled his shirt from his body.

“Brenna,” he said and another chill went through her when she heard how deep his voice was. He rubbed one hand along the outside of her thigh of the leg that she had bent up by his hip. He licked his lips and brushed some hair away from her face with his other hand. “Do you want to go upstairs?”

A twinge of hesitation went through her as she looked to the side but as soon as her eyes connected his again, any hesitation was pushed away and she found herself nodding.

He smiled and pulled himself off her. She was preparing to get up when he leaned down and lifted her up, one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. She laughed in surprise.

“Such a prince,” she said as he began to walk towards the staircase leading upstairs.

“Anything for my princess,” he said, leaning his head down to kiss her once before continuing on his way to their bedroom.

Lyrics from 'Joyride' by Mariah Carey