Saving Toby (34 page)

His mouth opened and closed without words coming out, and I
laughed.

“You’re staying here? On the Island?” he managed to ask at
last.

I nodded. “I finalized my schedule at SBU, and I’m meeting
with the director at Sterling to talk about my internship.” I looked up at him.
“I wanted to give us a chance, but I also miss being here. This is my home.”

He let out a breath of relief. “I’m so freaking happy right
now. You have no idea,” he said, smoothing my hair with his fingers. “Claudia
Chiametti, I want to be with you forever.”

I kissed his chin. “Wow, such an optimistic romantic.”

“Maybe I am,” he shrugged. “Optimism is potent stuff. I
wouldn’t let myself believe anything else but that we’d get to this very place.
And now, here we are.”

“But forever is a long time. And why put that kind of
pressure on us? Let’s just start with a month and work up from there.”

“A month?” he balked.

“Well, what did you have in mind?”

Looking at me, he cocked his head to the side. “What I have
in mind is forever.”

Though the sentiment was sweet, ‘forever’ was a nonsensical
word. “Nothing lasts forever.”

He tsk tsked me. “Oh, ye of little faith.”

“Oh, please,” I rolled my eyes at the archaic phrase. “I
have a lot of faith.”

“But not in us.”

This time I opened and shut my mouth without a word.

Toby chuckled. “That’s alright. I have enough faith for both
of us. If it’ll make you feel better, we’ll say the summer to start with. But I
plan on making you want me forever.”

“I don’t know how you can be so sure, but okay,” I shrugged.
“I’m certainly interested in seeing you pull that off.”

Holding me immobile with his smoldering gaze, he slid the
full expanse of his large hands slowly over my hips and pressed his palms
against the fleshy anterior. The heated look matched with the provocative
manipulation had an immediate effect.

A ripple of excitement swelled inside me.

I released a slow, tight breath. By his smile, I could tell
he knew how it affected me.

“Mmm. It would be a helluva lot easier to do it with some
mind-blowing sex. I guess I’m going to have to get creative until you give me
the green light,” he whispered. “But, oh, baby, when we finally do it, you’re
not going to be able to walk for days afterwards.”

The promise had me practically panting. “Holy cow,” I crowed
and shook my head. “How can you talk to me like that in front of your mother?
She’s probably horrified.”

Chuckling, Toby stood up and offered me his hand. “Julia’s
not listening anymore. She’s too busy doing a happy dance up there in heaven.
With my father.”

“Because we’re together?” I asked, as he pulled me to my
feet. He nodded. Picturing Mrs. Faye swirling around with Mr. Faye, a big smile
on her face, made me swallow back tears. “I really like that image.”

We linked hands and strolled closer to the gravestone. “You
know, your mother brought us together.”

“I think it was her master plan,” he agreed.

I turned to face him. “Her master plan was for you to be
happy.”

“She always knew I’d be happy here. But she was sure I’d be
happiest if I were here, with you.” He squeezed my hand within his and laid the
other warmly on my cheek. “Turns out, she was right.”

The End

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“Keeping
Claudia.”