“Hang out?” He raised his eyebrows, already knowing.
She rolled her eyes, taking advantage of the moment to tug the cart again. “Don’t make me say it, okay?”
He gave in, moving along with the cart. “You sure that’s all?”
“Waffles!” Lindsey pulled Eggos out of the freezer with a grin, another distraction.
Zach put them back. “If you want waffles, I’ll make you real waffles.”
“You promise?”
He nudged her with the cart. “How about waffles on graduation day?”
“I have to wait a week for waffles?” She pouted.
“Sometimes the best things are worth waiting for.”
She didn’t respond to that, but she flushed, accepting the kiss he put on the top of her head as he piled the cart with frozen vegetables and then headed toward the checkout. Lindsey snuck a pack of gum and a box of Tic-Tacs onto the conveyor belt and Zach didn’t notice until the last second, when the cashier, a blonde with a nose ring, held it up and asked, “Do you want these left out?”
“Thanks!” Lindsey snagged them, giving Zach a grin before slipping them into her jeans pocket. He shook his head, but forked over his credit card without any reprimand and signed his name in a quick scrawl.
“Quarter.” She held out her hand as they neared the machines, their fat glass jars revealing all sorts of cheap treasure, their red-painted tops screaming, “Stop here!”
Zach dug into his front jeans pocket, pulling out the required coin. “Which one this time?”
“Let’s try fancy jewelry.” Lindsey slid the quarter into the slot and turned the knob, hearing the gears inside click, loving the sound of the little plastic tub hitting the metal door.
“Wait a minute.” He pressed his hand against hers as she reached for the metal flap, holding it there. “I want to tell you something.”
The look on his face made her heart thud faster. “What?”
“I love you.” His eyes softened as he studied her, looking up at him puzzled as carts pushed by, letting in the heat of the summer to compete with the store’s air conditioning with every pneumatic swing. “I don’t care who you’ve been with. I don’t care about anything that happened before. You know that, right?”
She nodded, still not quite believing it could be true, but wanting to-desperately wanting to.
“But I don’t want you to be with anyone else but me anymore, Lindsey.” His mouth tightened for a moment and she knew he was thinking about Brian. God, if he knew the truth… she blinked the thought away, looking up at him. He was serious now. “I’m going to be gone for months, and I want to trust you. I want to know you’re not going to run off to have a fling with some guy, just because you start feeling bad about yourself.”
Her throat tightened and she blinked at him, unable to respond.
“I want you to be mine, baby.” He touched her cheek, rubbing his thumb over her jaw line. “Forever. Can you do that? Will you do that?”
“Oh Zach.” Her eyes filled with tears. Then he did something more than a little surprising. He sank to one knee on the grocery store tile in front of her. Panicked, she looked around to see who was looking, noting the indulgent smile of a woman with a fat little toddler in her cart as she passed by. Lindsey stage-whispered to him, “What are you doing?”
“If there’s not a ring in here, I’m going to feel like a real idiot.” He grinned, lifting up the metal flap on the machine. A clear plastic tub with a blue cap dropped into his hand. He popped the top off and pulled out the ring inside-it was, indeed, a ring, quite apropos, with two connected silver hearts squeezed together in the center. “We’re in luck.”
“Oh my god.” Lindsey grinned back at him and bit her lip as he held it up.
“Lindsey, will you marry me?”
There was a crowd gathering now-the mother with the toddler had looked back and caught on to what was happening and stopped in the doorway, blocking the exit. Carts were backing up behind her, and they were all watching. Lindsey’s face burned, but tears stung her eyes as she flung her arms around his neck.
“Yes,” she whispered against his ear, trying hard not to cry in the middle of the grocery store. “I’m all yours.”
He grinned up at her, and she couldn’t help laughing at his goofy expression-he knew it was silly, a proposal with a fake ring in the middle of Sav-Way-but Zach’s hand actually shook as he slid the silver ring onto the appropriate finger, and she knew it wasn’t a joke. Not really. The look in his eyes told her that. He really loved her, he wanted her, and he was willing to claim her.
“She said yes?” the woman with the toddler called. She was grinning, too.
Lindsey nodded. “Yes!” she called back as Zach stood and pulled her into his arms, kissing her hard in front of everyone. That’s when they all started cheering, and she laughed through her tears, looking over to see the little girl in the cart, clapping along with everyone else, but looking bewildered. Lindsey knew just how she felt.
There were various congratulations as the line began to move again, and carts filed out of the store. Lindsey didn’t say anything as they got in line and Zach pushed them out to the parking lot and started loading up the trunk.
“My finger’s going to be green in twenty-four hours.” She grinned as she leaned against the side of the car, squeezing the two hearts together to make the ring stay on better.
“I know.” He laughed. “I promise, I’ll get you a real one when I come home.”
“I like this one.” Lindsey leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I’m going to keep it.”
He stopped loading groceries to put his arms around her and kiss her again, soft this time, but full of something she knew he’d been holding back for a long time, and that sent a familiar feeling tingling through her body as she pressed herself back against him, wanting him, too. He nuzzled her neck, her ear, and whispered, “I’m going to keep you.”
“Promise?” she teased.
“Yeah, I do.” He kissed her again in response, deeper this time, longer. She gasped when they parted and he grinned. “So, now what do you want for graduation?”
“Nothing.” She pressed her cheek against his chest, smiling across the parking lot and watching the young mother load her groceries and toddler into her car. “I have everything I want.”
* * * *
“You’re amazing!”
Lindsey blushed, nudging Zach with her bare knee as she typed away on his laptop. The phone rang, but Zach had it set to go straight to message. Lindsey frowned when she heard her mother’s voice.
“Do you want me to get that?” he asked.
“No.” She made a face at the phone. “Don’t.”
“I had no idea you could do that.” He changed the subject, watching, incredulous, as she saved the spreadsheet she’d created so he could keep track of his new recruits.
“This is nothing.” Lindsey snorted. “I used to hack into the school’s computer mainframe all the time. When my stepdad started complaining about my grades, they suddenly got a lot better.”
Zach raised his eyebrows, shaking his head. “If only I could get you to use your powers for good.”
“But being bad can feel so good,” she teased, closing the laptop and setting it on the coffee table before swinging her leg over to straddle him.
He groaned when she pulled her robe apart-that was new, too, red satin and short-to reveal she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. The herbal baths Zach insisted she take after dinner every night had really helped heal her body much faster than she thought possible and her hair was still damp as she leaned in to kiss him. He tasted like the sweet ginger she’d used in the stir-fry she’d made for dinner.
“Let’s be bad,” she whispered, moving her hips in little circles, feeling him thickening through his jeans.
His hands moved under her robe, over the smooth expanse of her back, making her eyes close with pleasure. He’d touched her since-to bandage her, care for her-but they hadn’t touched each other like this, and she had that desperate, hungry feeling in her belly.