Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 138526 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138526 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry.”
He looks down and locks his hands behind his neck. “The thought of you with another man… especially a man who is an excellent competitor for your affections… It makes me feel feral.”
“Oh.”
“Like I want to drag you back to my car, take you on the back seat and mark your neck with my mouth for all to see.”
I gasp. “Oh.”
“Promise me there is nothing between you anymore. Swear it.”
I look him in the eyes, cupping his face with both of my hands. “I swear to you that I am fully committed to figuring out where this goes.”
“Good,” he whispers, pressing his forehead to mine. “Because my divorce was final as of yesterday morning, and tonight, I’d like to kiss you as a single man.”
“Is that why you haven’t kissed me yet?”
“When you accept my touch again, it’ll be the touch of a man who is six million percent committed to you with ties to nobody else.”
God… he’s so sweet.
I pull out the notebook, breaking the moment as I scribble in it.
He’s patient and not pushy in the slightest.
“I love you,” I say to him, something I never stopped saying to him. Kissing his jaw, I lock my arms around his neck and then hug him tight. He returns it, sighing into my neck as our bodies come together, temple to toes. “Can you kiss me now?”
“No.” He leans back, his smirk in place. “I’ll kiss you tonight, after our date.”
“Can’t I kiss you then too?”
He chuckles, a great sound. I scribble that down too. How much I love his laugh. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”
“Hey, lovebirds!” Robert yells from the entrance. “I want some tater tots.”
I giggle and turn away from the man I love to the man I used to wish I loved to get over the man I love… so complicated.
Ezra tenses again but soon relaxes when we sit inside the noisy restaurant and start tossing tater tots at each other like children.
Rob doesn’t say a word about the party but I’m glad it’s out in the open anyway and I’m glad my friend now approves of our love. Maybe others will follow suit, though I know I have a lot of work to do with Izabella.
I think Mario will be more forgiving.
It’s when we leave that I bring this up to him on our way home.
“I think it’s time I saw your mom again,” I say, taking his hand over the console. “Especially if we’re getting serious.”
He smiles so blindingly I feel it warm the space around us. Then he brings my hand to his lips and kisses. “I can make the arrangements.”
Truth be told I’m terrified, but if this is heading where I hope it is between us, then I don’t want to waste any more time. I need to get her back on my side before we announce a relationship.
“What do you want to do?” he asks, normally we go for drinks near my apartment or even hit up a karaoke bar so he can watch me mess up the words while drunk. My photographic memory doesn’t extend that far. Other times we walk and explore the market and little trinket stores, or we see a movie.
We do so many things in the short times he visits.
But this time I want to do something entirely different.
“I want to show you my apartment,” I admit, peeking at him through the corner of my eye. “You’ve yet to see the inside.”
“And we both know why that is.”
I lick my lips and ponder my next words; I want to entice him without being too obvious. “Please?”
“How can I resist when you asked me so nicely?”
“You can’t.”
He laughs and turns down a side street, only to spin the car around and go the other way. “Let’s go then.”
He looks around my apartment with keen interest, only stopping when he gets to the vase on the table. I see his eyes soften with sadness when he sees that we’re still only halfway there. Beyond asking me if I’m still adding to it, he hasn’t asked its progress. For that I’m grateful. It’s a fun, sweet thing that doesn’t need to be put under pressure.
I wrap my arms around him from behind and kiss his shoulder blade. “We don’t have to fill the vase. If these last four months have told me anything, it’s that I love you and I trust you, I don’t need a vase of paper to confirm that.” His hands cover mine. “I used to worry every time you went back but now… now I don’t worry at all. I know you’re mine. I know you love me and I know it’s only me and you.”
He turns in my arms and cups my neck with one hand, using his thumb under my jaw to tilt my head back. “Do you still ache when you think of what I did?”