She’s in the kitchen, her back to me as she stands at the stove, her hair back in one of those sexy-as-hell messy buns.
“Morning.” I step behind her and kiss her neck.
She shivers and shoves me away playfully. “You’re supposed to be asleep. I was going to bring you breakfast in bed.”
I arch a brow. “Were you now? That seems like something I should do.”
She waves her little pink spatula around. “Men can be pampered too. I wanted to do something nice for you.” She shrugs, but I see the guilt written on her face. It’s bullshit. She has nothing to feel guilty about; I’m the one who messed up.
I grab the bottom of her shirt and yank her to me. “You pampered me real good last night.”
“That doesn’t count.”
My nose drifts along her cheek. She smells like her but also me, and my morning wood threatens to grow even harder.
I nip her earlobe. “Trust me, it does.”
Her breathing hitches, but she steps away and goes back to cooking. I sit and wait for her to finish. When she’s done, she brings us both a plate stacked high with pancakes and fruit.
“Thank you.”
Now that she’s back, I need to tell her about the tour, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. When I’m done, I take my empty plate to the sink and rinse it off before leaning over the counter where she’s finishing the rest of her fruit. I drum my fingers against the marble countertop. Fuck, I don’t know why I’m so nervous. Maybe because her reaction is going to tell me how she really feels about me—about us.
“I have some news,” I start to say, and she looks up from her plate.
“Okay.”
“The band has been invited to go on tour this summer. It’s basically a music festival with different bands, so it’s notjustus. But?—”
“Oh my God! That’s amazing!” she squeals, jumping off her stool. She rushes around and throws her body into mine. “Tell me everything.”
She keeps her head on my chest, and I try to contain my heart from beating too hard as I tell her what I know. There are still some things we don’t have squared away, but Tanner’s working on it. When I’ve finished filling her in, she stares up at me with a bright smile.
“I’m so happy for you. For all of you!” And she looks it. Genuinely happy. I can’t find a single sign that she doesn’t want me to go or is bummed that I’m leaving.
“Thanks,” I say hoarsely. I can’t believe I’m disappointed that she’s so happy for me.
Her smile falls. “You don’t seem excited.”
“I am. I will be,” I say, trying my best to convince myself. “It hasn’t set in yet, but I’m stoked.”
This is a great opportunity for us, and I’m happy, but fuck. I wish I could take her with me or at least know she’d be here waiting for me when I get back. How selfish does that make me? I really don’t give a shit. I know I said I didn’t want her sitting around waiting for me, but that was a lie. The more time I spend with her, the surer I am that I don’t want to be without her.
I’m not so selfish that I’d ask her to give up anything for me, but if there was even a small inkling that she’d want to make this work, for real, I’d beg her to stay with me. To let me keep her.
She rises up on her toes to give me a kiss. “I’m proud of you.”
Before I can extend it, the doorknob shakes, and a second later, Ellie strolls in. “Aw, glad to see you two worked out your little misunderstanding.”
Olivia turns to face her. “Do not think you’re off the hook, missy. We will be having a chat later about what you did.” She scolds Ellie playfully.
Ellie cringes and glances at me. “I already apologized and made amends. His sister is actually really cool. Hard to believe they’re related, honestly,” she teases, and I scoff.
I haven’t even checked on Pacey this morning. Shit. I forget the outside world exists when I’m with Olivia.
“Where is she, by the way?” I slide my phone out of my pocket.
“We took an Uber together. It dropped her off first.” She looks at Olivia. “I’m going to shower. You two lovebirds have fun.”
