I should be here.
Jake’s hand taps my lower back. “You need any more help?”
I press into his touch and he snakes his hand around to my hip. “No, we’re good. You can go to bed. It’s getting late. But Maggie and Bill are getting the horses in the morning, so we can sleep in.”
Jake gives my hip a playful tug. “Oh yeah? We can?”
I chuckle. “Making assumptions, are we? I’ve got a full house tonight, Mr. Warren.”
He pulls us tighter together, leaning down to my ear. “I can climb in your window.”
I shake my head. “Bri’s in my bed.”
“Okay, then sneak out and come to mine,” he counters. “Caleb’s gone this weekend.”
“Wish I could, but Bri and I have a hot date to write some fanfic. She’s going home tomorrow.”
Jake’s jaw drops, his voice scandalized. “What fandom, Rossetti?”
“I will never tell you that.”
“No, no, what’s your AO3 handle?” he pushes.
I jump back. “How do you know what AO3 is?”
“Sometimes the library doesn’t have the books I want, so I have to entertain myself other ways. Now cough up that handle so I can go read your backlist.”
“That is between me, Bri, and God.”
He squints at me, grinning. “Alright. I won’t intrude. But I will find a way to get that handle. See you tomorrow?”
“Sounds good.” I’m shameless at this point, my chin tipped up and bearing all my weight into him.
Jake smirks, those hazel eyes shining and dimples popping. “Looks like you’re looking for some inspiration for your smutty little fanfic.”
“Excuse me, it’s not?—”
Jake pulls us so we fully face each other and puts his thumb on my chin. His lips brush mine as he speaks, his stubble grazing the skin below it. “Of course it is, Darcy. Don’t act like I haven’t seen you in action.”
My stomach is tangled in giddy little knots. “Such a pest.”
I barely get the phrase out before he plants a soft, chaste kiss on my lips.
Making out is great. Making out is amazing. But let’s give it up for tender little kisses that make your stomach somehow ascend out of your body, your heart race, and your cheeks flush. Let’s give it up for drawing apart so slowly you feel like you’re floating, for the moment when you open your eyes and they’re there, smiling back at you.
And you’re left wondering how long life will be this sweet.
THIRTY-SEVEN
DARCY
With a genuine dayoff on Bill and Maggie’s last day in town, I take advantage of the time. Bri and I stayed up way too late writing our stupidGilmore Girlsfanfic. I see her off in the morning with a tearful goodbye.
And then I spend the rest of the day in a way I didn’t predict: I let myself create. Something new. Something from scratch. Something for the first time since Rob wanted me to spend all my time with him instead of with my laptop.
I always thought if I ever started writing for fun again, I’d use one of my half-baked ideas from my MFA.
But this is completely new, and it feels exhilarating.
