Patrick and his parents will soon be moving to Auckland. The moving truck’s booked, but his parents decided to head down to Wellington for the weekend for his father’s school reunion.
So, Patrick has the house all to himself for a couple of days.
His parents have also agreed that he can have a farewell party in a couple of weeks when they’ve got another weekend away before they move.
The thought of it makes me nervous. While there are certain people we both agreed wouldn’t be on the guest list, there’ll still be people there who never bothered with me at school. And even though we’ve spent all summer together,being seen in public, with Patrick being very affectionate at times, I’m not sure what they’ll think of us as a couple.
Patrick doesn’t care. But then he’s not the one who was bullied in school.
“I thought I might make us dinner tonight,” Patrick says.
“Can you even cook?” I poke my tongue at him, and he laughs.
“I’m pretty sure I can make steak and salad.” Patrick leans back on the couch. “We’ve got to get through what’s in the freezer, and I know how to cook steak.”
I smile. “Sounds good.”
“Stay with me tonight.”
I search his eyes for some sign of how far he wants to go with this.
“I can’t stay all night. My parents will kill me.”
He takes my hand in his. “I want to be with you, Cassie. We’ve got the house to ourselves, and I thought after dinner we could …” He swallows hard. “Go to bed together.”
My eyes widen. “You want to have sex?”
“Only if you want to.”
My heart’s racing. “I want to be with you. You know I haven’t done it before, right?”
His soft smile melts my heart. “Neither have I.”
“Really? I thought you and Vicki …”
He shakes his head. “No. She wanted to, but I wasn’t ready. I think I was waiting for you. I just didn’t know it at the time.”
Biting my bottom lip, I nod. “I want this. I want you.”
“I’m sure we can work it out together.”
He leans over and kisses me, deepening the kiss after a moment, his hand resting just below my breast.
Tingles shoot up my spine—they always do when he kisses me. But this time, it’s different.
This is forever.
I’m so in love with Patrick Cross—I thought I was before, but that was nothing like I feel now.
“I’ll get cooking.” He gives my hand a squeeze, and I sit at the dining table while he hustles around the kitchen.
It doesn’t take long for things to be sizzling away, but I bite my tongue as he flips the steak over and over trying to get it to brown.
“I’m not sure about your cooking skills.”
He laughs. “I’ve never been good at it. Mum despairs because she says I’m incapable of learning. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I wanted to do this for you.”
I wrap my arms around him from behind. “You’re a good boyfriend, you know?”
