“Him,” she corrects. “I looked at his account. It’s private, but there’s a bible verse in the description.”
“It’s one comment out of many from someone who obviously came across the photo by accident.” I kiss her temple. “Don’t let it get to you.”
She flattens her hand on my chest. “It just made me think. Iamweird. How come I can’t just keep these thoughts to myself like a normal person? Why did I write them down? Why would Iwantpeople to read them?”
I study her face, the way her nose slopes to a perfect little point. Bible thumper or not, I’ll knock out any motherfucker who makes her feel ashamed. Her words come from deep inside her. They can never be bad, because they’re honest. “If either of us was a normal person, I wouldn’t have met you,” I tell her. “I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to find you, and,” I pause, my heart thumping, “I wouldn’t be falling in love with you.”
She blinks up at me, a tear dripping off her eyelash. A megawatt smile spreads across her face. “What?”
“You heard me.” I can’t help mirroring her grin. “This has been the best month of my life. I’m falling in love with you, Halston. I think I’m already there, but I don’t want to scare you off, so consider this a warning—it’s happening.”
“It’s happening for me too.”
“I figured.”
She laughs and jolts me with a quick kiss on the lips. “I’m falling in love with you.”
Her eyes sparkle, partly from the tears, but I hope from what I just admitted. Fate finally took pity on me. It dropped her most intimate thoughts and feelings right at my feet and said,This is it, you poor schmuck. Here you go, now leave me alone. I knew then, I needed this in my life. Once Rich was out of the picture, there was no reason for me not to love her.
“What about my post from today?” I thumb the hollow of her cheek. “It wasn’t for them. It was for you.”
“I didn’t see it. After I spent too long trying and failing to stalk that man who commented, I deleted the app from my phone.”
I raise my eyebrows. I wouldn’t be surprised if she checked it ten times a day. “Seriously?”
“I overreacted. I’ll restore it.” She tries to get my phone from my pocket, squirming in my lap as she feels around. So help me God, I’ve got the patience of a saint. I’ve held out over forty-eight hours and now she’s tempting the beast. She finds what she’s looking for and goes to the post.
In the photo, she’s asleep. Her body is outlined by my white sheet, her legs scissored across the mattress.
In my sheets.
In my head.
“When did you take this?” she asks.
“Sunday morning, before I woke you to say goodbye.”
“I love it. You’re so talented.” She widens her eyes. “Four-hundred-likes talented. Wow.”
I smile. I haven’t read the comments. I don’t normally. Maybe I should start, though. I don’t like seeing her this upset over something a stranger said, and I won’t be able to wipe it away withI love youevery time. I have to start watching for these things.
I tilt her head up and touch her bottom lip. “I only care about one like.”
She catches my thumb between her teeth, then licks it. “You have it.”
“I might need some convincing. I haven’t been inside you in three days, and you’re not all over me like I’d hoped.”
“It wastwodays,” she says. “We had sex before you left.”
“Oh yeah,” I say, nodding. “I woke you up to say bye, and I was almost out the door when you jumped me.”
“I promised I’d be fast, and I was. Haveyouever gotten a condom on in two seconds? Maybe I should be in charge of that from now on.”
I squeeze the side of her ass, adjusting her so she can feel what her words do to me. “I don’t remember it beingthatfast. I might need to see it again.” I rake a hand through her hair and hold her in place for a kiss. She was crying only a couple minutes ago, and I should restrain myself, but I’ve been suffering without this. I put my hand up her skirt and find a treat. “Are these for me?” I ask, unhooking one of her garters.
She responds with a hip-swivel so skilled, I almost lose my eyeballs to the back of my head. “Fuck, Halston. Touch me. Don’t make me wait.”
She opens the button of my jeans and squeezes her hand inside. Her cold skin jolts me, but she warms up quickly, stroking me long and hard. “Like this? Or . . .” She looks me in the eye as she thumbs my crown, spreading precum over it. “That?”
