“Who says I want you with me?” I asked.
He balked. “Who better to be your tour guide than a god?”
“You’d probably just show me all the statues of yourself and forget about everyone else.”
“I mean, statues of me do come first—“
I shoved him, and he laughed, falling off balance slightly as he swallowed his food.
“What else, sweet girl?” he asked once he’d collected himself.
“Ah…” I searched my brain, debating and thinking about everything I’d ever said I wanted to do. “Visit every historical library,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… not your normal local library, but the huge, architectural beauties that seem to go on and on forever. The ones you walk into and someone has to pinch you because you think you’re dreaming.”
“I don’t think they have smut in these libraries,” he said.
I scoffed. “Shut up,” I muttered, and he smiled at the table before glancing back at me again.
“Are all your bucket list items about traveling?” he asked.
“I feel like the world is so big and yet so tiny compared to the rest of the universe. Why wouldn’t I want to explore as much of it as I can?”
“Maybe that should be a separate list,” he said. “What do you want to do that isn’t travel-related?”
“What do you mean?”
A solemnness settled in his eyes, and he sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “I mean… things like laughing so hard that you spit drink out of your nose. Watching the sunrise every morning holding the person you can’t live without. Feeling pain that you think you’ll never recover from.”
“Love without fear,” I said without thinking, my voice barely audible.
I twisted my straw wrapper and let the sentence rest between us like it was hovering in the air, written in a bubble just waiting to burst. I glanced at the clock on the wall, saw the time, and pushed my chair back.
“I should be getting back to work,” I said as I stood.
“Me too,” he said, rising to his feet. “What are you doing this weekend?”
“No plans,” I said. “Why?”
“Maybe I can take something off your list,” he answered. He gave me a smile as he leaned in to kiss my cheek, then flicked my chin in that teasing way that made me blush.
“I’ll text you later,” he said.
Ezzie appeared at the door then, knocking twice and nearly scaring me out of my skin.
Ezzie’s brow lifted as Gavin moved by her and headed toward the elevator. I huffed at the look on her face and shook my head, knowing that she would say something about his being at the office so much when that door closed behind her.
“Don’t try to tell me that he’s only here to keep an eye on the designs,” she said. “The project is nearly done. I think you’re hanging onto those final edits just to have an excuse to keep him around.”
I started gathering up my papers strewn on the tabletop. “If I am?” I asked.
Ezzie grinned. “And she admits it," she drawled.
I threw trash at her face. “Shut up,” I muttered, though I couldn’t stop smiling like an idiot.
“Fucking hell, I love seeing you like this,” she ragged me.
