“I have time.”
Pressing my lips together, any doubt I have about sharing melts away when Snow leans back into me.
“I was married once. Claire. She was… vibrant and exciting, and she was always on me to keep connected to my sister. So one year, she bought me tickets for a trip to Canada, and I went while she stayed.”
Snow’s frown deepens.
“When I came back, she was sick in hospital from a viral infection she’d picked up from a night out with her girlfriends at some underground club. She took a risk and… she went into heart failure and died. I got back just in time to watch her die.”
Snow is silent, studying me with soft eyes.
“That was… over five years ago now, but I haven’t gotten on a plane ever since.”
“Because you’re scared that when you do, your sister will be in similar shape when you land?” Snow asks softly.
Our eyes meet as my heart flutters faintly. “Yeah… exactly.”
“I’m so sorry, Xander. I had no idea. People… used to talk a little about your wife, but I never knew how things ended. That must have been awful for you.” Her brows twitch. “That’s what you meant the day you told me you understood how much it hurts to lose someone.”
I nod slowly and my palm flattens against her abdomen. “Yes.”
“And now you have three cats.”
“And an elderly neighbor who I think the cats love more than me. I think they even love you more than me.”
“I have that charm.” Snow chuckles.
I’ve not spoken about Claire so openly in years, and telling Snow didn’t strike me as the right thing to do.
Our relationship is so fresh and undefined that mentioning marriage would surely scare her away.
But she seems fine.
If anything, she’s leaning closer to me and one of her hands rests on my thigh, massaging back and forth.
“Have you never had a pet?”
Snow shakes her head as she eats, then she shifts to face me. “My parents were allergic, and can you imagine a pet with Caleb?” Her eyes roll. “No one deserves that. I never thought of myself as an animal person. I love them from a distance but not something I could care for, y’know? But I like your cats.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I say, pushing one of the containers aside and leaning closer. “I think you’re a very caring person.”
“Mr. Xander, are you just saying that because you want in my pants?” Her smile turns coy and her free hand clutches at her chest.
“You said I was a gentleman. Do you really think I would do that?”
Her head tilts and a few strands of hair fall in front of her face.
Reaching up, I gently brush them aside and tuck them behind her inflamed ear.
As coy as she plays, her flushing ears seem to be the key.
“I don’t know. You did tell me we were going to have fun, and yet I’m feeling decidedly not fucked right now.”
My palm flattens against her cheek, then slides down to cradle the side of her neck while my thumb presses up under her jaw to keep her head tilted.
As I lean in close, she moves her hand from her chest to mine.
“How about I change that, then?” I say, claiming her lips in a deep kiss through which I pour every desire I have for her.
