There were so manybad people in the world, so many people that would rather hurt and harm andcrush. But the good people were the ones that made life worth living, that madesearching for them worth every bad relationship and heartache, worth the pain,suffering and potential heartache of finding them. I would never want to reliveany of the bad dates or guys or lonely nights that I had been through beforeEzra. But I also wouldn’t give them up either. They led me to him. And that wasall that mattered.
He held the dooropen for me and I climbed into his fancy sports car feeling more at home thananywhere else in my life. We listened to good music and talked carefully aboutthings that weren’t important. He held my hand whenever he didn’t need it toshift.
By the time wereached his apartment building, my chest felt less pinched and my eyes werecompletely dry. He parked in an adjacent lot and then led me into a renovatedturn of the century industrial building.
I had beenexpecting sleek and modern, simple lines and smooth surfaces. Instead, hisfourth-floor apartment was all exposed brick walls and insanely high ceilings.The only thing that screamed modern was the kitchen with its cement countertopsand floating shelves. The appliances were all shiny stainless steel and stateof the art.
But the rest of theapartment? Surprisingly warm and masculine, but not overly so. His bedroom wasan elevated loft with a cedar and iron staircase. The rest of the main floorwas a mixture of different living spaces. A giant TV hung on the wallsurrounded by rich, chocolate brown leather couches. A desk and computer weretucked in another corner. I was surprised with his large dining table, amassive statement piece of iron and wood that matched his staircase.
“Big enough table?”I set my purse down on it and smoothed a hand over the top.
“It’s a goodtable,” he answered. “I like to have people over.”
In the time that Ihad known him, he had never had me over or that I was aware of, anyone else. Ifaced him again, raising my eyebrows expectantly. “Really?”
Half his mouthlifted in a smile. “You know, when I have time.”
“Oh, so never.”
He didn’t take mybait. Instead, he jerked his chin and beckoned me over to him. “Come here.”
I did.
His arms wrappedaround me again and his forehead dropped to mine. “I’m sorry for what happenedto you today. You deserve so much more than to be treated like that. Youdeserve so much more than assholes, bad dates and crappy jobs. Molly, you’rebrilliant. The most brilliant person I’ve ever met. You don’t need that job.And not just because of that dickhead that molested you. But because they neverrecognized your fucking genius.”
I chuckled at hisdevotion to me. “There are other good designers there. I’m not the onlytalent.”
“You’ll never getme to believe that,” he said without laughing. “I checked out the company,remember? Even if I hadn’t been trying to get in your pants, I would have pickedyou. For the sake of my business. You’re good at what you do, Molly theMaverick. The best.”
Wait. What? He hired me because he was what?“I need you tostart from the beginning,” I told him.
He smiled. It wasdevastating and relaxed and everything I had never even known to hope for. “Didyou really not know?”
“That you hired mebecause you wanted to sleep with me? No. No, I did not know that. Also, so farit’s backfired because therehas been no sleeping or otherbed-related activities.”
His hands slid downmy back, coming to rest possessively on my butt. With a firm tug, he pulled meflush against his body, hard and muscled and unbelievably tempting. “Don’t befooled by the long game. When you’re serious about a girl, you can’t make yourmove too quickly. You get her to care about you first, fall for you. Then youtake her to bed and show her she can’t live without you.”
He was saying somany words that I was struggling to comprehend. My fists curled into his shirt,wrinkling the smooth material. “The long game?”
“Molly, you have torealize how much I care about you, yeah?” I shook my head. His milk chocolateeyes deepened with heat and grew more serious all at once. “I’ve been carefulwith you, with us. I’ve been terrified of scaring you off or starting somethingyou weren’t willing to finish. But I have to be honest with you, I have waiteda very long time to find someone like you. And I’ve made a lot of mistakestrying to make people fit this role that you glided into effortlessly. Youdemanded my attention the second I met you, and then you claimed my respect andadmiration, and now you’re stealing my heart. This is real for me. This isserious. I’m sorry if that scares you, but I need you in my life as much as Iwant you there. Here.”
I licked dry lipsand willed my heart to stay inside my chest. “I’m falling for you too,” Iconfessed. “I… I did try to stop this from happening. You terrify me.” His lipskicked up in an affectionate smile as if that was the most adorable thinganyone had ever said. “I’m serious. You’re gorgeous and surprisingly funny,loyal, and this crazy, successful restaurateur. And I’m weird and flighty, lateall the time, and I’m pretty sure I’m unemployed. I’m a mess, Ezra. We’re sodifferent.”
“Thank God,” hemurmured. “I don’t want to date myself. You make me smile when I’ve had theworst day. And you make me see the world in brighter colors and unique angles.You’ve opened my mind to my business, but also to my friends. I would be soboring without you. We are different, but in the best possible ways. And maybethat means we’ll fight more than other people, or disagree or whatever, butwe’ll also makeup more because of it. And laugh and talk more, and feel more.Molly, I’ve waited my entire life to find the person that didn’t just wantsomething from me, but wanted me. All of me. Now that I’ve found you, I can’tlet you go.”
I couldn’t standthe distance between us any longer. With my hands grasping his shirt I yankedhim to me, our mouths meeting in the middle. We were all passion anddesperation, and greedy hunger that could not be sated. This kiss wasexplosive, and all things bright and beautiful.
His lips moved overmine with a new sense of urgency, savoring and tasting as if for the firsttime. His tongue slid over my bottom lip, and when I opened my mouth, hedeepened the kiss making my toes curl with anticipation. His hands dipped intothe waistband of my skinny jeans, one sliding around to the front to flick openthe button.
I fumbled at hisshirt buttons, clumsily grasping each one. He moved me toward the staircase aswe shed our shoes and pants, tripping up each step, refusing to take a breakfrom this kiss.
God, this man waseverything I didn’t know I wanted. Everything I didn’t know I needed. His wordsresonated in every secret chamber of my soul. I had been waiting for him too.Maybe I hadn’t realized it. Maybe it wasn’t a concerted effort on my part tofind him. But I had been waiting. With every bad first date that I refused torevisit, and every pretend grown-up that I refused to call back, and everysingle attribute added to my picky list of qualifiers, I was shaping my desirefor a man like Ezra. Hoping that he was real and that I could find him, andknowing that I would never, ever settle for anything less.
Now that I’ve foundhim? He was so much better than anything I could have imagined.
He was so much morethan anything I could have dreamed up.
Best of all, he wasreal and really mine. Maybe he was right. Maybe we would fight, and bicker, anddisagree. But every second together was infinitely better than apart. I wouldrather take his bossy, heavy-handed and stubbornly opinionated self than liveone minute without him.
