She slaps it away and links her fingers through mine instead.
The diner she chooses to eat at smells like grease and heaven.
We sit in a booth with squeaky vinyl seats and order way too much food. Cove steals my fries without shame and I pretend like it bothers me that she’s doing it. The whole time I’m smiling so she knows I don’t care.
Halfway through our milkshakes, I catch her watching me.
“Do I have something on my face?” I immediately pick up a napkin and start wiping my mouth.
“Yeah, there’s this huge green booger hanging from your nose.”
I can feel the heat on my face instantly as embarrassment takes hold of me. I turn my head and frantically try to remove the obscenity away. Her laughter catches my attention just before I feel her foot under the table, brushing against my leg.
“I’m just kidding. I didn’t want to tell you what I was really thinking.”
I wipe my mouth and turn back to face her. “That wasn’t nice. So now you have to tell me what you were thinking.”
She bats her eyes at me, as she picks up a finger and flicks it back and forth through the ketchup on her plate. “I was just thinking how nice this was. Me, you. A date. How normal and natural it feels.”
I turn my head, taking a quick glance out the window, seeing her reflection in it as I gather the nerve to speak. “I feel the same way. When I’m not with you I can’t stop thinking about you. Not the person you are on screen but who you are when we talk, when we see each other in person.”
She raises a brow. “Does it bother you what I do for work?”
I sit there for a moment thinking about my answer. I can see the worry in her eyes and it guts me. “No. It doesn’t bother me.When we become a couple, I would never give you an ultimatum that you have to quit. Because I’d know it’s me you want. It’s me you're thinking about as you tease your fans. When you come, it’ll be my name on your lips.” I don’t know when I got so brazen but I lay it all out for her.
“Hmm.” She leans forward, gnawing on her bottom lip again and I’ve never been so jealous of a tooth in my life. “When we become a couple?”
I clear my throat. “That’s what I said.”
“You’re optimistic.”
I place my hands on the table, stare her straight in the eyes and speak. “Yes, but more confident than anything. I want you, Cove. In every way possible.”
Her eyes spark. “Everest.”
I freeze. Afraid I may have just scared her away or fucked this shit up.
She tilts her head, smiling slowly and wickedly. “Want to come home with me?”
My heart jumps. “To your place?”
“Yeah, that’s what home generally means,” she says. “I want you to stay the night. Just don’t fall in love with me.”
I laugh, as I let out an exhale of breath. “Too late. You may not see a future for us. Yet. But that’s okay.”
I pick up the bill from the edge of the table and pull out my wallet, pulling out enough cash to cover it and a nice tip.
“Ready to go?” She nods and we both stand and head out to our cars. She pulls out first and I follow her.
Her apartment smells just like her.
I’ve barely shut the door, before she’s grabbing my shirt, pulling me in, and kissing me with a kind of reckless abandonment that wipes my brain of any thought. It’s not rushed, not messy, but pure hotness.
“Bed,” she whispers against my mouth. “Before I trip and take us both out.”
She takes me by the hand and walks backward through her home and I follow her, heart hammering. Every touch feels electric. Every breath feels like we’re both giving in to this pull between us.
When we get to the room, she switches our positions, backing me up to the bed and pushing me down onto the mattress. Cove climbs onto me, straddling my waist with a devilish grin on herface that promises me she’s about to destroy me. “Time for me to collect my winnings,” she says softly.
