“No, I’m sorry.” He pulls me in, and kisses the top of my head. “It won’t happen again. I won’t let it.”
He pulls me tighter and I want to believe him.
It could work, couldn’t it? I want to trust him, trust my heart, and not listen to the world or my conscience just once in my life.
This could be different - because he is different.
Right?
“You hungry?” he asks.
My heart dares to hope. Lifting my head I grin, “Starved.”
Laughing he backs away and says, “Rest assured, Angel, I won’t stop tonight before quenching your appetite.”
Chapter Eight
Hunter
Burger in her hands, sitting criss cross on my back patio in a recliner overlooking the ocean, her tray of fries in between her thighs and milkshake next to her side, I couldn’t be a happier man. She takes a big bite of her burger and washes it down with her Neapolitan shake from In-N-Out Burger and grin.
“Mmmmm,” she whispers with her eyes closed before looking my way. “This is heaven.”
“No, Angel, heaven is Dodger stadium at sunset. Light breeze. Beer in one hand, Dodger dog in the other, and you by my side,” I wink. She blushes. With a shrug, I add, “Bottom of the ninth, and bases loaded in our favor wouldn’t hurt, either.”
I take a big bite of my double-decker and reach for one of her fries, having already finished my own.
“This works, too, though. Nothing like some In-N-Out to right a shitty night,” I joke but she flinches. “The game, Angel. Not you.” I smile, but she’s still shaken from whatever exchange happened earlier with Tiffany.
My ex-girlfriend from high school that followed me to college and insists on making my life a living hell. Tiffany was just along for the ride, any ride that would guarantee her the limelight back in the day. Her father and Edward, the man who took me in after my parents died, go way back.
Tiffany talked me into trying a relationship with her that lasted a whole of two weeks. She was a leach, looking for any ticket she could into the easy life. Like most are in Los Angeles.
But not Rochelle. My Angel. A girl I don’t have to be anything or anyone with but myself. And fuck if that isn’t the most refreshing thing in the world.
We finish our burger, and I wash mine down with my soda as she takes a few sips of her drink before looking my way shyly. I smile and shake my head at her, at this, at us. Scooting my chair closer to hers, I stop only when we are just a few inches apart.
“True or false?” I question.
She cocks her head at me and smiles.
“Your heart races when I am near it?”
She drops her drink to her side and looks as if I have stolen her ability to breathe.
“True,” she whispers.
Smiling, I’m completely caught off guard when she hits me with a dose of my own medicine a second later.
“True or false?” she asks. I wait patiently for her question. My palms itch with the need to reach out and touch her, but I wait. “You can’t think straight when we’re apart?”
“True,” I answer quickly without any hesitation at all.
“True or false?” I ask her back just as fast. She sits up a little straighter, uncrosses her legs, my answer gives her some newfound confidence. “You’ve never felt this way before in your life, and you’re worried what will happen if you let it slip away?”
“That is two questions,” she giggles. “Not fair.”
I shrug. “Answer, Angel.”
