I should’ve had Sloan help me write them.
He was the wordsmith, not him.
“I love you, Gina Rossi.”
“And I love you, Matthew McCready.” She turned in his arms, straddled his lap, and kissed him.
He held her cheeks, and with his fingers threading into her hair, he brought her lips back to his. “I knew you were my forever when you brought that pizza to my door.”
“The first time or the second?”
“The first time, pizza girl.” He could still see her ponytail swishing, the way she looked at him from over her shoulder. “All I want is to spend every day of my life with you… so, will you marry me?”
Her breath caught, then, filling with tears, her hazel-green eyes locked with his. “I want to say yes.”
Then, say it.
He had a feeling there was a “but” coming next. It never occurred to him there’d be one.
“But I have to say, not yet.” Gina held onto his face so he couldn’t look away. “You and Kit… well, ever since you cut the demos, I’ve seen you both… I’m not sure how to put it… struggling?”
“Nonsense.”
“I think the two of you need to work out your feelings, even if it means you have sex with him.”
Have you lost your fucking mind?
“Maybe you need to.” She shrugged. “Look, I know Kit loves you and you love him… you love me, too. But I can’t be the Yoko Ono who drives a wedge between you. You’d only end up resenting me for it. So, I need you to be sure that I’m what you want.”
“I am sure.” Her hair danced in the wind. Taming it with his fingers, Matt kissed her. “You and Kit are the two people I love most in this world.”
“I know, baby.”Why is she crying?“Truly, I do.”
No, she didn’t. Because he’d been too ashamed to tell her.
“I was the only kid at school who didn’t have a mom. She, uh, died a few hours after I was born. And I never knew who the fuck my father was. Still don’t.” He took a breath and wet his lips. “Well, anyway, kids can be cruel about shit like that, but Kit was always the first one to defend me. He was there for me when my uncle got killed, when my grandma got sick… and when Kit needed me, when he fell the fuck apart, I was there for him.”
“Courtney?”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding.
“What happened?”
“That’s his story to tell, not mine.” Matt let go of a heavy sigh and gazed at the falling snow. “I gotta ask you, Gina. If you don’t want to get married, what do you want? To break up?”
“Nooo.” She clung to his neck, her hot tears branding his skin. “God, no, I love you no matter what.”
“I want to marry you, Gina.” He tasted the salt on her lips. “And I want to put my babies in your belly.”
“I want that, too.” She hiccupped. “So much.”
One word, bunny. Say it.
“It’s going to happen, Matt. Just not yet.”
He couldn’t even be mad about it. Disappointed, yes. But not angry. If Gina needed more time, he’d give it to her. She loved him, she wanted to stay with him, and for now, that was enough. Matt didn’t want to admit it, but her observations were correct. He and Kitwerestruggling, but not for the reasons she thought. It was just awkward being around each other now.
“Do you want me to?”
