“No.”
“I love you so fucking much.” His dick stilled, while fingers unfurled inside her. “I’ll never have enough of you.”
She liked the sound of that.
I fucking love you, too.
She must’ve dozed off.
Gina opened her eyes to dim, gray light coming in through the bedroom windows, the zebra on the wall, and his callused fingers lazily stroking the curve of her hip.
“Hey, sleepy girl.” The mattress shifting beneath her, Matt leaned over and kissed her neck. “Hungry? I can fix us an omelet or something.”
“Uh, yeah.” Stretching as she rolled over, Gina nestled into his chest. “We need to eat, I suppose. What time is it anyway?”
“Three.”
Fuck.
She sat up in a panic, scrambling to get to her phone on the nightstand. “Shit, I gotta go.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” With his arm encircling her waist, he pulled her back toward him. “Relax, babe, it’s Sunday, and you don’t have a shift tonight.”
“You don’t understand,” Gina said. Her voice elevated, the words tumbled out of her mouth choppy and quick. “The festival… I was supposed to be there at noon to take over for Lina. Jesus, my mom’s gonna kill me.”
“I don’t think so.” And with his fingers running through her hair, Matt kissed the top of her head. “Look outside.”
She turned toward the window. A gentle summer rain fell from the thin gray sky to tacitly cascade down the glass.
No festival to worry about.
“See?”
“Still…”
Gina glanced at her phone. Missed calls. Text messages.
Teo: Whenever you decide to get your ass home, I told Mom you took off with a friend after the concert, and you were probably spending the night. I didn’t say which friend. You’re welcome.
She showed Matt the message. “I’m so dead.”
“Stop it.” He ruffled her hair with a chuckle. “You are not.”
“You don’t know my mother.”
“Yeah, I kinda do.” Nodding, his lips pursed to the side. “She never liked me.”
“I don’t think she likes anybody, least of all me,” Gina said and sighed.
“That can’t be true.”
“Trust me, it can.” She lay her head on his shoulder, tracing the ink on his bicep with the tip of her finger. It soothed her. “There’s no pleasing her. I can’t do anything right in her eyes. She’s never approved of my choices.”
“You went to college, became a nurse. You’ve got to know she’s proud of you.”
“Heh.” She scoffed with a toss of her head. “That’s the last thing she wanted me to be.”
Sad but true. And why?
