“Yeah, sure.” Kit wet his lips, and rubbing them together, his chin dipped once. “You really like this girl, huh?”
“Told you, I do.” He glanced at the ceiling, and releasing a breathless chuckle, his gaze landed on his friend’s gentle puppy-dog eyes. “But see, I don’t justlikeGina.”
“What are you saying, man?”
“I’m in love with her, Kit.” With emotion gathering in his throat, Matt drew in a much-needed breath. “I swear I’m gonna marry that girl someday.”
Yeah.
The startled look on Kit’s face when he said that was burning in his brain as Matt walked along First Avenue. He hadn’t planned to say it out loud; the idea of making Gina his wife only just beginning to take root. She was his person, and he knew it, but their relationship was still too new to speak of such things.
Kit was his person, too, though. He always had been. There’d never been a time either hadn’t felt safe confiding in the other. So, while Matt wasn’t quite ready to give voice to his thoughts with anyone else just yet, it was natural for him to share them with Kit.
He stopped at the drugstore to ditch his single electric toothbrush for a duo model so Gina could have one at her disposal, too, and stocked up on condoms. They hadn’t used them on Saturday. Maybe she was on the pill. The unprecedented, exquisite sensation of taking her raw had stopped him from asking though. Besides, he got off on the thought of breeding her, of his baby growing in her belly. But while he’d welcome it, Gina might not.
They had a lot to talk about.
Dreams. Desires. A future to plan together.
And he knew they would.
Bright summer sunlight assaulted his eyes as he exited the shop. Matt rubbed at them, catching a flash of white on a mannequin in a storefront window. The dress wasn’t like the one he’d torn from her body, but he could see her in it, the silky fabric clinging to her curves.
“Excuse me,” he said, approaching a middle-aged saleswoman who was busy arranging shirts on a display. “I want to get that dress.”
“And which dress would that be?” She looked over at him with a ready smile.
“The one in the window.”
“It’s lovely. You have excellent taste.” Elegant, confident, and poised, the woman approached him. “What size?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” Matt replied, glancing at the racks of colorful clothing. How was he supposed to know such things?
“I see.” The woman’s smile widened, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Let’s see if we can figure this out. How tall is she?”
He held his hand level, midway between his pecs and his chin.
She giggled. “And her shape?”
Perfect.
“Slender, but not skinny.” Lucious breasts. Plush bottom. Gesturing with his hands, he tried to show her silhouette. “She’s got curves, you know?”
“I think I do.” The saleslady winked, then went to the rack, and returned holding the dress he’d seen in the window. “If it doesn’t fit, you can exchange it for the proper size.”
“It looks like it will, but I’m just a dude, so what do I know?”
“It seems to me you know how to make a girl feel special.” She smiled at him, her glossy lips shining under the overhead lights. “She’s just going to love this dress.”
By the time Matt got out of the high-end boutique, the saleswoman, who was damn good at her job, had added shirts, pants, a couple of sundresses, and God only knows what else into the shopping bags. He couldn’t stop himself. Didn’t want to. Gina deserved the world, and he wanted to be the one to give it to her.
His cheeks aching from a smile he couldn’t contain, Matt cut through Coventry Park to make his way home. The sky looked bluer. The sun shone brighter. Old ladies taking their afternoon stroll smiled back at him.
Juggling shopping bags, he punched the code to the park gate, then latched it closed behind him. Except for the music wafting out of Kit’s open upstairs windows, Park Place was quiet. He whistled along to the tune until he reached the walkway to his front door and glanced up.
Shit.
Arms folded across his chest, Tony stood waiting.
