“Only if you stay.”
“There’s nowhere else I ever want to be.”
41
HAPPILY HONEY AFTER
Bea
Euphoric ismy new favorite word.
Simon murmured it as he was waking up midafternoon, and I’ve made him repeat it six times since.
After a leisurely and orgasm-filled shower, and then an early dinner of berries, bacon, and pancakes—my dad’s recipe, adapted with a milk substitute that won’t upset Simon’s stomach—Simon insists on giving me a full tour of his house.
We make it to the first guest bedroom and no further.
Both because I can’t stop laughing at the froggy wallpaper, and because me laughing apparently turns Simon on, and a turned-on Simon is absolutely irresistible.
And talented.
And dedicated to his craft.
And by his craft, clearly, I mean leaving me a satiated puddle of happiness.
But then he notices the time, and the setting sun, and the next thing I know, I’m being ordered to get dressed—Pinky made a run to my apartment and gathered a few things, and whenI remembered Daph is gone, I didn’t ask questions about who picked my clothes and underwear.
“Doesn’t being the owner of the drive-in come with some perks?” I ask him as he tries to help me with my pants. “Like maybe we can watch this show another day?”
“No,” he tells me.
Very bossy.
Very un-Simon-like.
So I decide to trust him.
And then I laugh as we pull into the theater and see that tonight’s movie is once again free. “You know you can’t run a business by perpetually giving away the product, right?”
“The very astute lady that Lana insisted I hire to manage my finances for me last year was quite irritated with that, but it seems this town loves to donate more to a cause than they would have paid had I set a ticket price.”
I blink at him, and then I crack up again. “Are you serious?”
“Quite serious. I may have accidentally acquired a low-effort, high profit business.”
“Simon.”
“Yes, yes, the town’s initial excitement at the novelty of having their drive-in cinema open again is giving me false hopes. Thank heavens. Otherwise, I should have done something else my parents might be proud of.”
“Simon.”
He drapes an arm around me and kisses me soundly, and I don’t notice the car inching along with the other cars to find a parking spot.
Not when he’s kissing me in the back seat.
I do notice when we stop though.
Or possibly sometime after.
