“Chloe, I’m so sorry,” he says quietly.
That’s not what I was expecting. “What? No, you don’t—”
“I judged you. I… everything your mom said tonight? I’d tried to paint that picture too. That must have been awful, hearing your mother’s criticisms thrown back at you by a stranger. I hate that I did that. I would—”
“I’ve spent most of my life having to prove my mother wrong despite wanting to do nothing but make her proud. I’m tired of it… done with it. You didn’t know. And what you said to her… that’s everything I needed to hear. Is that how you really feel?”
“And then some.” He smiles and brings one hand to my cheek, and I lean into it, the softness of his sweater resting beside the corner of my mouth. “Chloe, I could go on forever about how wrong I was. How incredible you are…” He clears his throat. “How much I love you.”
I tense from surprise.He loves me.
“You what?” I smile obnoxiously wide, and Warren lifts a brow at me but can’t hide his enjoyment of my response.
“I love you, Chloe.” His chest lowers with a long exhale, and he lowers the hand from my cheek to my wrist resting at his side. “Is that okay for me to say? I haven’t said it to anyone other than family before, I don’t—”
“Yes!” I interrupt.
He tilts forward to kiss me, and I lean back, remembering I missed my cue.
“Wait!” I say a little too forcefully. I huff out a breath through my nose, taking great pleasure in the way Warren waits for me to speak with wide eyes. “I love you too.”
“Well, thank fuck for that.” His nose crinkles when he’s this happy; I take a mental picture.
We both smile at one another for far too long, like the idiots we are.
“Okay. Stop… look away! This is getting embarrassing.” I laugh, attempting to cover his face with my palm.
“Oh, this isn’t even close to embarrassing. You want embarrassing?”
I gasp as he stands up, holding me against him and shifting so my legs wrap around his waist. He spins us around until I’m giggling and clinging to him for dear life. He kisses my cheeks and chin and neck as we spin and spin and spin, and he repeats “I love you,” over and over.
“Okay! Stop! Put me down!” He falls flat on the couch. I land on top of him. He’s still smiling—the longest I’ve ever seen from him.
“Damn,” he groans out.
“What?” I brush a hand over his jaw.
“I couldn’t even find something to be mad about right now if I wanted to.”
“Wow, don’t go soft on me. C’mon, this couch must be a little uncomfortable. I could press my elbow into the wrong spot?”
I lean down until our bodies are flush, my forehead resting into the crook of his neck.
“I like it here,” I mumble against him.
He wraps his arms around me, squeezing me tight before drifting his hands down my back… and lower. I look up to meet his face and raise an eyebrow.
He laughs. “What? We love each other, but I can’t touch your butt? That’s lame.”
“See, I knew I could get you to complain about something…”
I kiss his lips, smiling against them. He nips at me, and I give it right back.You’re so annoying… no, you are!
Our kiss deepens; lips finding teeth, and tongues finding each other. Warren pushes up to sit, and I settle into his lap again, aware of the scrape of our jeans that separate us so rudely. He reaches for my shirt and pulls it up over my head before he trails kisses across my cheek, to my ear, down to my jaw and neck. He palms my breast with a steady hand, and I reel from the touch, moaning at the firmness of his palm.
“I really love these too,” Warren says, his voice gruff and low.
I hook my arms around his neck as he pulls the skin of my throat into his mouth, and the moans escaping me lengthen. The air around us is buzzing, full of kinetic excitement and desire. I pull at the neck of his T-shirt with my hands until he assists me, pulling it off entirely.
