My woman is soft like the blankets tossed all about her room. They aren’t frilly or fussy. They’re earth tones in the softest materials. Blankets you want to cuddle into on a warm day. I trail my fingers across her bed as I walk over to her dresser.
It’s not covered in knickknacks like so many women love. There’s a small jewelry box, a few perfumes, and a spiral-shaped mirror perched on it.
Fiona always smells like food when I’m with her. What does she wear when she isn’t working? I grab the most used bottle and lift it up.
“Earth to Max.”
Reality comes flooding in, but it can’t overwhelm the joy I feel. “I love getting to know you.”
That seems to throw her off balance, even though the loud music she turned on should have been enough to do that. “How does this help you get to know me?”
“It’s the little details. You don’t like a ton of knickknacks. Everything is soft…touchable, like you.” I need to touch her now. To offer the comfort she wouldn’t allow me before. After carefully setting down the perfume bottle, I wrap my arms around her, waiting a second to give her time to say no.
When she melts into my arms, I scoop her up and carry her over to what she probably thinks of as an oversized chair. We’ll need something much larger in our rooms, but this will do for now.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying out the chair to see if it’s as comfortable as it seems.” Which it is. My woman cares more about comfort than anything else.
“You know I’m mad at you, right?” To belie her words, she cuddles into my arms.
“Yeah. But it’s been a hard day. Let me just take a second to reassure myself that you’re alright. Then we can have the fight you want to have. After that, we’ll make out and then start packing up.” But all the fight has gone out of her body. Hopefully, that means we can talk about what she was feeling. I hate that the kid scared her. That he damaged something she worked hard to make a safe haven.
“You mean make up.”
“Nope.” Her little blush convinces me even more that I said the right thing. “I meant make out. Right here. Though we can switch to the bed if you want.”
“Your daughter is in the living room.”
“And?” Hope doesn’t care. She’s thrilled I found someone.
“What kind of example would that set?”
“A better one than us playing loud music to cover up the fact that we’re fighting.” I’m constantly asking her to turn hers down to protect her ears.
“I didn’t want her to hear and be worried or upset.”
“That’s one of the things I love the most about you.” This woman is so perfect.
“You know it’s going to be impossible to fight with you when we’re like this.”
“That was the plan. Instead of fighting with me, why don’t you just tell me what’s bothering you, and we’ll see if we can fix it.” I love that just touching her was able to calm her down enough that we could talk. Why does she always wear long sleeves? They keep the bakery at a nice, comfortable temperature. But I wish I could feel her skin, even if it was just her wrist or arm. I run a finger down the palm of her hand.
“You can’t do what you did today again.”
There are so many things she could be upset about. “And what did I do?”
“You demanded that I do exactly what you want. You didn’t take my feelings into consideration. We might be dating, but you don’t own me.”
WHAT? Why would she think that?
“I won’t have my life dictated to me by anyone, not even the man I love. I go where I want, when I want. You don’t just pick me up, drop me somewhere, and tell me to stay like a dog. That’s happened to me too many times in my life. It won’t happen again.”
A dog? What happened when she was a child? “Fea.”
“Don’t even try to sweet-talk me. There is no excusing that. Do you hear me?”
Loud and all too clear. The urge to kill men I’ve never even met flows through me. She doesn’t want an explanation, even though I didn’t mean it like that. “Yes.”
