I’m in love with her.
When we’ve both scrubbed work off our bodies, I turn us so she’s fully beneath the spray. As the water cascades down her body, I lean in and press my lips to hers. This kiss is tender and full of meaning. I’m just not ready to say it yet, but maybe she’ll feel it.
“Come on, Lizzie. Let’s get to bed.”
Shutting off the water, I reach out and grab a big fluffy towel off the bar and wrap it around her. “I didn’t think to grab another. Let me get you one,” she says before carefully stepping out of the tub and pulling a second towel from the cabinet.
“Thanks,” I tell her, rubbing the soft material over my body before wrapping it around my waist.
She pauses at the sink to brush her teeth, while I go out and check the door and turn off the kitchen light. When I return, she’s finishing up, so I slip into the bathroom and do the same, using the extra brush I started keeping at her place. Finally, it’s time to hit the hay, and my body is ready.
When I get to her bedroom, I find Lizzie lying in bed, the sheet and thin blanket covering her naked body. I drop my towel onto the floor with hers and climb beneath the covers. Instantly, she moves, shifting her small body to curl against mine. I can’t get over how perfectly she fits there.
With me.
She exhales, her fingers wrapping around my arms as she rests her cheek against my chest. “Night, Collin,” she murmurs softly.
“I’m not going to wake you up in the morning, okay?” I ask, referring to when I leave for work.
“Be safe tomorrow.”
“I will,” I tell her, kissing her forehead and just holding her close. Her skin is soft and warm, maybe even a bit tacky still from the shower. But it still feels good.
She sighs and wiggles, shimmying even closer. I’m hot, but there’s no way in hell I’m moving right now. “I like you here. With me.”
The corner of my lip ticks with a hint of a smile. “I like being here with you too.”
My throat is thick, my emotions running high. All I can think about is…what if? What if we really make a go of this? What if I finally let go of the past that’s had a death grip on me for the last decade? What if I grab on to this woman and never let go? What if I finally get everything I never even realized I wanted?
Her soft snore fills the room, and as exhausted as I am, I don’t find sleep right away. I lie here, listening to her sleep and thinking about the future. A future I want with her.
Why?
Because I’ve fallen completely in love with her.
And those lines we’ve tried to walk, keeping our relationship professional when needed and private when not?
Well, I’m so far past those lines, I can’t even see them anymore.
And that’s okay.
We don’t need lines or rules. I want to date this woman, and if that means I need to quit so things don’t get confusing at work, then so be it. I’ll quit tomorrow. Because being with her is more important than a job. So, if she wants me to choose, I choose her.
It’s that simple.
She once asked me to give her thirty days. It was her request when she bought the business.
Well, what if I want more? Not just thirty days or sixty. Not a year or five. I want it all. All her time, all her love. I want forever.
That’s my simple request.
As I finally start to drift off to sleep, I whisper, “I love you.”
It’s the first time I’ve said it in more than ten years.
But it feels right.
She’s the one.
