“There are so many,” she whispers in awe, her eyes darting around the room.
“Fifty-five,” I tell her, listing some off. “Basil, dill, cilantro, parsley, chives… I think I even have some catnip in there.”
She turns to me with wide eyes. “But that…”
“Took ages, yes.” I chuckle. “I got some seeds and babied them in here because it’s too cold outside right now, and they wouldn’t have grown otherwise.”
“When did you…” She begins, her voice filled with wonder.
God, I’m so freaking happy she seems to like it.
I shrug, a smile on my lips. “When you told me your home needed herbs.”
“But that was weeks ago,” she points out.
Weeks ago, on one of the best days of my life.
“You have no idea how important you already were to me then,” I confess.
She looks at me with furrowed brows. “But you told me?—”
I told you to be friends with fucking benefits. Yes, I remember.
“I know what I told you. The truth is, I didn’t expect to get this attached to you. I just… I never wanted that.” I reach out to pull her into my side, needing her close.
“Wanted what?” She still looks confused but melts into me.
A perfect fit.
“A girlfriend.” I chuckle, although my heart is hurting at the thought. Her eyes go wide, and I can’t even blame her for being surprised to hear that from my mouth.
“And you want that now?” she asks, disbelief in her tone.
“I wantyou, nobody else. And if you want to be my girlfriend, there’s nothing I would rather be than your boyfriend.”
Or at least one of them.
She is about to protest, so I try to explain, “Sometimes the universe fucks us, but not in a good way,” I mutter, stroking her cheek. “I saw how in love North was with Jess, what it did to him, to them, when the guys had the accident, and then how it broke him losing her. I just… I know what losing people you love can do to you, and the more you let in, the more you make yourself vulnerable.”
I don’t think I have ever opened up to anybody like I do with her. No one knows why I keep my distance from anybody who isn’t already in my circle. But she’s in it now too, a part of me. There’s no turning back anymore.
“Grief is the price we pay for love,” she whispers, her eyes filled with sadness. “And living life alone by choice is just sad.”
“Says you.” I chuckle, kissing her temple.
“It’s not by choice for me,” she whispers, reaching out to touch the nearest herb—pineapple weed.
I pluck off a flower head and hold it out to her to smell, which she does, closing her eyes. I watch her expression, trying to guess if she realizes that it smells exactly like pineapple.
“It’s sweet,” she whispers.
“Pineapple weed,” I tell her when she opens her eyes again. Then I put the flower head in my mouth and chew, the flavor exploding on my tongue. I lean in to lick up her throat, making her gasp before I whisper in her ear, “Mixed with coconut, it’s like a Piña Colada.”
I capture her mouth in a kiss, letting her taste the flavor too. She hesitates for just a second before her arms come up around my neck, and I reach down to grab her thighs, pulling her up to my chest. Turning to leave the room, I leave the door open while I try to open the door to my room with my elbow, not wanting to break the kiss.
When I finally manage to walk us inside and kick the door closed, I lay her on my bed and follow suit, not stopping tasting her.
She’s fucking everything.
