“Tegan.” He reached out, gently cupping my face with one of his massive palms.
“Atlas,” I said, a hint of a smile in my voice.
He stared at me intently, those full-moon eyes fixed right on my lips. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
I tried to play it cool, but my heart soared with this over-the-moon feeling that hinted at just how much I liked Atlas. I’d imagined this moment countless times since our almost kiss at the wedding, and it was finally coming to fruition.
“About time.”
He chuckled softly and angled his head, bringing his lips to mine. His textured tongue brushed against mine, his soft fur tickling my face. Because of his snout, it was a shallower kiss than I was used to, which was fine because we were in public and it didn’t need to be a full-on make-out session, but I wanted to explore things with him more. See the ways we could work around our anatomy.
He eased up, smiling against my lips for a second before he finally pulled away. “That was even better than I imagined.”
“It really was,” I said breathlessly.
Atlas’s tail wagged, gently thumping against my lower back, letting me know how happy he was about what just happened. He was always so expressive, his tail or his ears giving away exactly what he was thinking or feeling. It was a type of honesty I wasn’t used to with humans.
We sat on the bench and held hands, taking in the sunset. Orange rays of light lit up the surface of the water, rippling as another cool spring breeze blew by.
“We should probably get going,” Atlas suggested. “It’s starting to get chilly.”
“Yeah,” I said sadly, not wanting our date to end.
“I can carry you back to the car if you want.”
I snorted. “No thank you.”
“Come on,” he said, crouching slightly and holding his arms out at his sides like he was a linebacker—like he was ready for me to jump on his back.
“Atlas. What are people going to think if they see you carrying me?”
“Who cares what they think. You’re my girlfriend and I’ll carry you if I want to.”
My heart raced and my mouth hung open. I wasn’t expecting that today. I didn’t even know what to say.
He stood up straight, looking at me with soft, hopeful eyes. “I mean, I want you to be,” he said, slightly embarrassed.
I wanted that, too.
When it came to a relationship with him, I was all in.
“Crouch down again,” I instructed.
He cocked his head to the side. “Are you going to say anything or—”
“Will you just crouch down again!”
“All right, all right.” He laughed, resuming his piggyback stance.
I took a deep breath and hopped on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck while he scooped my thighs under his arms.
He hoisted me up and started to walk back to the parking garage. We didn’t get nearly as many strange looks as I thought we would, but I didn’t even care. I felt safe and secure with him holding me.
“Atlas?” I asked as the parking garage came into view.
“Yeah?”
I rested my head on his shoulder, leaning in to whisper, “I would love to be your girlfriend.”
