“Doesn’t change the way it makes either of us feel, though. I want to be worth the risk for you, Tally. So I need you to be honest when things like this upset you. I don’t want you to sit on those feelings, okay?”
“Okay,” I agree.
He curls his fingers around mine. “You want to tell me how that made you feel?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, parsing through my emotions.
“Talk to me,” he encourages. “I need this from you, even if it’s hard.”
“I was annoyed that they were too clueless to realize they shouldn’t approach you at all. I felt bad for Tristan.”
His jaw ticks.
I drop my gaze to our clasped hands. I don’t know where the boundaries are. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“What did you want to do?” he asks softly.
“Tuck myself against your side. Pull your arm around me.” Show them he’s mine. “I knew this would happen, but knowing and experiencing it isn’t the same.”
“Then next time that’s exactly what you should do.” He kisses the back of my hand. “I’m going to take you home, okay?”
I try to hide my disappointment. “Okay.”
We’re quiet on the drive to my apartment. I don’t love knowing that women will constantly hit on him wherever he goes. Or that the media will speculate about his sex life. Or thatFlip might externalize his own fears and try to protect me from his past by throwing up walls I don’t know how to climb over or knock down.
Flip doesn’t pull up in front of my building. Instead, he parks in the visitors’ lot.
“I’d like to walk you up.”
Relief washes over me. “Yes, please.”
He cuts the engine and hops out, rounding the hood as I unfasten my seat belt. He puts his arm around me as we make the short walk to my building. The atrium is mostly quiet apart from a few late-night studiers, as is the elevator.
“I need to hug you.” He pulls me against his chest, wrapping his arms around me as we ascend.
I hum contentedly and link my hands at the small of his back while I listen to the heavy thud of his heart.
We stop at my floor and Flip keeps his arm around me as he walks me down the hall. When we reach my door, he pushes my hair over my shoulders. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah, of course. I’d love that.”
One side of his mouth quirks up. “Me, too.”
My hand shakes as I swipe the fob across the sensor. “We have to be quick,” I remind him.
I slip through the door, prepared to block Parsnip’s escape as Flip follows me, but instead of darting for the narrow gap, my cat scales Flip’s pant leg.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Flip gently unhooks the cat from his thigh, which is probably bleeding in several places. Parsnip purrs loudly and headbutts his hand.
“You are such a harlot,” I grumble and toe off my shoes.
Flip scratches under his chin before setting Parsnip on the floor so he can do the same. “Is Fee home?”
“She’s at a friend’s tonight.” She had a study session that ran late and didn’t feel like walking across campus in the freezing cold.
“So we have the place to ourselves.”
“It’s just you and me and Parsnip,” I confirm.
