“Pretty girl, I want to fuck you in just about anything.” He kisses my cheek. “But first, I need to take you out on an actual date.”
“Once you ask me out properly, we can plan this special date and then commence with the fucking.” I tap my chin thoughtfully. “How’s noon today work for you?”
Laughter vibrates in his chest. “We have our training session. But how about Friday? Since Saturday is our off day, it will let us have a later night together.”
“Excellent.” I frown just a bit. “Wait… That means we’ll miss happy hour. Are we telling our friends, and my brother, why we’re missing it?”
“I’m sure Kayla and Catherine already know about us, or at least the dancing around each other we’ve been doing.” An arched brow is audible in his tone.
“Well, duh.” I smirk. “They’re almost up-to-date, minus the little bit about me sitting on your face?—”
He rumbles with laughter, making my grin pop with smug satisfaction.
“I’ll probably tell them during our daily latte run tomorrow. Unless…”
“No. I have no problem telling our friends and your brother. Though I’m sure he’ll have something to say about this.”
This will be the first actual relationship of mine that Anker knows about. He’d caught me with Everett, but that wasn’t a relationship, and he only knew pieces. I never told him about Chase, outside of that I was seeing someone and then I wasn’t, because he would have hunted him down and gone scorched earth. My brother is chill, unless it comes to the people he loves being hurt in any real way.
“I guess that’s another thing we’ll handle together,” He squeezes me. “When you told me about Chase, you mentioned Anker not knowing about him. Did he know about any of the other men you’ve dated?”
“Ah…” I swallow thickly. “Define dating.”
He tilts his head. “Boyfriends. Casual things. Sexual partners.”
“Chase is the only man I’ve ever been with sexually. Other than you.” I motion to him. “I’ve never had a boyfriend.” Mortification blazes up my neck. “Oh god, this is so embarrassing. I’m twenty-nine and the longest relationship I’ve had is with my vibrator.” Cringing, I cover my face with my hands.
“Hey…” He pulls my hands down. “Can I tell you something?”
Frowning, I point at him. “If it’s that you’re taking back the date invite because you realize I have no experience in this and will be bad at it, I’m calling no backsies.”
“As much as I want to punch every man who’s ever hurt, ignored, or overlooked you, I’m glad they’re idiots because I get to be with you. I don’t care about what experiences you’ve had before me, all I care about is making sure that, whatever happens from here on out, you’re happy, cherished, and safe with me. Emphasis on the ‘with me’ part.”
And just like that, I fall a little more for Garrett Marlowe. My entire body melts for this man.
I take his lips in a slow, appreciative kiss. “And I want to do the same. To try to keep your big heart safe. To ensure that frown of yours is always turned upside down—even if it’s involuntarily.” I lift my fingers to his mouth and trace its upward curve.
“My silly girl.” He sighs, contentment radiating from him.
“The keyword in that sentence istry,” I say, resting my palm over his heart, the steady thump, thump vibrating beneath my touch.
Safe or safety always seems to slip from Garrett’s lips. I know it’s always at the forefront of his thoughts. The worry that nipsat him that he can’t always keep the people he cares about from meeting harm, emotional or otherwise.
“I know,” he says, his throat bobbing.
“Do you?” My words are slow and deliberate as if approaching a sleeping animal. “You panicked last night because you couldn’t get a hold of me, and as much as I like that you worry about me, I don’t like the idea of you in distress?—”
“Perhaps answer your phone.” His grumble is lighthearted. “And don’t turn it off in a power outage.”
I roll my eyes. “Just as I need a little reassurance occasionally, I know you do too. I promise to message you in the future before turning off my phone and to be better about answering it, but you also need to work on not spinning out with the idea that something has happened to me if I don’t pick up.”
“I know,” he says quietly. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to check in with me. That’s not what I want. I just…”
“You worry when you can’t get a hold of someone that the worst has happened.” I stroke his cheek. “Because that’s what happened with Val.”
“Fifteen minutes,” he says, his voice pained and scratchy as if emotions claw at his throat. “She’d said she should be home in fifteen minutes, and she’d text when she got there. The rideshare was side-swiped by a drunk driver down the street from the hospital. The chief of staff was leaving and rushed to the accident to offer help. Both Val and the driver were already dead.”
“Oh, Garrett…” I press into him.
