Maybe it’s worth the risk.
“I do,” I admit, as soft as I’m capable of being.
Spinning me around to face him fully, utterly nude and still mostly hard, Wilder lifts my hands to his lips and presses a kiss to my knuckles.
“Then I’ll stay.”
“What about…” I can’t even finish the question. Everything? Life? Work? His dream? My fuck ups?
His eyes glow in the dim light, and I see understanding reflected back at me. “We’ll figure the rest out.” He shrugs one bare shoulder. “I want to be with you, and you want me here, and that’s enough for now.”
His words play on repeat in my head even as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me to the sheets, holding me until we both fall into the most restful sleep I’ve had in years.
And when I wake in the morning, he’s still there, arms around me, breathing softly into my neck.
The first one who’s ever stayed for me.
TWENTY-NINE
LEXI
The next morning, Wilder showers with me, fingers gentle as he helps clean every inch of me after how filthy we both were last night. He makes himself at home in my kitchen and whips up breakfast while I get dressed.
Rory insisted I meet her at the diner before it opens today, and with the grand opening tomorrow, I have a sinking feeling settling in my stomach that makes it hard to swallow the breakfast tacos Wilder made, even if they’re an eleven out of ten.
His hand in mine on the way to my car is another first, since he insisted on taking the early shift today, prepping for service and letting Charlie have a rare Friday off. The stroke of his strong thumb against the back of my hand, it’s almost enough to curb the knot in my stomach. Almost.
When I park in the same lot as always, I try to rush out of the car and in to face Rory and get this over with. One massive hand on my arm stops me before I get the chance.
“Hey,” Wilder says in that way of his that sounds like an order instead of a greeting.
I turn to face him, not trusting my face not to betray me after the emotional roller coaster of the last few weeks, and those loop de loops from last night in particular. My nervous system hasbeen through the wringer lately, but tears won’t help anything today.
His gigantic palm cradles my cheek, forcing my eyes on his. “I’m with you, Lex. We got this.”
It’s a feeling I’m not sure how to process, someone offering to clean up a mess they had no part in making. But it’s one echoed by Rory, when I walk in the dining room and see she’s let herself in. Seated at a four-top in the middle of the floor that she’s already covered in papers, highlighters, and pens.
I haven’t wanted to know what she’s been up to. I still don’t. But looks like my Olympic gold medal-worthy avoidance streak is just about to come to an end.
A sigh slips from my lips as I pull up the chair across from her. I guess it’s better to get this over with.
Rory offers to give me a whole story before we dive into the paperwork, but I hold my hand up to stop her. I sign where she points instead, and find myself praying that the new owner will let my team keep their jobs.
Even if they take over running the place as an owner/operator, I can find somewhere else to work.
But Wilder, Samuel, Charlie, Dishy, theybelongin the kitchen here. My girls in the front? Elite tier.
I don’t think I could stand it if Rory found some investor from the city who wants to bring their own team in. This place wouldn’t be Heights Bites without who we have now. There’s no one better for this place.
I’m not sure I have the courage to ask.
The pen in my hand weighs more than physics could explain. But it’s nothing compared to the ball in my chest by the time Rory flips to the very last signature line.
She’s been talking the entire time, I’ve just been tuned to a different station. I refocus on her words, try to hear what she’s saying now.
“Last one, Lex,” she says softly.
With a deep breath, I scribble my name on the solid line and order my nervous system to stay steady for just a few more minutes.
