“It’s nice to know you didn’t do it out of pity,” I mused out loud.
“I want to fuck you.” He spread his fingers across the table. “ I also want you to trust me as much as I trust you. I want you to be my Eve and go into the garden with me.”
“Where’s this metaphorical garden?” I played along.
“Dinner, tonight. It’s hard to ask but I need help. I’m looking at my situation too close. A fresh set of eyes will do me wonders. I want your perspective on… we’ll say an interpersonal issue.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “Sounds like you’re asking for a favor. You said when this thing started there were no strings attached. I’m not like you, I don’t do favors for favors.”
“I’m not asking for an exchange,” Weston confirmed. “This is the only time I’m going to be selfish. Say no and we go back to me waiting for you to make a move.”
There was no ache in my stomach when I looked at Weston. For some inexplicable reason, I believed every word he said. Though he was relaxed in his chair, something in his eyes was desperate. He needed someone. And apparently, I was the only person in his life he trusted enough to ask.
“Okay,” I said. “Take me to the garden.”
Chapter 21
“I didn’t thinkyou meant this.” I sat in the passenger’s seat of Weston’s truck. We were in an Olive Garden’s parking lot. “You know, it’s not a metaphor if you are explaining the exact thing.”
Weston chuckled. “The metaphor still works. The location is just a lucky coincidence.”
“Sure, sure,” I teased.
He instructed me to wait while he slipped out of the car. I watched him jog over to my side to open my door. When I reached down to grab his hand for an aid down, he circled his entire arm around my waist. Weston carefully lifted me down and stole a kiss in the process. Even after my feet touched the ground, we were locked in an embrace with his hands creeping down my back. I pressed up against him to feel his chest rise and fall against my own.
“You good?” Weston asked once we pulled away for a breath.
I nodded. “I think so.”
He dipped down for another kiss and placed his other arm on the car door to strategically block us from view. He’d parked in the back of the lot. There was just one empty station wagon behind us. The dimmed streetlight was barely bright enough to light a one-foot radius.
Weston’s hand hooked the bottom of my shirt. I waited for him to take it further, but he did nothing else besides place teasing kisses on my lips.
“What time is this dinner?” I whispered.
Between kisses placed on my neck he replied, “We have time.”
“That’s not an answer.” I laughed.
“Enough time to give me a chance to help you finish. Answer enough for you?”
I continued to laugh. “No way. We might have had a pass in the library but this time we are definitely in public.”
“You sure?” He nudged his nose against mine. “I can hide you. Your only job would be to keep quiet.”
I groaned, actually considering it. This is what he did to me. Made me question things when the answer should have always been a solid no.
“Hey,” Weston said when he realized I was torn. “No pressure. We always have after.”
I nodded. “After.”
I pulled away, ready to make our way inside. When Weston didn’t move from in front of me, I frowned.
“What’s wrong?” I searched his face.
“Just give me a minute,” he said and gestured down to his crotch.
My cheeks warmed. “Oh, right. Sorry.”
