She catches me staring and quirks a brow.“What?”
“Just appreciating my excellent taste in clothes and the woman who wears them.”
“Pretty sure you bought these clothes for yourself.”
“Pretty sure they’re too small for me.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”She crouches, grabbing her quad skates from the side where she always kicks them.
After she shoves them on and ties the laces, she continues to stall in the doorway.
I stall with her.Too close to leave.Too far to pretend I’m not stalling.
“You can just let Jag go, you know,” she says.
“I know.”
She takes me in from head to toe.The eyeliner.The kilt.The way my shoulders set like I’m bracing for impact instead of a conversation.
“You’re wickedly intimidating.”A corner of her mouth lifts.“He won’t know what to do with you.”
“No one does.”
“I do.”She hooks a finger in my corset and pulls me close.
Dear goddess of diesel fumes, I fucking love this woman.
She’s strong without advertising it.Fierce without cruelty.Her quiet doesn’t ask for permission.It just exists.
I don’t want to leave her here.The thought digs into my gut and refuses to be polite.
“I’ll be here.”She straightens the pearls at my throat and traces an exposed scar.“Only a few blocks away.”
“I know.Still don’t like it.”
“Go.”She presses a toe stop into the cement and nudges me backward.“Do the thing.”
“Yeah.”I keep backing up, eyes glued to her gorgeous face.“There’s something I need to do first.”
She stays where she is, framed by the open doorway, sunlight outlining her like heaven’s trying to steal her back.
I keep walking backward, right into the street, and stop dead in the middle of it.
Arms out and boots planted, I yell, “Hey, everyone!I have an announcement!”
People flinch.Heads turn.A guy with a coffee freezes mid-stride.Two tourists look thrilled, like they just stumbled into local entertainment.
An older woman with grocery bags clocks me, makes the sign of the cross, and hurries away like I’m the anti-Christ.
“Ma’am!”I shout after her.“You’re gonna want to hear this!”
She runs away like she absolutely does not want to hear it.
A couple of younger guys linger by the curb, grinning.One of them pulls out his phone.
“Everybody scoot closer.”I wave them in.“This is a group experience.Don’t be shy.I’m fragile but committed.”
Dove covers her mouth, her eyes bright.Oh, no.Does she know what this is?She definitely knows.
