“An idiot? Why? Because you’re letting yourself be seduced by a bad boy?”
“Is that what you are?” I ask him, suddenly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Are you still the same bad boy from school, Niall?”
“I don’t know who I am. But I’m ready to find out.”
That’s a damn good answer.
“The real question is whether you’re ready to give this bad boy a chance, knowing that he’s grown into a man who’s just trying to do his best.”
I bite my lip.
“Are you ready to give him a chance, Jordan? Or, maybe the question should be: are you ready to giveyourselfa chance?”
“Myself?”
“We both need this, Jordan. This could be our last call.”
I know that he’s right. I desperately want to believe him – but I also know that I’ve already spent too many nights alone, crying on my sofa.
“That person wasn’t me,” he says, suddenly. His tone has softened. “And I only realised that when a teenage daughter fell into my life.”
I close my eyes and abandon myself to the sound of his voice, the sweetness of his words.
“I don’t want to be this lonely, bitter man. I’m done with being arrogant and self-centred. I want a different life. I want to be a father, to cook for my parents. I want to take my daughter on her stupid dates, and I want…” He sighs. “I want to kiss you. Right now.”
I smile, moved by his speech.
“And I want to hold your hand in the darkness of the cinema, where no one can see us.”
I realise only now that I’ve been holding my breath. I release it.
“And I want to make love with you again. And again. And…” Another deep breath. My body is burning up, almost aflame. “I want you to want to make love to me, too.”
I never planned for any of this. It’s dangerous, so unexpected. I never went looking for him, never thought about him. I could never even have dreamed of this. It’s so wrong, out of my control.
Niall Kerry is out of my league – he has been ever since we were kids, and he is even more so now. Yet I believe his every word.
“What time will you pick me up?”
Niall
When she opens the door to me, she still has one shoe in her hand.
“You didn’t need to come upstairs.”
“I’m a gentleman.” I hand her a rose, which I’d been hiding behind my back.
“I can see that.” She takes it and brings it close to her face. “Thank you.”
“I also brought you this.” I hand her a box, which she accepts uncertainly, with trembling hands.
“A cake.”
“They promised me there was definitely some form of chocolate inside.”
