“Yousuck at boyfriending!”
“We both know that’s not true, babe. Why can’t you just admit it? Just admit I’m better at this than you are, and I’ll let you have a kiss.”
Her eyes drift down to my mouth, trailing my body. She sighs.
“Why am I so lame? I really want to do this whole thing.”
“What whole thing?”
She waves back and forth between us. “This thing that makes people act all weird.”
“You can say it, Carrie—I believe they call it ‘being in a relationship.’?”
“Yeah. That.”
I can’t help but laugh.
“You just rocked up here in that tr—”
“Oh my God!” she yells. “Enough with the trench!”
“How about enough with the trying todosomething different, tobesomething different,” I say. “I don’t need a plot twist, you know. I’m into it already. I’m into your scheming, your blackmailing, and your shitty personality.” I eye her. “So—are we gonna waste more time here, or are you gonna let me worship that body of yours?”
She laughs. “Wow. How could I ever get tired of your egomaniacal tendencies?”
I push away from the door. “What did you say?”
“I think you heard.”
I cock my head. “I’ve got milk in my ear.”
“I missed you, you know.”
She whips the comforter over her head to hide while her words slice right through me.
I’ve never heard her open up this way, and suddenly, we’re not playing anymore. She’s not pretending—this is all Carrie, and all I want to do is scoop her up in my arms. I yank the comforter away.
“Say that again.”
“It was easier to run away than try to make sense of my feelings. But now keeping this distance between us hurts. I want…”
“What?” I murmur. “What do you want?”
“You know,” she whispers.
“Say it.”
She bites her lip, her chest heaving from the effort.
I rest a knee on the mattress. “I want to hear you say it.”
“You,” she says. “I want you.”
I fall onto the bed to straddle her, my arms bracketing her head, and slowly, I untie her coat and leave it to fall open. The sheer lace leaves nothing to the imagination—it takes a moment for my head to stop spinning. My fingers graze her waistband as I ease her panties a little farther down her hips.
“Don, this is a serious conversation…”
An inch farther.
