“I’d say fifteen.”
“Absolute disgrace, dude.” I shake my head. “I spentweeksloving a girl who didn’t love me back. So, let me get this straight—your love language is liquid projectiles?”
“Yup.”
“Warm, white, wet projectiles…” I wiggle my eyebrows and make to unzip my pants.
“Don’t even think about it,” she warns.
“I just want to show you how much I care…”
“Pack your shit up, dude. It’s never gonna happen.”
“But y—”
“Like, ever.”
I fall forward and roll onto my back, pulling her in to snuggle against me, her chin flat against my chest as she drapes her leg over mine. IknowI can’t always be the world’s best boyfriend, and Iknowthat Carrie is probably going to be one out-of-control girlfriend—but that’s exactly what I love about us.
“Amelia’s here,” I say. “I’m guessing she’ll have clothes you can borrow.”
“Borrow for what?”
“We’re officially together now,” I explain. “That means we need to go get married and have babies. Ones who have your hair and my eyes.”
“Can we at least get pizza first?”
“As long as it’s to go.”
I trace my fingers over her bare thigh, brushing the black lace covering her ass.
“I think we need to make the most of this set first, though. It got off to a rocky start.”
“Kinda like us.”
“Definitely like us.”
29DONOVAN
Carrie’s chewing on her nails, watching me pack my bags. We’ve been discussing her mom for an hour, and now that she’s finally dropped her walls and admitted we’re officially together, she’s opening up to me.
“Mom’s really starting to get it—she gets just how depressed she is.” Carrie turns her attention to her thumbnail. “We’ve been speaking more since the fire. She’s starting to get that shutting herself away from the world just made the pain worse.”
“And that she ended up hurting her daughter, too,” I add.
I zip the last bag shut.
Carrie nods. “It’s like the fire was a wake-up call. She needed it to happen to understand that something had to change. There’s definitely a long way to go, but she’s seeing a therapist after Thanksgiving, and I gave her the number for that charity—the one that helps people like her.”
“That’s awesome.”
“It’s early days, but I’m super happy.”
I stretch out on the bed next to her. “And you know I’ve got your back.”
She pauses for a moment. “It’s so weird to think you’ll be coming back to the house with me tomorrow.”
“Do you wish you hadn’t said yes?”
