“I just…wanted to say thank you,” she said finally, her voice small and full of so many unspoken things, it made my throat tight. “For sending Rhea to me.”
I sat up, pushing the blankets off as a cold sweat broke out over my skin. There was a small part of my mind that was freaking out, imagining Goldie’s call was to end things with me for good, before we even had a real chance to try it out. “You don’t need to thank me for that.” I replied, bracing for the worst, hoping for the best.
“I do,” she said. “You didn’t just hand her off. You saw what she needed, and you put her first. Even though I know you wanted to see me. To stay with me. Even though it cost you something.”
I swallowed, trying desperately to be steady and strong, it was what she looked for in me. “She needed you.”
“And I needed her,” she whispered, as if she didn’t want to be overheard. Which meant Rhea was still there. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 3:00 a.m. A nightcap. “But the fact that you saw that before I did…” She trailed off, but I felt it. The shift. The weight of something deeper settling between us.
My head fell back against the wall. “I’ll always put your needs first, Goldie. Always.”
“And hers?” She asked so silently that I could have missed it.
“Hers too. Always. It’s who I am.”
I could hear her deep breath through the line, and my blood heated. “Would you believe me if I told you I was falling in lovewith you, Tanner?” She whispered. “Even though we’ve barely begun.”
My heart raced in my chest, and my body reacted viscerally to her words. The urge to throw a pair of pants on and race across town to her, to hear those words directly from her lips, was almost too strong to deny. But she wasn’t alone, and I was going to earn my time with her.
“We’ve been building something for a year now, Goldie James. We’re far from new, even if our physical intimacy is.” I tried to be reasonable, and then I gave in to my deeper desires. “I’m falling for you too, sweetheart. You’re all I think about.”
She groaned a sweet little noise, and I smirked in the dark. “I wish you were here.”
Logistics ran through my mind again, but I pushed them down. I couldn’t do that to Rhea. I couldn’t show up during her time with Goldie in the middle of the night, desperate to fuck.
“Tell me about your night,” I shifted the conversation even though I told myself a dozen times since answering the phone that I wouldn’t ask. Not for my own selfish desires. “You said you needed her too. Tell me about it.”
She hummed a sweet noise and then I heard the clicking of a door, and I imagined her walking around her sweet little house in a plush bathrobe the color of her hair, golden and beautiful, with her phone pressed to her ear and a smile on her lips.
“I gave her something tonight I didn’t know I was capable of.” She started and then went on as I listened. “I gave her a safe space to let go. I gave her peace.” She groaned a little and sighed, “When I moved to this town with the hopes and dreams of building Honey & Hearth into what it is today, I wanted it to feel like sunshine and warmth, even on the rainy and dark days. I wanted people to find refuge in my space, where they could let go of every other thing going on in their life and just…” She paused, “thrive.”
I smirked into the darkness again, “Youare that space, Goldie.”
“I know.” She said with excitement. “But Ididn’tknow that until tonight. I didn’tfeelit until she showed up here. Like she did. Because of you.”
“No, baby, that was because of you.” I corrected her, proud of every single ounce of her perfect self.
“Either way,” She sighed with wonderment in her voice. “Thank you for giving me that opportunity. To feel it. God, it was powerful.”
“I’m so in awe of you, Goldie.” I said plainly.
“See,” she hummed thoughtfully, “It’s you, though.” She cleared her throat, “I only felt this incredible tonight because of you. Because of your thoughtfulness. Because of your selflessness.”
I chuckled slightly, wondering if I’d describe what I did tonight that way.
I wouldn’t. Hell, I’d kicked myself for it just a few hours ago, to be honest.
“Tell me something, Tanner.” She whispered again, a huskiness in her voice that grabbed my attention instantly. “Do you miss me?”
I groaned, rubbing my hand over the back of my neck in silent frustration. “With every single cell in my being.”
“Will you do something for me?” She purred, and I licked my lips, already knowing the answer.
“Anything.” I breathed. “Literally anything you want.”
I could almost hear her chewing her bottom lip through the silence. “Will you touch yourself for me?”
“Goldie.” I rasped, even as my dick jumped in my boxers.
