He gives me another hard, fast kiss. This one clearly designed to shut me up.
“Stop it,” he says.
“Stop what?”
“Stop looking for a loophole in my words. Yes, I think our relationship is just about perfect. And yes, I want more sex. Hopefully, a lot of it. But I want more of everything. I want more time with you. That’s why I’m changing jobs. I want more nights at your place. Or at my place, if we can make it less soulless and horrible. I don’t ever again want to finish a movie and then have to leave and go home alone. I want to move in together. To get married, if you’re still into that kind of thing. To have kids together. Or cats or corgis or parakeets or whatever the hell you imagine having someday.”
He cups my face, brushing his thumbs across my cheeks. He kisses me again, and it’s not until I taste salt on his lips that I realize he was wiping away my tears.
“I want all that, too,” I say breathlessly.
“Thank fuck,” he says on a groan, before kissing me yet again. “Then what was all that shit about? After last night, I thought we were settled. And then this morning you basically bolted. What the hell, Glasses? Because you scared the shit out of me.”
I know I sound pitiful and pathetic, but I can’t help asking a question in response. “So why weren’t you with me? Before now?”
He studies me for a second, before one side of his lips twitch up. “As far as I was concerned, I was with you. I haven’t been with another woman in ...” He huffs out a breath and shifts his eyes, like he’s doing the math. “A couple of years now. Three, at least, since I’ve dated anyone.”
“What?”
“I realized I was in love with you, and I wasn’t interested in being with anyone else.”
I just stare at him. “How is that possible? What about Selah?”
“That was three years ago.” His gaze hardens, and he huffs out another breath, stepping back a little. “I’m trying really hard here not to be the jealous asshole who demands to know if you have been with other guys since Ollie, okay? I know I don’t have the right to ask that. I get it, but—”
I yank him back to me. “I haven’t been with anyone else since Ollie. I swear. Be the jealous asshole if you need to be.”
The muscle in his jaw stops ticking, and the tension eases out of him.
Maybe the jealous asshole shouldn’t work on me, but it totally does. I love that he clearly hated the idea of me being with someone else, just as much as I love the idea that he’s been celibate all this time.
Which ... wow ... a celibate Keegan? Who would have thought?
Biting down on my lip again, I ask, “Exactly how private is this room?”
“Why?”
I look around, then tug him a little closer. “I was just noticing that it seems pretty private.”
His lips twitch. “You always have had a good eye for details.”
“True. And how long do you think we have before someone comes looking for us?”
“Don’t you have to get back to work?” he asks. “I thought you had a big presentation to work on.”
I wrap his tie around my fist as I contemplate my next words. Slowly, as I tug his mouth down to mine, I say, “I think I might need to quit, anyway.”
He stills and pulls back. “Seriously?”
I huff out a breath. “I’ll tell you about it later, okay?”
When I tug on his tie again, he resists, tipping up my chin until I meet his gaze. “Is that why you rushed over here? Because you decided to quit and you panicked?”
I tip my head to the side, trying to unravel the mental roller coaster of my day. “No. One hundred percent of my panic today has been about our relationship, and I haven’t decided anything about my job. Not yet. Because you know how cautious I am.”
He gives a snort of laughter. “Yes. Painfully aware of how cautious you are.”
I poke a finger in his side. “Hey!”
