Plan a night with no distractions, where the two of you can share the things that you typically keep secret. Don’t treat it like an ambush. It’s important to remember that, for your partner to feel comfortable opening up to you, you have to open up to them.
Being vulnerable with someone is uncomfortable, especially in a relationship. It seems counterintuitive, because your partner should be the one person you can be most open with. But most people don’t want to appear weak in a relationship. They want to maintain the high ground.
Intimacy is closeness. You’re not running a gauntlet, trying to outmatch each other. It’s not about seeing how big of a return you canget with minimal effort. Partnership is about mutual effort, investment, and outcome.
This challenge isn’t for the faint of heart. Spending an evening talking might seem like a cake walk, but if you really want to have true intimacy with your partner, talking is the minimum.
Anyone can talk. Sharing is where it gets hard.
Turn off your phone and get rid of the distractions. It’s time to empty your emotional bank account. Are you ready?
21
RYAN
KISS AND TELL
Willow had been sitting in her car for forty-five minutes. I had perked up when I heard the engine pull up and then turn off, but she never came inside.
After ten minutes I peeked out the window. She was sitting there, looking at her phone.
After twenty minutes, I checked again. She had leaned her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes.
After thirty minutes, I was worried.
I glanced at the clock as we started to near the fifty-minute mark. I didn’t want to rush her if she needed some time to decompress before coming inside, but I hadn’t heard from her since she left for lunch with her mom and sister. I was starting to worry.
Finally, I heard the car door slam and watched as the front door handle turned. Willow slipped inside, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
“Hey,” I said as I closed my laptop and set it on the coffee table. “How was lunch?”
Willow dumped her purse on the kitchen counter and set the keys beside it. “Fine.”
It definitely wasn’t fine, but I’d play her game until I could get a feel for what the hell was going on.
It had been a week since I’d kissed her, and she promised that I could kiss her tomorrow. One kiss was all I allowed myself to have each day. Any more, and I didn’t know how much longer I could resist her. But each day, like clockwork, she promised that I could kiss her tomorrow.
I hadn’t kissed her yet today. As much as I wanted to back her up against that countertop, grab her thighs, set her on top of it, and spread her legs while I tasted her, I had a feeling it wasn’t happening.
“How was lunch?” I asked as I eased off the couch and headed to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Willow let out a razor-sharp huff. “It wasn’t what I hoped for, but it was exactly what I expected.”
I grabbed a glass out of the pantry and filled it. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” she muttered under her breath. “I just want to forget about it.” Her hand grazed across my ass as she passed behind me.
I dropped the glass in the sink, caught her wrist, and tugged her into my chest. Willow stumbled. Her breath caught as I wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her flush against my body.
The frustration that had plagued her when she came inside transformed those prairie green eyes into forests with tree cover so thick that the sunlight was blanketed in a cloak of emerald.
I wanted to get lost in those eyes. I wanted to watch them roll back in her head as I buried myself inside her. I wanted the clipped breath she let out when she crashed into my chest to be the first of infinite exhales that belonged to me and only me.
“You haven’t kissed me today,” Willow said as those forest eyes dropped to my mouth.
I cupped her chin and smoothed my thumb over her lip. “Trust me. I know.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Her hands slid down my chest and crept along the elastic waistband of my gym shorts.
