“Zander,” I breathe. “More.”
“You like that, do you?” He brushes his lips along my neck. He pinches my nipple between two fingers. “What else do you want? How many ways can I make you come undone?”
“I need you,” I pant. “I need you to—”
A door slams within the house and I jump. The motion jars our bodies enough that Zander twists my nipple, making me yelp.
“Sorry,” he says, removing his hand from beneath the shirt. “Was that your cousin?”
I groan and roll out from under him, push myself off the bed and stand by the side. “Ah, the exact person I don’t want to hear about while having sex. Yeah, I’m sure that was her. I’m sure she heard what we were doing and now she’s pissed off. Do you want to actually meet her this time?”
Zander looks at me like I’ve grown a new head. He lies on my bed, looking perfectly disheveled, hair falling in his eyes. I want to keep him here in this moment forever, but I know if I’m ever going to get my family on my side, I need them to meet my boyfriend and actually spend time with him.
“I know the answer is no…but I also think, no, actually Iknowthat everyone would love you if they got to know you like I do.”
“To be fair, I don’t need them to love me like you do, I just—” He pauses. “That isn’t what you said, sorry. I don’t assume you love me.” He runs a hand over his face and groans. “That was presumptuous. We haven’t known each other…that long…”
“Okay, I know this is crazy, but what if I do?”
“If you do?”
“Love you. I—I love you.”
He slowly sits up. The sheets fall away from him and his face goes slack. Our eyes lock on each other’s. He searches mine, for what, I don’t know. I don’t know if he finds it. I don’t know what to do except stand in front of him, my arms at my sides, my body hidden beneath his shirt. I watch as his eyes grow glassy and he drops my gaze, glancing down at the bed.
“Addie,” he whispers, and even at that, his voice breaks. “You don’t mean that, do you?”
I climb onto the bed and kneel in front of him. I cradle his face in my hands. “I mean it. I don’t need you to say it back, I just…I think you need to know someone loves you. I do. I love every piece of you.”
He kisses my hand, shakes his head. “I love you, too.”
“That’s a terrible decision.”
“Never. My silly goose, ray of sunshine, whimsical elf, little mouse.”
I cackle. “Okay. Got that out of the way. Come meet my stupid cousin.”
I throw his shirt at him and wander, naked, to my closet. I stare at my dresses, running my hands over colourful fabric. Zander slinks up behind me and drops his cool hands on my back. I gasp as another round of aloe vera sinks into my skin.
“You still look like a lobster,” he whispers in my ear as he massages me. He turns me around, rubbing it into my collarbones, then using it as an excuse to fondle my chest. “Perfect.”
“You love me,” I say as his hands move from my breasts to my upper arms. “You totally just felt me up, but you’re also taking care of me, which I appreciate.”
“Couldn’t help myself. You should wear that.”
He points to a green T-shirt dress with cats in cowboy hats printed on it. I shrug, pull it off its hanger, and slip it over my head. My nipples show through the fabric and I have no intention of putting on any underwear. I smile, biting my lower lip, as his eyes blaze.
“You’re trying to kill me,” he whines as I close my fingers around his wrist and drag him out of my closet.
“Oh no. I’m terribly sorry.”
I head down to the kitchen, assuming the door slam was Willow’s room, and now she’s getting breakfast. Zander switches my hand hold, moving my fingers from his wrist to twining with his own. I squeeze his, whether in love or in warning, as we round the corner into the kitchen.
Willow sits at the kitchen table, engrossed in a bowl of oatmeal and her phone. Her laptop is open beside her to her work email and a Zoom window, her rectangle blacked out and silenced.
“Morning, Willow,” I say, ducking into the fridge to find something to eat. I pull out a carton of eggs and the jug of milk. “French toast?”
Zander nods. “Sounds perfect.”
