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Shit. Come on, Charlotte. Say yes. Yes, you should date me.
“I think…” She looks down at her hands as she twists the tissue. “…that everything you just did and said was remarkable.” When she looks up at me, her eyes are about to spill over again. “You are remarkable.”
The tremor in her voice is like a gut punch, warning me that a “but” is on its way.
My heart and my stomach race to see which can sink the fastest. But my pulse moves quicker than both, as I’m swallowed by a hot cloud of panic.
“I don’t want to lose you,” she says. “I never wanted to lose you.” She wipes her nose with the tissue, which must be about to disintegrate by now. “I hate not seeing you.” Her tears flow again and claw at my heart. “I hate not talking to you.”
She rises from her seat and makes the agonizing two-second walk around to my side of the desk. Where I find the strength of will not to grab her and hold her against me, I’ll never know. But I can’t let myself. This decision has to come from her now.
Her face is blotchy and shiny from the tears.
“I miss you so fucking much,” she croaks.
And her arms are around my neck, her damp cheek against my chest, her sobbing body pressed against mine.
I sink my face into her hair and inhale her like it’s the last breath I’ll ever take.
“Um…” I stroke the back of her silky head. “Can I just get a clarification?”
She tips her head back, rests her chin against my chest, and looks up at me with a little nod.
“Is this a yes? Because it also feels a bit like a no. And I don’t want to embarrass myself any further by being overjoyed if you’re actually telling me to get lost.”
Her face breaks into a smile that will live in my mind and my heart forever. “Yes, you doofus.” She slaps my chest. “Yes.” She pulls back and bounces from the knees. “Yes, yes, yes. Is that clear?”
My knees nearly buckle. “Thank God for that.”
And I kiss her. It’s slow but needy. Loving but eager. Gentle but firm.
Her lips are full and sweet and taste of tears… and maybe a tiny bit of snot.
We part to catch our breath and tip our foreheads together.
“You should do all the Two Coast Tech presentations from now on,” Charlotte says, tracing the outline of my lips with her finger. “You are very persuasive.”
I take her hand in mine and press the palm to my mouth. “This was way more terrifying than the First Byte launch. I went up and down in the elevator three times before I actually got out on this floor.”
She makes a sympathetic little aw sound.
“It was such a risk.” I turn over her hand and kiss the back of it. “But I took the chance.”
She drags her other hand from my elbow, down my bare forearm, and laces her fingers with mine. “I’d like to take the chance too.”
She stretches up onto her toes and captures my bottom lip between hers. Her tongue wiggles over it as she sucks and teases me with her teeth. I pull her against my hardness, wishing I could slam the door and have her on the desk right now.
But there’s plenty of time for that.
I pull back and graze my thumb along her jaw. “Could I ask you out on a date where we go for a walk around Central Park?” I kiss the center of her forehead. “Then go for a pizza and beer.” Another kiss on the bridge of her nose. “Then I walk you home.” On the tip of her nose. “And when we get to your front door, you thank me for a lovely evening and my lovely company.” On the left corner of her mouth. “And then.” On the right corner. “I kiss you goodnight.”
“No,” she whispers. “You wouldn’t kiss me goodnight.” She brushes her lips against mine. “Because I’d drag you inside and ask you to lay me on my bed and take off my skirt. But this time with me fully aware of what you’re doing.”
And I can’t wait for that moment. And all the other moments still to come. Still to be experienced together, still to be lived together.
“I know we haven’t even had our first date yet, but I love you, Charlotte Lipton.”
“And I love you and your unnaturally perfect arms, Elliot Dashwood.”
