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“I’m sure.” I cleared my throat and gave a half-truth. “I need to stop overindulging. I’m gaining weight.”
“I like this look though. You seem really healthy and in a good place. And for the record, your tits are driving me absolutely insane.” Then he set his glass down. “Though that’s probably not first-date material. Damn it. This is hard.” He laced his fingers through mine. “I know you already, princess. We can’t go backward. I’ve seen you go through some seriously upsetting shit in your personal life. I’ve risked your father having a hit put out on me for hiding you in a cabin in the woods. I’ve seen you cry in the middle of the night clinging to a wedding gown. And I know every inch of your body, a fact that has kept me awake a lot of nights in the last month. I get that you want to go slow, but we’re not strangers. We’ve never been strangers.”
God, he could be romantic in his own way. I melted like butter on high heat. The restaurant he had chosen was a steakhouse and the interior was dark and moody, candles on the tables. No one seemed to be paying us any attention, which was good because I suddenly wanted to have sex with him on the table. My breathing was heavy, my boobs bursting forth. “Maybe we should do whatever seems right to us.”
That’s what we had been doing all along anyway.
He gave me a smile that was so smug I should have been annoyed, but instead I found it amusing.
I clearly couldn’t resist this man.
“I totally agree,” he said.
Clearing my throat, I reached for the bread, then stopped myself. Slow and steady weight gain. That’s what I needed, not a carb baby. “So Brandy told me you want to buy the bar when Thomas retires.”
“Brandy has a big mouth. I wouldn’t trust everything she says, but in this case, she’s right. I want to own something.”
“You’d be great at managing it. Everyone likes you.”
He shrugged, like the compliment made him uncomfortable. “How’s your job search going? You mentioned full-time.”
“Yes, in social work. I’m looking here and in the surrounding towns. There should be something I am qualified to do and I like working with people.”
“Permanent resident, huh? That’s a bold move.”
“I needed to make a bold move. It feels right.”
Sitting here with him felt right.
—
Bella and I walked to her front door, her yawning, me reluctant to end the night. I really enjoyed her company. She was just…easy. Everything about being with her was easy. I wanted to talk her into letting me spend the night, but she looked tired, and holy shit, I actually wanted to respect her crazy-ass rules.
Because damn it, I wanted this to be real. It was fucking nuts, but there it was. So if that meant acting like we hadn’t already had sex a bunch of times, I could play that game. For a day or two. But when she finally gave me the green light I was going to remind her that I knew all her pleasure points.
“Good night, beautiful Bella,” I murmured on her doorstep, cupping her cheeks with my hands. Her lips looked so full and kissable.
“Good night.”
I covered her mouth with mine and drank in the taste of her. She was sweet and smelled like the fresh air in her garden. She was the most intriguing mixture of high maintenance and simple girl. Bella wasn’t difficult to read or understand. She was the very definition of “what you see is what you get.” I appreciated that about her. I was done with games and manipulation and lying.
So while I indulged myself just a little and pressed my body close against hers, I was determined to do this right. Take it slow, like she wanted, physically. But also emotionally.
I wanted to allow myself the opportunity to fall for her, slowly, like honey drizzling down from the bottle. Rich, sweet, and easy. Not falling into love. But easing, until I was covered in it.
I stepped back from her before I let my dick dictate what was happening. “Get in the house.”
Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen and plump from our kissing. Her eyes were dark, and her nipples were taut in her soft dress. She nodded, wiping her bottom lip. She quickly opened the door and slipped into the house.
The door slammed shut and locked.
I went home to take a cold shower and torture myself with thoughts of Bella naked, tied up on the bed in the caboose, unable to stop me from spreading her legs wide.
Three dates? I was going to do that shit back to back then and loophole her rules. Maybe I could even talk her into a lunch date.
I may totally suck at dating, but I was good at getting girls naked. It was a talent all my brothers and I had. Even when Cain was drunk off his ass he went home with a chick as often as he did alone.
Everyone needs a claim to fame.
Bella could have her way.
But I was going to have mine too.
