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“Hey.” His hand on my arm was light, but the hold this man had on me was ironclad.
I turned back.
“Go on a date with me tonight.”
Butterflies flounced all around under my ribs. Even though we’d been dating for over a month now, he still always asked me out.
I was putty for this man and would never be anything else.
I pretended to think about it. “Where?”
“Anywhere as long as it’s with you.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
Leaning across the console, he ran his tongue over the seam of my lips, and I opened for him with a sigh, my tongue reaching to meet his.
After a long, languid, and thorough kiss, he drew back to brush his lips against my ear. “I love you.”
I pulled back just enough to stare into his eyes. “You really are my favorite sound.”
He smiled. “I know, baby. Let’s get you fed,” he said, pulling back.
This time it was me who stopped him. He came back, eyes questioning but overfull with patience. Words weren’t my forte and neither was eye contact, but I desperately wanted to try.
“I don’t know what I did to deserve you or even if I do at all, but I’m grateful. So fucking grateful. I will never love anyone the way I love you. I’d never even try. I might be too chicken to get a tattoo on my body, but you are tattooed across my heart. A permanent brand that I know you can’t see, but it’s there, a beautiful design I feel every single day.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed with the force of his swallow. “I think I finally understand what it’s like for you when you can’t find any words,”
I smiled. “You don’t need words right now, bear. Just tell me you heard the ones I just said.”
“I heard, baby. I’ll never forget.”
I pursed my lips, and he chuckled, leaning to give me my request.
Inside Shirley’s was quieter than usual, but our booth and adjoining table were filled just like always. The scent of French fries, waffles, and coffee competed, but it was a familiar scent that was starting to make me think of home.
Arsen linked our hands, and we walked together toward our friends.
“‘Bout time, bro!” Kruger called, sliding out of the booth to come toward us. “You guys are slower than a one-legged dog on tranquilizers.”
“Benjamin Hayes Kruger that was the worst joke you’ve ever told.” My sister scolded him from the booth.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Jamie quipped.
I couldn’t focus on the ridiculous shit coming out of his mouth, though. Not when he was standing there in front of me in a pink T-shirt.
A light-pink T-shirt with the word bro on the front.
“What are you wearing?” I mused, pointing at his shirt.
“You like?” he asked, pinching the fabric to pull it away from his chest. “I told you I was gonna get me a pink shirt.”
“We heard it’s your new favorite color,” Jamie called. “We all got one!”
Leaning around my brother, I swept my eyes across the group.
They were all wearing one.
