I watch as the message turns to read, but no response comes through. I pop the cover on my phone, pulling out the fortune cookie message I still have tucked inside.
There are no rules when it comes to falling in love.
I made a promise to those girls to live by that, and I’m ready to embrace it.
Can Maevyn do the same?
Can she live by her own fortune?
What was it again?
Oh, yeah.To be found, stop hiding.
31
My foot bounces on the rung of the stool as I sit in my kitchen, waiting for Westley to come over. Aurora went to bed half an hour ago, but I waited until now to text Westley after making sure she’d fallen asleep.
I didn’t respond to his text from earlier, and my stomach has been curdling ever since. Maybe, after some time away from each other, he gained some clarity and realised he was just caught up in the moment when we hooked up the first time… and the second.
A soft knock on my front door has me jumping in my seat. I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous. Why am I fucking nervous? I blow out a breath as I slip off the stool and rush over to the door. I force myself to slow down as my hand lands on the door handle. I fiddle with my oversized T-shirt, pulling it this way and that before smoothing a hand down my torso. I don’t know why it matters; he’s seen me in my pyjamas before, and I’m not trying to impress him.
With a frustrated huff, I wrench the door open, like ripping off a Band-Aid.
Westley stands with both hands braced against my door frame, head dropped between his shoulders.
“Hello?”
When he looks at me, I see his chest heave once, twice before he shakes his head.
“I don’t wanna fake things with you.”
Okay. Quick and painless. Fuck, it does sting a bit, though.
Before I even have a chance to respond or pick my heart up off the floor, he grabs onto the waistband of my sleep shorts and pulls until I crash into him.
“I want it for fucking real.” Westley smashes his lips to mine as his other palm glides into my hair.
The kiss is deep. Altering. And I submit.
My hands reach around his neck as I kiss him back with just as much promise. His hands come under my knees, and I’m lifted against him, my legs guided around his back.
Westley walks us inside, closing the door, and then presses me up against it.
“Is that okay, Trickster?” he asks between more sweet kisses. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
I smile against his mouth. “Don’t you have to take me on a few dates before jumping straight into labels?”
He pulls gently on my bottom lip with his teeth. “I’m definitely planning to take you on dates. I just want to do it as your boyfriend.”
“Okay,” I whisper. Westley smiles, eyes back on my lips as he starts to lean in, ready to steal more kisses, but I ease back. “But you know,” I swallow, “I’ve never done this before. Dated.” My fingers play with the ends of his hair as my uncertainty rises to the surface.
“I know. And we can do this however you need. However Aurora needs.”
I drop my forehead against his, taking a deep inhale of his cologne. “Thank you,” I whisper.
“I mean it, Mae.” My heart skips a beat whenever he calls me that. “I want this for real with you.Everything.You set the pace. You tell me what you need and how you need it. There’s nothing I won’t do to make this work, because—” He wets his lips, looking down as if he’s preparing for what he says next. His green eyesfind mine, and the way he looks at me only makes me feel one thing.Love.“I’ve never felt like this before.”
My eyes start to well, and I can only put it down to my heart feeling so full that the emotions have nowhere else to go. They want to spill from my eyes and mark themselves on Westley’s skin so he can wear them and know that I feel this too.
