¡Por Dios!
I’m tempted to do what I feel like doing. But I don’t want to disrespect her boundaries, so instead, I scan her face, looking for signs of discomfort. “Are you okay with hugging?”
She nods.
“Kissing?”
She nods again.
I close the few feet between us and pull her against my chest before tipping her head back and sweeping my nose across hers. Pushing her hair out of her face I take a good, long look into her eyes.“¿’tá bien?”
She nods against my face, looping her arms around my waist and squeezing. “I’m better now.”
A firework goes off in my chest. Is this normal? I have no idea how people feel like this all the time and don’t end up lifting off into the atmosphere.
I kiss her. It’s light, it’s brief, and it’s familiar. It’s not enough, not by a long shot, but I’m conscious that we’re in public, she’s probably hungry, and no one likes cold breakfast bagels.
I step back, brushing my fingers across her cheek before I gesture for her to take a seat. Wait, is that a Zamboni on her shirt?
I point at her torso. “Tesoro?”
Her head snaps up from the plates of food lined up on our small table for two.
“Are you wearing a hockey sweater?”
Her face turns the color of tomatoes as she nods and stretches her shirt out with both hands for me to read.
It’s a Nashville Devils hoodie and it says,Hockey gives me a zamboner. I can’t help the laughter that bursts from me. My girl, who hates sports and is clueless about hockey, is wearing the weirdest fucking hockey shirt I’ve ever seen.
“I have questions.”
She shrugs, tipping her head at the food. “I have questions too.”
“Ah.Sí. Well, I didn’t know what you liked, how hungry you were, or if you had any allergies, so I kind of… got a bit of everything.”
She shakes her head. “You could have texted.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
Relief courses through me as she picks up half of her sliced breakfast bagel. “No allergies.” She takes a giant bite. Her eyes roll back in her head as she makes yummy food noises and takes another.
“I don’t like pickles, mushrooms, or coffee.”
“That’s it?” I pick up half of my own bagel and take an equally giant bite.
She nods. “There are a few other things that aren’t my favorite, but for the most part, I’ll try anything once.”
My brow quirks at that, and she giggles. “I seriously can’t believe the amount of food you got for the two of us.”
“Cariño, you’re dating a hockey player. We can eat.”
Her eyes widen again at the plates. “This much?”
I shrug. I had a protein shake already this morning, but I could definitely make a good faith effort at clearing this table.
“Your turn.” I wave my bagel at her. “What’s with the shirt?”
“Victoria ordered it for me online. She says she saw an ad on social media and thought of me. She also insisted I wear it out today. I was going to take it off in the car, but it’s cold.”
