She blinks, like the idea of that is horrifying. “That’s so sad.”
“I assure you, it’s very normal,” I tell her, shoving my last bite of bacon into my mouth. I gesture to my face as I chew. “See? Not losing any sleep over whether that was the best bite or not.”
She shakes her head, returning to the last few bites of her waffle. “Howterribly sad.”
“You’re nuts.”
“You're depressing,” she says with a long sigh. She stabs her fork into a piece of waffle and rubs it in the syrup. She holds it up then, ensuring that I’m watching as the sauce sinks into the dough and drips onto her plate. “See? How good of a bite is this? There is no way I can end my meal on a bad note if this is the last bite.”
I stare at her, shaking my head. “It doesn’t matter. The food as a whole overrides that last bite.”
“No,” she says sternly, refusing to accept that. With a shake of her head, she leans forward, using her free hand to wave me over. “Come here.”
My brow furrows, but I lean toward her because I tend to do whatever this girl asks me to. She pushes herself up in her chair a bit, hand sliding to my chin.
“Open.”
“What?”
“I’m giving you my last bite, Carter. Open.”
My gaze is locked on her, but I don’t open my mouth. “But it’s yourlastbite.”
“Yes,” she says with a nod. “I’m determined for you to understand how groundbreaking this is. Open.”
I open my mouth, and a little smile pulls on her lips. She gently places the fork in my mouth and I wrap my lips around it, letting that last piece of waffle smack my taste buds as our eyes burn into each other.
She stays there, close. Studying my reaction as I chew, fork hovering in front of my face. It takes everything in me not to reach forward, slide my hands against the back of her thighs and pull her close to me. Kiss those pink, freckled lips I fucking spend way too much time thinking about. She’s half naked. Those legs are bare, desperate for me to sink my fingers into the soft skin of them. Anddamn.Damn.
I’m going to fucking die soon.
She squeezes my chin a bit harder to get me to focus. “So?”
I swallow, clearing my throat.
What was the question, again?
“Game changing,” I say quietly, nodding in her grip. My thoughts are no longer my thoughts, they’re entirely consumed by her.
A satisfied smile takes over her whole face, and unfortunately, she drops her hands from my body. “I told you.”
And even though that bite was nothing special. Even though it would make no difference to me if that was my first bite of my meal or the last, I know with utter certainty that I’m going to spend the rest of my time with her, every single fucking meal spent near her, acting like the last bite is the most critical part of my day.
Because it makes her smile like that.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
arden
“This feelslike it’s getting serious.”
I pop some pretzels into my mouth, kicking my feet up on the coffee table. “It’s not.”
Whitney shoots me a look, digging her fork into her microwave meal. “You’re spending the night now.”
“That’s what happens when you hook up with someone,” I say.
There has been no hooking up. No sex. Nothing even close. This is a deal, a business arrangement, and nothing more. Apart from that one kiss on Declan and Penny’s balcony, which took me by surprise and had my heart working all out of whack, this relationship has been transactional with a side of a pretty decent friendship.
