Oh my God.
That’s exactly what we are. We’re a sappy couple. We’re the kind of people I would see holding hands in a supermarket and wish that was me. We’re basically Wren and Miles, unable to keep our hands off each other. We’re everything I have wanted, but also everything I fear.
I want to be happy. I want to be that girl who blushes when her boyfriend texts. I want to be that girl who giggles over ridiculously stupid things for no reason. I want to feel everything he gives me right down to my core, no matter how much it hurts or feels different.
“Sorry to barge in.” I open my eyes to see Kennedy and Wren stood at the side of us. Wren’s eyes are wide, flicking between the two of us. I push off his chest, tilting my head to the side. “Wren’s a little confused, as you can tell. She needsthis…” She gestures between Evan and I. “...Clearing up ASAP.”
* * *
“Scarley, girl, I’ve never seen you smile so much,” Wren says when we get to the bar. I’ve tried explaining how everything happened, but it’s so hard to do. It ends up with me shoving my face into my hands, my face burning red just thinking about it. Wren’s face is bright with child-like joy, her eyes shimmering.
“Something’s happening to me,” I groan, wiping my hair out of my face.
“You could say that again,” Kennedy mutters from beside me. I turn to glare at her, but she just laughs, looking back out at where Miles and Evan stand in a corner, chatting. “I’m loving this for you, Scar. I told you this from the start and now look.”
I bark out a laugh. “But then, it sounded so ridiculous. Now it’s so…”
“Real?” Wren says and I nod. “Yeah, I get that. You’ll get used to it. I’ve never seen you so smitten.”
“I know,” I say, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. “I hate it.”
“No, you don’t,” Kennedy says, blowing a raspberry. “You’re in yourLoverera.”
“Your time will come too, Kenny,” Wren says.
“Oh, I know,” she replies. “You deserve this, Scarlett. After everything that has happened in the last few months, this is good for you. Enjoy it.”
I’ll try. As much as I love to tease Evan and make him work for every angry kiss he gets from me, I also want what I see in the movies, in books and shows. I want to get dizzy by kissing him just because I can. I want to dance with him on a dance floor or in the rain. I want to smile when I see his name light up on my phone. I want to have everything I’ve dreamed of but been too scared to grasp.
I want it all.
46
Scarlett
I take off my earrings in the mirror, wearing nothing but a thin nightdress and black laced lingerie that I packed just for this trip. Everything about today has felt like a dream. One I’m not ready to wake up from. Even better than a dream? Evan Branson leaning against the doorway, his arms across his chest in nothing but grey sweatpants. His eyes roam all over my body in the mirror, instantly making my whole body flush with heat. I blush too easily when he’s around.
He’s spent the whole night just doing that – looking at me and making my face burn.
“God, Branson,” I groan, shaking my head at him in the mirror. “You’re so obsessed with me. You need to stop looking at me like that.”
“Can’t,” he whispers, slowly walking towards me as a grin crawls up his face. When he gets to me, he cages me in with his hands on either side of the vanity, kissing me on my shoulder lightly.
“I bet you wanted me the day you walked me home in the rain. When you came rushing after me like I was a damsel in distress,” I say, laughing. I giggle as his kiss tickles me on my shoulder, as he keeps his eyes locked with mine.
“No,” he whispers. “Before that.”
“When I accused you of stealing the whiteboard?” I ask, my eyebrows pinched together. He shakes his head lightly.
“Before that.”
“What?” I gawk.
“When you shoved bacon in my face at Christmas in your apartment,” he admits. If I thought my body was on fire before, I was wrong. This is exactly what it feels like to burst into flames.
“That was over a year ago, Branson. You’re lying to my face right now.”
“I’m not. In fact, it was probably way before that, but I don’t want to scare you off when I’ve only just got you,” he says, twisting me around to face him. Before I can process it, his strong hands have lifted me onto the bathroom counter, his fingers under the skirt of my dress as he rips off my panties in one motion. I gasp.
