Oh.
Oh shit.
“JuJu.” I step closer, frame her face with both hands. “I haven’t been pretending.” I swallow hard. “Not since—maybe not since we got on the plane. I don’t know. Maybe longer.”
“Rodriguez—”
“I’m serious. I’ve wanted this, wanted you, since September. You think I’d fly across the country and fake-date you through your sister’s wedding if I wasn’t—” I stop. “If this didn’t mean something?”
She’s staring at me, processing what I’ve just admitted to her.
“So yeah. It’s real for me.” I brush my thumb across her cheek. “Is it real for you?”
She opens her mouth then closes it. Her eyes are searching mine like she’s looking for the answer there.
“It could be,” she finally says. “I think—I think it could be.”
Could be.
Not is. Could be.
That hesitation, that tiny gap between what I feel and what she’s ready to feel—that’s everything.
I let my hands drop and step back.
“Then I’m going to wait,” I say.
“Wait for what?”
“For you to catch up.” I pull off my shirt and toss it aside. “I want this, JuJu. I want you. But I want you to be sure. Not ‘could be’ sure. Actually sure.”
“Rodriguez—”
“When you’re ready, when you know it’s real for you too, I’ll be here.” I sink to the edge of the bed, looking up at her. “But I’m not doing this until you’re all in. You deserve better and I’m not settling for anything less than you being absolutely certain about this.”
She’s standing there, still against the door, looking at me like I’m speaking another language.
“You’re serious.”
“Completely.”
“You’re going to, what, just wait? While we share a bed for five more nights?”
“Yep.”
“That’s—” She stops. Looks at the floor. “What was I saying?”
“That I’m insane.”
“Right. That’s—that’s actually kind of insane.”
“Probably. But you’re worth waiting for.” I lie back on the bed, hands behind my head, trying to look more relaxed than I feel. “Now come here. I’m exhausted and you’re still in that dress.”
“I need to change.”
“So change.”
She comes out of the bathroom ten minutes later in sleep shorts and a t-shirt, makeup off, hair down. She looks younger like this. Softer. More like herself.
