Page 60 of Can’t Say No

He cocks his head my way, a teasing smile playing on his lips. “Now, Miss James, that is a tempting offer. But you know I only like Lucky Charms, and seeing as how you loathe them, I doubt you’ve got those on hand.”

Wordlessly, I hop down off the counter and cross the kitchen to open a cabinet. He tracks me as I walk back to him and place the box of his favorite cereal in front of him.

“I always have them,” I say simply. “It’s on my rider, too.”

Connor pops his mouth open, and I see him working my words over in his head. “What… what do you mean you always have them?”

“Lucky Charms. At every show. I always have a box in my dressing room. Keep them in my apartment, too. Just in case.”

“Delaney.” His voice is raw, knuckles turning white as he grips the counter behind him.

“I know, it’s so silly,” I stammer out. Connor’s eyes go wide, and I scramble to explain it away. “But I don’t know…” I shrug, “I just thought you’d probably want some if you ever came to see me.”

His eyes burn into mine, the moonlight bringing out the deep gold in them. “Every show?”

I can’t look away. “Every show,” I say, voice barely above a whisper.

In an instant, his thick arms wrap around me, hauling me into his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Connor mumbles into my hair, “I’m just so sorry for all the years of silence. Things here got so… hard after you left, and then it felt like it’d been too long, and I was finally okay again and…” His words fall out quickly. “God, I just… I can’t believe you did that for me.”

I wiggle out of his grasp enough to look up at him. He meets my gaze with so much emotion it makes my knees weak. I’ve seen Connor cry only once. We were seven and both got Razor scooters for Christmas. We were doing tricks in my driveway, and he took a bad hit—scooter-to-ankle situation. He broke down crying, then I started wailing too because he looked so sad. The threat of tears now has my fear of intimacy flaring.

“Connor Majors, are you crying over Lucky Charms?” I tease, needing to lighten the mood.

He gives my arms a gentle squeeze. “No, Lanie, no. I’m crying because you didn’t give up on me when you really should have.”

Connor runs his fingers up and down my arms and leans in again. “Thank you.” His voice is thick with emotion, throat bobbing like there’s a cascade of words he still needs to say but can’t quite bring himself to get out.

I understand the feeling well.

“You’re welcome,” I manage to squeak out.

I’m acutely aware of how close we are to each other, and that sensation of danger surfaces again. Warning bells in my head go off, but my heart silences them. Connor drags his teeth over his lip, all while his hands wander their way up gently cup my face, and I nearly combust on the spot.

“We should… we need to…” I start, searching for what it is we ought to do.

Connor doesn’t break his gaze. He just stands there, hands pushing back to tangle in my hair, and waits for me to close the space between us. On a shaky exhale, I do.

I crash into his lips with a hunger that makes my movements clumsy and awkward, but he meets me with gentleness. His kiss is honest, touching me in a way I’ve never known before. There’s nothing performative about the way his thumb strokes my jaw, or in the greedy way his tongue pushed my lips apart, or in the moan that escapes us both when my hands find his hips and our bodies press closer.

This is the most honest we’ve ever been with each other.

“We should probably talk,” I breathe against his lips. “About… this.” I gesture at the nonexistent space between us, my chest rising and falling in time with my racing heart.

Connor surprises me by nipping at my bottom lip and tugging my hair to angle my face towards his. “I like you, you like me,” he says, dropping kisses down the side of my neck. “The whole world already thinks we’re dating. It’s time for us to start thinking it, too.”

“You make it sound so simple,” I murmur, my hands finding the back of his neck as he continues his path of kisses across my collarbone. I’m dizzy under his touch, and my brain can’t sort out why I thought things between us were complicated in the first place.

“It is simple.” Connor stops and stands to his full height again. “It can be simple, if we decide to keep it that way.”

Earnest brown eyes look down at me, so sure, so hopeful.

And fuck, the feel of his hands playing with the hem of my shirt combined with that look in his eyes… I’m a few seconds away from creating a whole future for us in my head.

But my phone on the counter interrupts my imagination. Connor tosses it to me, all the hope draining from his face.

“Looks like it's your dad.”