Page 23 of Ice Around the Edges

“It’s not funny.”

It was hysterical, was what it was. I rolled over to face him, my head still on his arm.

“I want you to come home with me.”

“For Christmas, yes, I know.”

“No, not just for Christmas.”

“For New Year’s too?”

He growled at me.

“To keep? You wanna keep me?”

“God, yes,” he groaned, “please lemme keep you.”

The crooked smile, the way the laugh lines in the corners of his eyes crinkled, his hand smoothing down my spine to the small of my back, all of it was making me dizzy.

“Please,” he begged.

“We’re different now.”

“Just––just come and see and make up your mind later, alright?”

“You’re just tired of dating, and I’d be convenient to come home to.”

“There’s nothing convenient about you. I think pain in the ass describes you much better.”

I stared up at him as he smiled down into my eyes.

“You drive me fuckin’ nuts. You always have. Ever since you were eighteen, you’ve been making me crazy.”

I sighed, touching his face, marveling at the fact that with age the man had just gotten better looking.

“When you’re around, I remember who I am.”

The darkest, clearest eyes I had ever seen were looking at me like I was an angel straight from heaven. I could barely breathe.

“So, can I take you home with me to meet my family ten years later?”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and rolled gingerly over on top of him, easing him down under me, putting him flat on his back. I kissed him and bit him and sucked on his tongue. When I rose over him, straddling his thighs, I realized that he was ready for round two.

“Hey,” he said as he shifted under me.

I smiled down at him. “What?”

“I slept with a lot of guys, all right?”

“Okay.”

“Like way more than twenty.”

I nodded. “Am I supposed to be impressed?”

“No, I just want you to know.”

“Now I know.”