Page 83 of I Wish He Would

“Who are you going to call? The dictionary police?”

I hold my hand up to my ear as a fake phone. “Hello, dictionary police? I’d like to report this man for—”

“Being too sexy?” Austin cuts in, squeezing my sides.

I lean my head back and laugh, feeling lighter and happier than I’ve ever been. I’ve always been a perfectionist. And my fear of failure held me back a lot of my life, made me scared to go after what I really want. Including taking a chance on telling my friend how I really felt about him.

While a part of me wishes I had said something sooner, I’m glad things happened the way they did. That I had the chance to get to know the real Austin as a friend first and slowly fall for him.

All these years, I kept taking chances on dating, but now it’s time to take a chance on myself. To trust my intuition and feelings. To allow myself to be loved, imperfections and all, by the best man I’ve ever known.

“When did you know?” I ask.

“That I liked you as more than a friend?” I nod, and he dips his head. “I don’t want it to sound bad.”

My forehead crinkles. “Why would it be bad?”

“Because the guys are the ones who helped me realize it.”

“Okay, I need to hear this story.” Just thinking about his teammates talking about dating makes me giggle.

“Long story short, they helped me see why I was so worked up over you talking to Rhett. I thought I didn’t want to lose the time I got to spend with you after every failed first date.”

I run my hands along his strong shoulders. “But the real reason?”

“I was never going to like anyone you dated because they weren’t me.”

Leaning forward, I press a kiss to his cheek, reveling in the fact that I get to kiss him anytime I want now. “I compared every guy I dated to you without even meaning to. The girls even made me test out this article when they set me up with Rhett.”

“What article?”

“‘20 Questions to Fall in Love.’”

“You were trying to fall in love with him?” Austin croaks.

“I was trying to fall for someone else to help me forget about my feelings for you,” I admit. “But it didn’t work. I wove some of the questions into my conversations with Rhett, and his answers were great. He was great.” I cup his cheek, and Austin nuzzles into my touch. “But he wasn’t you.”

“I like the sound of that.” He leans in and brushes a featherlight kiss against the soft spot beneath my ear. “What were some of the questions?”

“Things like the last concert you went to. What you consider to be your greatest accomplishment. Your top three TV shows of all time. How you de-stress.” I shrug. “I already knew your answers to most of them just from our natural conversations.”

“We’ve never had to force our connection.” He smiles. “That was another thing I told the guys. Everything is just easy with you. I don’t have to worry about anything when I have you by my side. Someone I trust implicitly.”

Hearing him put such simple but meaningful words to our relationship makes me feel just as warm as the sun’s rays beaming down on my face.

“Plus, I’ve thought you were absolutely gorgeous from the moment I saw you with powdered sugar coating your lips.”

I gasp. “Is that why you called me Sugar Lips in front of Bradley and Bianca?” He nods, and I groan. “I can’t believe that was your first impression of me. I always try to be perfect—”

“It was perfect”—his thumbs rub my sides—“because it was you.”

And I believe him. That he likes the real me, imperfections and all.

He moves his arms around to my back, pulling me closer. “Tell me more of these questions.”

But what I hear is: What questions do I need to answer to get you to fall in love with me?

And the answer is embarrassingly few. Because I’ve been falling hard for this man all along, and now that I know he has feelings for me too, there’s nothing stopping me from falling in love with him.