Page 51 of Love Lessons: Expanded Edition

Talking about her plants, though, was entirely different from when she was talking about her work. Before she had been fiery and dedicated. Now she was happy and bouncy, sometimes literally hopping around in her chair.

He just couldn’t get enough of watching her in all of her moods.

She didn’t just tell him about each species of succulent and where she’d gotten it. They each had names. Not like scientific names, although she knew those too, but sign language names, like people.

And personalities.

The spiky one was mean and cold. The one that sometimes grew a red flower was difficult. The one with the yellow flowers always wanted attention. The rounded one that looked like Shrek’s ears was cuddly.

It was convenient that their names and personalities mostly matched what he would have assigned to them based on their characteristics, because he was pretty sure this was something he needed to get right.

God, she was fucking cute.

And such a change from how she’d been last month. He’d suggested cuddling on the couch just to demonstrate that he wanted to spend time with her without having sex, but something about it must have broken through with her. Now it felt like they were sliding into something else.

He felt like he could watch her like this all day. She gave another little bounce in her chair. She’d clearly forgotten again that she was wearing that seductive outfit, and watching her be so innocent and sexy at the same time was addicting.

When the monologue wound down, and he was pretty sure that he could remember most of the plants’ names, he put in a suggestion. Because as much as he wanted to keep her to himself, she also needed some friends. Naming her plants was adorable, and he hoped she wouldn’t stop, but he suspected that she was also lonelier than she wanted to admit.

I was just thinking, would you like to join me and my friend, Zhong, for a game night?

She looked hesitant. Maybe. If I'm not busy. She looked like she was being agreeable, but there was something wrong. He hadn’t even given a date and time, so it wasn’t like she could actually be busy.

He knew he’d done something wrong, but what was scaring her? Should he back off?

Do you like board games?

That elicited a small smile. I haven’t played any in a while. But yeah. No, that small smile was hiding a larger smile that she didn’t want him to see. Was she embarrassed about enjoying board games? Some of the more serious gamers were when they were around people who didn’t understand. He thought it was cute.

Hey, it’s just a game night. Zhong is my closest friend. And I’m really enjoying spending time with you, so it would mean a lot to me if you would meet him. We’ll just be hanging out, and maybe we can invite a few more people we want to get to know. Like Ash from the munch. It doesn’t have to mean anything more or less than you want it to.

That seemed to worry her even more.

He took a gamble. This seemed like the right place to push her, just a little. He put his hand over hers. Anyway, you already committed to one evening that’s not about sex. So I’m going to claim this one.

Her shoulders dropped on the last sentence, and he watched her exhale a measured breath. OK, that sounds like fun.

Huh. That had actually worked. He certainly didn’t want to control everything in her life, but requiring this seemed to give her permission to agree. That protective spot inside his chest felt good. And it would feel even better when she had some other close friends.

Do you like short games or long ones? he asked. Zhong would want to know.

How do you define that?

Like the games with all the rules.

She gave him an amused look. There was that open expression again. They all have rules.

No, I mean all the rules. Like Settlers of Catan or something.

Ohhhh. Yeah, do you?She seemed excited now. He’d totally called it.

Nope,he disagreed cheerfully. But Zhong is going to love you. I only play the long ones under duress. He gave her a look filled with meaning. And for people I care about.

She seemed to reflect on that, but she didn’t look upset. One day, he was going to unpack all of these mysteries.

For now, though, it seemed like a good time to change the topic.

He knew that she was expecting some big scene or something, but the mood didn’t feel right for that. He’d been painfully hard for most of the evening, and he was definitely still very interested.