Page 131 of Falling for the Grumpy Bad Boy

She reached over and grabbed my hand. We held hands like teenagers the entire ride to her family home.

When Phil stopped the car, I slid out and walked her to the front door.

“Thank you,” she said. “For tonight, for the apology, for fighting for us when I was too scared to.”

“Thank you for giving me another chance,” I said. “I know I didn’t deserve it.”

“Yes, you did,” she said firmly. “Everyone deserves a second chance when they’re brave enough to ask for it. Well, most people anyway. Do you want to come in? I’m sure my mom would love to properly meet you.”

“I would love that,” I said. “But not tonight.”

She looked confused. “Why not?”

I stepped closer to her, my hand cupping her chin.

“Because I’m going to do this right this time,” I said. “All good things are worth waiting for.”

She gave me the most beautiful, radiant smile I’d ever seen. “Look at you, being all proper and gentlemanly.”

“Don’t get used to it,” I said, leaning down to kiss her. “Because trust me, I’ve got some pretty wicked fantasies running through my head right now.”

I kissed her, keeping myself in check. The kiss was a promise of a new beginning and a vow that we had all the time in the world to figure this out together.

When we broke apart, she was still smiling. “Now, I have wicked thoughts running through my mind too.”

“Good. Hold on to those. Maybe after our date we can compare notes. See who has the most wicked thoughts.”

She laughed. “I think I’m going to lose that one.”

“I know you will.”

I kissed her once more, just because I could, just because she was mine and I was hers and we’d found our way back to each other despite all the obstacles.

“I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow?” I said.

“It’s a date,” she said, then laughed at her own words. “Literally.”

I waited until she was safely inside before getting back in the car. I found myself thinking about the future for the first time in weeks without feeling anxious about it. The stupid grin on my face felt strange but good.

Tomorrow night, I would take Clementine somewhere special. This weekend, maybe I would even visit my father like my mother had suggested. Next week, I would start figuring out how to expand my restaurant’s community outreach programs.

But tonight, I was just a man who’d been lucky enough to fall in love with an extraordinary woman, and smart enough to fight for her.

All good things were worth waiting for. But the best things, the ones that really mattered, were worth fighting for too. I was ready to fight like I had never fought before. If she ran, I was going to chase her.