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Now is not the time for him to be chivalrous. I’m already having a hard enough time holding onto my control.
“Nothing. I’m not upset, I promise. And you don’t have to carry those, I can get them.”
This feels awkward, and I hate it. Normally, I’d let him carry my bags, no questions asked. But now, it feels different—like we’re a couple, only the other half of the couple doesn’t want to have dinner with me, which is totally fine except that I’m going home alone with all of these crazy mixed emotions.
Emotions I’m not sure what to do with.
“I know you can,” he says, turning away when I reach for them. “And I know I don’t have to. I want to.”
Aiden
“You’re an idiot,” Calvin says.
I shift my cell from one ear to the other. “Why?”
“What do you mean, why? The woman you’re in love with asked you to come over so she could make you dinner. And not just any dinner, your favorite. And you said ‘no.’”
“I was doing the right thing.”
It’s been two days since I parted ways with Lizzie at the grocery store, and for two days, I’ve been stalking her blog, waiting for an indication of when I can make my next move. I’m wearing her down, little by little. I saw it in her eyes while we were shopping. Turning down her dinner invitation was the hardest thing I’ve ever done—aside from keeping my hands off her delectable body—but it was the right thing.
“How do you figure?”
“Because she’s not ready for what I want, and If I would’ve gone over there, I would’ve pushed it. The last thing I want to do right now is scare her away. I want her to come to me on her own terms, when she’s ready.”
And I’ll be there as often as I can, showing her—reminding her—of how I’ve changed and how good we could be together.
“What if she’s never ready? Worse yet, what if her inviting you to dinner was her way of coming to you?”
Shit. I didn’t think of that.
All I was thinking of at the time was how badly I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss the hell out of her. It was bad enough sporting a raging hard-on at the grocery store—I wasn’t sure I would make it through an entire dinner.
I’m about to reply when my phone pings with an incoming email.
“Hold on a second.” I put Calvin on speaker and pull up my inbox. I sent Ryan a first draft of the video game yesterday, and I’ve been waiting to hear back from him. Except the message isn’t from Ryan, it’s a notification for a new post from Lizzie’s blog.
Score!
My eyes skim the page. “I need to borrow Millie’s dog.”
“Why does everyone call Louie Millie’s dog? He’s mine, too.”
“Fine, I need to borrow your dog.”
“You’re not going to use my dog to stalk Lizzie.”
“I’m not stalking her. You have to go into work early today, which means that Louie won’t get his morning walk. I’m graciously offering to walk him for you in hopes that I’ll run into her.”
“I don’t have to go into work early.”
“Lizzie doesn’t know that.”
“I’m all for you and Lizzie getting together, but I don’t think you have to lie to make it happen.”
“I can’t show up to the dog park alone, it’ll look suspicious.”
“It’ll look suspicious if you take Louie because you never take him. And if Lizzie ever finds out about this, she’ll be pissed.”
