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“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“You do know that boy is in love with you,” Rome said.
“Rome!”
“No, these two kids are dancing around each other, and I don’t like it. One of us needs to take a stand, and well, Rusty has his reasons. I know my daughter is a lot stronger than she thinks she is, and she needs to know that he’s in love with her, and will do whatever it takes to make her happy. That kind of man is hard to come by. Believe me, I know. I’m one of them, and I’ve hung out with a whole load of men and they always fall short. Everyone falls short, but I’m not going to let that happen to you. Rusty is an amazing guy. I can see the happiness he creates with you just by being with you. Not many people can say that. You’re a shining light to him. Don’t blow it out because you’re afraid. Have that backbone I thought I instilled in you at a young age.”
“Your father doesn’t know any tact,” Abby said.
“It’s fine,” she said. In a weird way, having her father confirm Rusty’s feelings didn’t exactly terrify her.
She knew Rusty felt a great deal for her. She just didn’t realize how strong it was, but now that she knew, it kind of made everything feel a little better.
****
“I expected you and Casey to be walking down the aisle already,” Buster said.
Rusty took a sip of his beer and glared over at his best friend. He didn’t know why he even agreed to go out with him tonight. He checked the time across the bar, and sure enough, he had another half an hour to wait until his woman arrived.
There was no way he wasn’t going to spend a Friday night with Casey. Buster was his friend, but he also had the love of his life who was up there in the more important category of his life. He loved her so fucking much. Even the little skittish part of her.
He had to tread carefully or he could risk losing her forever.
He took another sip of his beer. He wasn’t going to drink enough to get drunk, but enough to make himself not worry about Casey running away at the drop of a hat.
“Could we not talk about Casey right now?” he asked.
“Trouble in paradise?”
“No. It’s just I don’t want to talk about her.”
“When someone doesn’t want to talk about someone, it’s because there is gossip.”
“I’m not telling you about my love life.” Or how his love life was at the slowest rate in the history of all men. This was what confused Rusty. All of the movies said how women wanted love, commitment, compassion, sensitivity, amazing sex. He had checked all of them off for Casey.
He was sensitive and watched the movies that were a risk of making him cry, check, and done.
He made her pancakes in the morning or waffles, with coffee, check. Easy to do because he happened to really enjoy breakfast. He also stopped eating bacon and sausage even though she said she didn’t mind. He’d done all of that for her.
Commitment, he had made sure there was space in his closet, in his everything just for her. Yes, he’d gone and done that, and what did he get in return? Oh, a panicked woman that was trying to run away. He wasn’t judging because he got it.
The amazing sex, he knew he could tick that off. Whenever he got his hands on Casey, and they were alone, he made sure to have her coming apart, screaming his name, begging for more. He loved to hear the sounds of her screams and pleads for more.
Then of course, love. He hadn’t come out and told her, but it wasn’t like it was hard for her to see it.
He loved her. Craved her. Desired her. He wanted everything with her, and he proved it time and time again. Like now, rather than tell her to stay at home as he was spending time with the guys, he had asked her to come and save him.
“What am I missing?” he asked, turning to look at Buster.
“For what?”
“I’m willing to give her everything, and if I tell her, she looks ready to bolt. Do I scare easily? Am I a bad person?” he asked.
“You’re not a bad person, Rusty. You’re a guy who is in love, and if you ask me, you’re just as afraid of her.”
Rusty burst out laughing. “Please, I am not afraid of anything.” He snorted and took another sip of his beer. “You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Then why haven’t you told her you want to marry her? Have lots of sex and create this gigantic family together where you both live happily ever after for the rest of your lives. That you put her parents to shame with how much you love her.”
