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“Thank you?” As far as compliments go, I was hardly impressed.
“Fucking crazy, Amelia.” Those deep blue eyes zeroed in building a pressure inside me and it felt like a cork of champagne popped the way he held me captivated silencing everything around me.
I poked him in the stomach and he made a forced sound. “You. Make. Me. Dizzy.” Overwhelmed was an understatement.
“You were right, though,” he muttered, pulling me closer until the air in my chest compressed and I had to push him back to ease up so I could catch my breath.
“About what?”
“If I told you, I’d probably scare you.” He was scaring me now not telling me. “Why did you brush me off that morning when I brought you back to your friends’ campsite?”
“I guess I was trying to not be one of those desperate clingy girls after sleeping with you within hours of meeting you. I didn’t want to be that girl.” I couldn’t stop the wince in my voice. I was that girl. Sooo that girl. Seeing Whit in front of me like this, I refused to admit it.
“I don’t see you that way. I see a girl who had a rough time with a shitty guy who needs his eyes examined and a football shoved up his ass.”
“Oh…okay awkward…charming maybe and…uh, a little sweet?”
“It’s the least that shit-dick deserves. Did you see him after?”
“As in hooking up? No. That ship sailed with him riding the Dinah train.”
Shaking his head he squeezed me close against his chest. “He’s an idiot. God, I’m glad he’s an idiot.”
“I’ll pass that on to Ryder.” I tried shrugging him off me, but he didn’t let go chuckling into my neck.
“I mean it. I want to get to know you better because I really like what I’ve seen so far and I don’t mean you naked, though that’s nice too.”
“Again…kind of awkward.” His compliments felt easy, not contrived, and I wanted to believe him, but I was unsure if I could. I broke free and walked to the opposite side of my small apartment, clutching my arms around my middle.
“Lia, if you give me a chance, give us a chance, I want to see where this will go.” Time froze and the crossroad was before me where I could do what I’d always done, play it safe but unhappy. “I don’t think I’ve ever hunted out a girl’s address before and I’m grateful those friends of yours made it easy giving my supervisor Jeff your driver’s license to file with his report.”
“Really?” Turning, I saw his confidence waver. Whit had to hunt me out; nobody had ever done that for me before. Damn if he didn’t make my decision that much easier to see where this might go.
“Yeah, Amelia Rae Faust. I held onto to that report for weeks hoping you’d contact me first, come back to the Ranger Station with those chocolate chip cookies you promised me.” My name lingered on his lips, lips I wanted to kiss and nibble at like a treat.
“It’s always about the food with you guys.” Hands on my hips I shake my head smiling.
“I’m waiting.” Whit opens his arms, but I want him to take me and to mean it.
“Well, don’t just stand there, Mr. Green-Forest-Power-Ranger, sweep me off my feet already.” He rolled his eyes and power walked over to me.
Whit leaned down, whispering, “As you wish,” and picked me up, carrying me toward the bedroom.
“Floors not your thing anymore?” I tried dismissing my nervousness, but Whit was too perceptive.
“Not today, Lia.”
“Hmm, too bad cause there’s a yoga mat under the couch we could use,” I tapped his chest playfully.
“Proactive but no thanks.” He stopped inside the doorway to my bedroom and I realize then what he must have seen. His red sweatshirt folded neatly on my bed next to my pillow. Ugh, I’m such a dork.
“Nice shirt.” Gently, he placed me on the bed, stripping the comforter out from underneath me, and crawled on top, trapping me beneath him.
“All right, well, hopefully the mattress isn’t too soft for your liking.” I was rattling off nonsense as we ignored the awkwardness of the shirt for now. He smiled shaking his head, his lips hovering so close I could breathe him in, the outdoors permeating every cell of my body with giddy happiness.
“You’re soft and I like you and that’s all I can handle right now.” Whit leaned over to kiss me and I was undecided if he was kissing the stupid out of me or into me because my heart fluttered and our lips connected, moving like the words we didn’t or couldn’t say. Each touch conveyed another wordless thought, fingers tangled in hair and hands gripped hips, holding him closer to the place that craved him. I relaxed into him, thinking that maybe this time I was the girl who got the guy.
Yeah, I’d like that a lot.
