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“I’m fine. You can change now.” He stood there and gave me a grin.
“No, I don’t trust you!” I shoved him. “Out.”
I was very tempted to say to hell with my rules and let him take me against the wall.
Given the smirk on his face he knew it.
I pushed him again. He groaned but he left.
I locked the closet door behind him. Just in case.
Twelve
Even though I was freezing my ass off in a T-shirt when it was twenty-five degrees to make it look like we were posing in September, I wasn’t angry about it. Felicia’s determination and tunnel vision were a force to reckon with and I wasn’t going to slow her down. If she was willing to do all this, she had to be willing to marry me, right?
That was my working theory and I was running with it.
Because I wanted Felicia to be my wife and I would do whatever it took to convince her.
“Try not to look like you’re shivering,” she said as we posed with street hot dogs.
I was pretty sure our breath was going to be captured as a vapor cloud when we took the picture but I just smiled and went along with it. Everyone around us was bundled up in coats, there were Christmas lights everywhere, and it was dark outside. I wasn’t sure how any of this was going to look like September, but maybe she intended to crop it in really close.
“I’m not eating this hot dog,” I told her. “You’ve already had us posing with ice cream, coffee, and sushi. I had one too many California rolls.”
“I’m not eating it either.” After she took about six photos, she turned and handed the hot dog to a man who was sitting in a doorway, cardboard laid out over top of him, clearly down on his luck.
For a second he looked at her suspiciously, like she might be trying to poison him, but she smiled and said, “Happy Christmas.”
“Thanks, you too.” He took a bite and his face lit up. “That’s a good dog.”
“Here.” I gave her my hot dog. “Give this to someone else. You’re less intimidating than if I approach someone.” I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable and having a guy lean down into your space could be perceived as threatening. Besides, Felicia had a warm smile that people responded to. She was compassionate and that was something I appreciated.
She smiled at a woman who appeared to be pacing back and forth for warmth. This lady gave her a hug after Felicia handed her the hot dog, and Felicia returned the embrace without hesitation. It made my heart feel like a fist was wrapped around it.
Felicia was a complicated and layered woman and I was eager to see all her sides. There was a lot she hadn’t yet told me about herself. She didn’t talk about her past relationships and I wondered why. Hell, maybe it was as simple as just because I’d never really asked her.
But right now, I was just going to enjoy her quirky juxtaposition of fake photographer paired with compassionate human.
“I just had an idea!” she said as she came back over to me. “We need a picture of you carrying me on your back.”
“What? Why?”
The woman she’d given the hot dog to had followed her.
“This is Linda,” Felicia said. “She’s going to take the picture for us.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Linda.”
The woman nodded and chewed.
I didn’t really want to pose for a picture with Felicia on my back because that seemed a little over the top. But I also wanted to eventually have sex with her again, so I was willing to toe the line.
“Can I put my sweatshirt back on at least? Parts of my body are freezing that I don’t want frozen.”
Linda cackled. Felicia did not. At least Linda got my sense of hu
mor. Felicia was choosing to ignore my innuendo.
