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“You’re asking me out?” she asked, once she’d finished reading my message.
“Technically, I’m asking you in.”
“To your family’s cabin. For Valentine’s Day. Like a legit date. Romance.”
If she hadn’t been watching me so closely, I would’ve tugged at my suddenly constricting collar. “A reasonable facsimile of it, maybe.”
“Maybe.” A smile twitched on her lips. I’d kissed off half her lipstick. On cue, her hand came up to rub at my mouth. “I need to get higher-end makeup if we’re going to keep this a secret.”
I grasped her wrist, holding her in place. “Or we could say fuck them all.”
Her eyes flashed, and she started to speak before the thunder of recognizable footsteps coming up the hall made us both whirl toward the box of stuff on the floor. We were both pretending to toss stuff in it when Seth came around the bend at the opposite end.
“There you are. Ally is ready to go. She’s having contractions, but not super close ones. Think she needs to just get some rest.”
“Due to your many years of experience as a pregnant woman?” I rose and shifted toward him, my relaxed expression firmly notched in place. “Go on. I’ll take care of the bill.”
“You sure? What happened here? Are you okay, Sage?”
“Fine.” She was still crouched, gritting her teeth in an awkward smile. “Just stumbled with a box. Luckily, Oliver was here to help.”
“Oh yeah? Why were you back here anyway?”
“Looking for you and Ally. Thought maybe she needed to walk a bit. Sorry, I don’t go into women’s bathrooms even for you two.”
Seth chuckled. “All part of the deal, man. I’ll catch you later.”
“Sure thing. Give my best to Ally.”
“Tell her to call me.” Sage rose and dusted off her hands. All at once, she must’ve realized she’d dropped the swan in her haste because her gaze flew to mine, panicked. She glanced around the floor, at the box, near my feet.
No swan.
It must be in the box. Besides, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t whip her up another. I was a packrat, so I was sure I had more receipts in my wallet. If she wanted more oddly shaped swans, I was her guy.
I wanted to be her guy in a lot of ways. But I also wanted her to want that too. As much as I did.
Not just at night. Not just in dark hallways. Out in the light, where there would be questions and assumptions and we would just have to deal with them.
We. Not only me. Not me pushing for something I could feel she was hesitant on at best.
Seth was already backing up. “Will do.”
I caught her hand in mine the second he disappeared. “I can make you another if—”
“You know it’s easier,” she said quietly, and I knew she didn’t mean finding the swan.
“You know what’s easiest of all?” I backed her against the wall and framed her face with my hands. Her chin quivered and I lowered my mouth to hers, absorbing her exhale as if it was my own. “This.”
I used every bit of my skill to coax her lips to open to mine, teasing her with little flicks of my tongue. Showing her all that we could be without words.
When we finally pulled apart, she was breathless. So was I.
“Say yes,” I said softly.
“Yes.” She cupped my jaw, her thumb rubbing over my damp lower lip. “I would love to spend Valentine’s Day with you, Oliver.”
11
