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“No, but he’s right—this is his room, too. What if he decides to bring back his own Valentine and gross us out with PDA?”
My whole body vibrates with laughter. Just the thought of it has me in near hysterics. “Rob,” I wheeze. “Do you even realize what you just said?”
“Why does everyone keep asking me stuff like this lately?” he mutters. “What did I say that was so funny?”
I roll over to face him, trying to soothe his frazzled ego by stroking his stubbly cheek. “You implied Alex wants to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I think we all know that’s an untrue statement.”
“Oh, no.” Rob shakes his head. “I know exactly what I said. He’ll go find some lonely girl who’s upset about not having anyone special to spend today with, promise her the moon, bring her back here just to annoy us, then cut her loose after some spoiling.” He makes air quotes around the last word.
“Alex doesn’t do spoiling. He does no-strings sex.”
“Yeah, that’s what I always thought, too. Until last week.”
I scrunch my nose in confusion. “What happened last week?”
“He basically confessed he’s a jerk, willing to do anything to get his way.”
That doesn’t sound like the Alex I’ve come to know and love. Sure, he likes his sex plentiful and casual, but he’s not the asshole about it I once assumed he was. “You’re being melodramatic. It’ll be fine. He likes to talk a big talk, but underneath his macho exterior is a good guy. Honestly, he was probably happy for an excuse to get away from us for the rest of the day.”
Rob quirks an eyebrow, his signature skeptical expression.
I continue to glide my hand along his face, tracing over his eyebrows, his nose, his lips. It’s an innocent touch, but something about the tactile sensation of his features against the sensitive pad of my finger sends a spark of heat between my legs. He smiles as if he knows exactly what he’s doing to me without any effort at all. His pupils dilate; the teal of his eyes darkens to a hazy blue. We’re so close his chest brushes against mine as his breathing picks up.
I press my thumb into the deep indentation in his right cheek. I love this dimple. It’s such a boyish trait on an otherwise very masculine face. His blond stubble grates against my palm. Though I’m not sure I ever want to see him with a full beard again, his nearly invisible facial hair has become another of my obsessions. Like some sort of secret only I get to keep. While the hair on his head is a sandy light brown, his scruff is so blond, it takes a week without shaving for the hair to be noticeable.
No one else knows when he doesn’t shave.
No one except me.
He brushes a loose strand of hair off my cheek. “What’s running through that pretty head of yours?”
Laughter bubbles up my throat. Oh, if only he knew. His ego would grow to the size of Texas. I’m not about to make it that easy on him. “You think my head is pretty?”
He nods, mimicking my exploration of his face, his fingers dancing across my sensitive lips. “Your head is very pretty. But your mind? Your mind is fucking beautiful.”
Warmth blooms in my chest at the sincere compliment. Of course, Rob Falls knows the exact route to run to win me over.
“That reminds me.” He pulls away, then climbs off the bed. “I have something for you.”
I roll over to watch as he digs through his desk, my curiosity building. I hope he didn’t spend too much. While the diamond earrings he gave me for Christmas are gorgeous, I’m not comfortable with accepting such expensive gifts. Maybe it’s years of being raised in a frugal, middle-class family, or maybe it’s that I haven’t had enough practice being someone’s girlfriend, but either way, I don’t want our relationship to be based on material signs of affection.
He faces me again, clutching a leather-bound notebook to his chest. Approaching the bed slowly, his expression reminds me of the shy, unsure boy I met freshman year of high school—flaming red cheeks, averted deep blue gaze, tension-bunched shoulders.
He sits beside me on the bed then gently places the notebook on my lap. “I fall for you all over again every day because you constantly give me new reasons to love you. I think you’ll always surprise me. And I don’t ever want to stop learning new things about you or taking for granted the pieces of yourself you show me that no one else gets to see. So, I’m going to write them all in here.”
Tears spill down my cheeks even as laughter rolls off my lips. All this from the guy who doesn’t think he’s romantic?
“Am I allowed to read it?”
He shrugs, a sheepish grin accompanying the tint of his cheeks. “Yeah. That’s kind of the whole point.”
I open the front cover. On the first blank page, only one word is written.
More unusual girlishgiggles spill from my throat. Rob still has the distinct ability to turn me into a blushing, crush-addled school girl. “You decided to take my advice by always starting with hello, huh?”
“I figure I need all the help I can get. So, by all means, keep telling me exactly what to do and what not to do. I’ll add any advice you care to throw my way to the original list you made for me.”
“You don’t need as much help as you think,” I murmur as I flip to the next page. Some of the items flush my body with heat.
