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“You and I are together, Lainey. I’m sleeping with you and only you. I want only you. That gives you the right to come up to anyone and assert yourself.”
“Connor, I have no claim on you, I’m just here because …” I hesitate, letting my words fall away. Connor lets out a sigh of frustration and stabs his fingers through his hair.
“What? You’re what? Damn it, talk to me, Lainey. I need to know you feel safe with me. Rule number one!”
“It’s just I …” I can’t bring myself to say the words. They feel juvenile, awkward, and unwanted, like soured milk on my tongue. Miss Insecurity seals my mouth shut until I hear Connor say…
“Tell me.” His blue eyes glower into me. The eyes of my lion. He’s the King of Beasts and I am nothing more than a subject under his command.
“I don’t know what I am to you, Connor. If you say I’m just your lover, you should know that’s not how I feel about you, about us. I want to be more to you, Connor. You’ve come to mean so much to me.” I finally manage to say. The words come in a wild tumble piling over one another and crowding in a cluster of syllables.
“I guess … I want to be your girlfriend,” I blurt out.
“My girlfriend?” Connor says, all amusement gone from the grin he gives me.
I nod my head. “Is that dumb?”
“Yes. Maybe. No,” he stammers. “I’ll admit though, I haven’t had a girlfriend in a very long time, Lainey Bird. I’m kinda rusty with all this. I mean, the last girl who I called my girlfriend got my class ring. So, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do to let you know that you’re mine and I’m yours.”
“I’m yours?” I repeat, liking the sound of the words and hoping he’ll say them to me again.
“Yes, you’re mine, and I’m yours.”
We sit and he holds me for an impossibly long minute, until our souls have the time they need to reconnect and put all of the anxiety behind us. Finally, Connor leans forward and kisses me long and deep.
“I have an idea. Go take a shower. Get all that sunscreen off your skin. Wear something loose.”
“Connor,” I start, but he just leans forward and kisses me again more delicately this time. I rise to my feet and then turn back to give him a quizzical stare.
“Trust me,” he says with a quick slap to my bikini-clad bottom. “Go.”
I take the fastest shower of my life and come out to slip on my favorite pair of yoga pants and a lightweight tank.
“All right, let’s go. There’s a car waiting downstairs,” he says grabbing his wallet and phone.
“A car?”
“Yep.”
“Where are we going?” I can hear the nervousness in my voice and the playfulness in his when he replies to my question.
“You need ink.” He says simply.
“You want me to get a tattoo?” My eyebrows shoot to my hairline and all hell erupts inside me. Inner Sex Goddess thumbs through tattoo design books, Miss Insecurity paces and Miss Adventure gives herself a pep talk.
“Yep. This whole thing we have between us, Lainey Bird, it’s new and special. And I want to commemorate it with something special.”
My entire body convulses in a shiver that pricks gooseflesh over every inch of my being.
“Is this some sort of a test? Connor, no. I can’t. Tattoos are permanent. I can’t …”
“I know they are, Lainey. I have some. Are you worried I’m going to ask you do a whole leg or a sleeve or something?” I nod as he continues to talk, although I have no idea what to think. “Don’t worry. We’ll put it someplace discreet. And it will be small. Something the artist can finish in one sitting.”
I swallow. Anxiety and fear battle for seniority as I think of every hidden part of my body and then quickly toss away ideas. “My lower back, maybe? A tiny butterfly or something?” I suggest, hoping I can make this as painless as possible.
“A tramp stamp? No way. And no butterflies.You’re getting something classy and cool. You’re my girlfriend, after all.” He gives me a little wink, and my stomach does a flip-flop while Miss Adventure tosses back something for courage.
“What did you have in mind?” I wait for an answer as our driver snakes us through town to River City Ink.
“You’ll see.”
