AllFreeNovel
Share Us
——
“Okay, we’ve eaten dinner. Had drinks. And are now standing in front of your apartment building. Don’t tell me you’ve decided to waste a perfectly good dare.” I cross around the front of the car to join Abel on the sidewalk.
“Not a chance.” He takes my hand when I reach him. “I’ve just been saving it.”
“Well the offer expires at midnight, so you better get on with it already.”
“So impatient.” He chuckles, tightening his fingers around mine as he pulls me toward the entrance of his building.
“I mean it, Mr. Collins. Midnight.”
“What happens at midnight? Do you leave me with only a glass slipper?” He stops at the door, glancing down at me for the briefest moment before pulling it open and guiding me inside.
“That depends, you got a pair of glass slippers laying around?” I quip.
“Fresh out, unfortunately.”
“Shame.” I giggle when he knocks his hip into mine.
“Okay.” Abel stops in front of his apartment door. “I’m ready to tell you my dare now.” He fishes his keys out of the front pocket of his dark jeans, his ocean blue eyes locking with mine. “I dare you to stay the night with me.”
“What?” I question, assuming there’s more to it.
“I dare you to stay the night with me,” he repeats, the hesitance on his face endearing.
“That’s what you want to use your dare on?” I gawk at him like he’s lost his damn mind. He could have dared me to do anything and this is what he chooses?
“You never stay.” He shrugs.
“I never knew you wanted me to,” I tell him truthfully, my heart kicking up speed in my chest.
“Neither did I.” He reaches out, his fingers lightly grazing underneath my chin as he guides my face upward.
“But you do now?” My breath hitches as he slowly leans forward.
“I do.” His lips brush gently against mine. “Stay with me,” he repeats his request, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth.
I swear my body just about takes flight from the swarm of butterflies flapping wildly inside my stomach.
“Okay,” I agree without a second of hesitation.
Why would I hesitate? The man I’m falling for hard and fast asked me to stay the night with him. I know it may not seem like much to some, but to me it says the world. Because it means that whatever this is between us is evolving. It’s growing into something that’s beyond just hooking up. I see it when he looks at me, feel it when he touches me, hear it when he speaks to me. This is more for him, just like it’s more for me.
It isn’t until Abel pulls back and his hand slides along my cheek that I realize something...
My gaze follows his hand as he lowers it, my heart drumming so hard in my ears I can’t hear myself think.
He’s not wearing his ring.
I blink, looking to his other hand, thinking maybe I’m turned around.
Nope, no ring.
My stomach twists and my mind spins in every direction.
He’s not wearing his ring.
I had gotten so used to seeing it that I stopped paying attention to it, which is probably why we went the entire evening and I didn’t notice.
But I’ve grown accustomed to the cold bite of the metal when he touches me. Which is why as soon as his hand slid across my face I knew.
He’s not wearing his ring.
I try not to get too carried away. Maybe him taking it off has nothing to do with me.Or maybe it has everything to do with you,a little voice in my head interjects.
I want to silence that voice, push her down to the deepest pits and never hear her again. But it’s already too late. The thought is already there. The hope. It’s gone from a simmer to a complete boil and now I’m afraid there’s no stopping it from bubbling over.
Abel turns, having no clue about my sudden internalization over the fact that he’s not wearing his wedding ring, and inserts his key into the door, pushing it open moments later.
