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“Why’s that?”
“Sometimes we hold on to toxic things more so for comfort than love. I was comfortable with Steve. He wasn’t the best boyfriend. He made me feel like an inconvenience sometimes and didn’t really make me a priority. But I stayed because he was all I knew and I thought I’d be losing out on something if I left.” Her eyes met mine. “Sure, the first few weeks after we broke up were hard. He’d been my first love and I hadn’t lived my adult life without him. So to suddenly be alone, and be betrayed by my best friend no less, was a tough pill to swallow.”
“It’s his loss,” I said. “Any man would be crazy to give you up.”
She gave me a soft smile. “Thanks. Any woman to give you up would be crazy, too.”
“Oh really?” I teased with a smirk. “Weren’t you the one that said—”
She silenced me with her lips, her warm hand resting against my cheek as she kissed me. I rolled over onto my side and put my arm around her, pulling her closer to my body. Her lips parted when my tongue brushed against them, her tongue finding mine. A different type of warmth washed over me as I held her in my arms. My mother’s words bounced around in my head. Sometimes things have to fall apart for better things to come together.
I’d spent the last few months being jaded about love, afraid to make myself vulnerable to another woman because of what happened with Kayla. Perhaps things happened for a reason. If Kayla would’ve said yes, I would’ve never left Virginia and I wouldn’t be next to Ashton right now. It was so strange how quickly I developed feelings for a woman I’d met a few weeks ago. She finally pulled back and looked at me, her thumb stroking my cheek. My heart screamed to tell her how I felt, but my mind brought all my insecurities to the forefront. What if she didn’t feel the same way? What if she wasn’t ready to hear that? What if she rejected me?
“What’s on your mind?” she asked softly.
I swallowed hard. “Ashton, I…”
She jumped up as a bell rang in the distance. “That’s the dinner bell. Come on,” she said and hopped off the futon. I sighed and slowly stood, watching her as she skipped down the stairs, her dress swishing around her knees.
“Come on, slow poke!” she called out, stopping next to the Beetle and looking up at me. I ground my teeth as I walked down the steps to meet her, my unspoken truth tucked into the back of my mind.
I think I’m falling in love with you.
