I needed to know I wasn’t a rash decision. A rebound or a fling.
I wanted to give her a reason to stay.
I wanted… to earn her.
“I can agree to that. But on one condition.” She pressed her lips together, staring up at me with all sorts of mischief in her eyes.
“Anything,” I answered.
“Don’t take too much time, okay?”
This woman was going to be the death of me.
* * *
It had only been two days since our ferry excursion, and already, I was convinced I was the dumbest man on the planet.
I had to have been out of my goddamn mind when I told Marin I wanted to take things slow.
Now, less than forty-eight hours later, I was so fucking horny that no amount of jacking off could stifle it.
Marin and I hadn’t even seen each other much in that time, but when we had, it had taken me every ounce of restraint to not toss caution to the wind and take her.
Everywhere.
Anywhere.
Over and over again.
“You okay, man?” Billy asked as we all sat around his dining room table that evening.
Eli was in town, and Billy had invited us over for dinner. Marin was beyond thrilled to meet his boyfriend, and incredibly honored to know she was part of a very exclusive club.
I was glad Billy had finally found someone, but I wished he trusted the people in town enough to share it.
“What?” I answered him, my eyes focused on Marin across the table.
She was talking to Eli about places she’d visited in New York, and she suddenly laughed at something he’d said. She turned and caught me staring and blushed.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Why?”
Billy looked over to where my eyes were locked. “Man, you’ve got it bad.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, glancing over, but I didn’t even bother. “Yeah, I really do.”
“Do you think she’ll stay?” he asked. It was the question on everyone’s mind, it seemed.
“I’m gonna give her every reason to,” I vowed, unable to think of a future without her in it.
“I’m happy for you,” he said. “After all the shit you went through, God knows you deserve it.”
His words made me flinch.Because I didn’t. Not really. “Thanks,” I managed to say as I finished off my third Coke.
Billy took a sip of red wine, some fancy-ass shit Eli had brought, as his eyes swept over mine in a way I recognized all too well.
He was such a mother hen.
I’m fine, I mouthed, rolling my eyes.