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He grinned and she wanted to punch the smirk off of his face. She should have let him think he had B.O.
She reached down and slipped her slingback six-inch heels off, just in case she needed to throw one at him, and asked, “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
He took a deep breath. “Did I do something to upset you?”
Viv opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again. She didn’t want him to know how vulnerable she felt.
“Is that why you came here? To ask me if you did anything wrong?” If that was all he had to say, then she’d tell him that he hadn’t and send him on his way. She wasn’t about to tell him that she wanted him to take the lead, that would sort of be defeating the purpose.
“No.” He shook his head and she could see that he wasn’t lying. It was obvious from the look in his eyes he had more to tell her. “I wanted to talk to you.”
Her heart started to skip but she told it to hold the skipping until she heard him out.
She crossed her arms. “Okay, so talk?”
He started to say something but then lifted his arms and ran them through his hair.
“What?” she prompted.
“You seem upset.”
When she didn’t respond to his not-so-brilliant observation he dropped his arms and looked down at the ground. “I don’t know where to start.”
It was obvious this man did not do well talking about his feelings, but since that was all Viv was interested in, she got right to the point. “Why don’t you start by how you feel about me? About us.”
His eyes shot to hers and the intensity in his gaze caused her breath to catch. His face looked pained as he growled, “You know how I feel about you.”
She did and that was the problem. She knew that he cared about her she just didn’t know if that was enough. But, regardless, she felt resolve slipping like it was a greased pig on a Slip-N-Slide. She wanted his hands on her body so badly she could cry.
She pushed those thoughts to the side and cleared her throat. “Let’s pretend I’m framing you and wearing a wire. I need you to say the words.”
He chuckled and when he stopped his mouth was tilted up in the private grin that she’d only ever seen him get when he looked at her and suddenly the words didn’t matter as much. But she was still happy when he spoke them. “I love you. I think I started to fall in love with you the minute that I saw you. You took more than my breath away. I lost the ability to speak. I forgot where I was or what I was doing. I walked into that coffee shop to get Bree and forgot all about her. You were all that I could see and I’ve been fighting that feeling ever since. I thought it was infatuation, at first. That I was so attracted to you that it was overriding my senses. But that wasn’t it. I love you.
“I love that you never wanted to get a tattoo but did because Nonna was scared. I love that you don’t like coffee but you agreed to open a coffee shop with your sister to support her dream. I love that you give away your Hope Falls Effect swag for free and tell people that it’s extras so they don’t feel bad. I love your generosity, your kindness, your work ethic, I love that I never know what is going to come out of your pretty mouth and I love that I never will. I love everything about you.”
Viv felt tears falling down her face.
“We’re those the words you needed to hear me say.”
“I mean…” She sniffed as another tear fell. “I was just hoping for you to say that you missed me and ask me to be your girlfriend, but yeah. Those words were nice, too.”
He grinned. “I missed you. Will you be my girlfriend?”
“Are you serious?” Viv wasn’t sure if he was serious, or he was just saying that because of what she’d said. This was all a little too much to process.
“Yes. I’m serious. I want to be with you. And I know you have a no kids rule, and people think it’s because you don’t like kids or that you don’t want to deal with baby mama drama. But I think it’s because you are scared you’ll fall in love with a kid and then the relationship will end and you won’t see them anymore.”
Viv had never told anyone that.
“How did you…?”
“Because I know you. And I want you to know, no matter what happens between us, I promise I will never get between your relationship with Bree. Ever.”
He was serious. And it looks like she just got herself her a boyfriend.
