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“Okay, you two clean up. There’s ice cream in the freezer.” She kissed us both on the cheeks and then rushed out of the house in her usual whirlwind manner.
Davis let out a small chuckle before grabbing his plate and the small dish of green beans and walked toward the sink.
“I thought you didn’t like coming to town,” I mused, needing to hear him say that he’d come for me. I was an idiot, and absolutely fishing for a compliment of some kind, but my poor broken heart couldn’t compute why he’d come.
“Idon’tlike coming to town,” he replied, keeping his back to me.
“Then why did you?”
He turned, soapy suds covering his hands, but that smile was earnest and warm, and it heated me from my toes to the top of my head. “You’re here.”
His response smacked me in the face as hard as any slap. That was as close to a declaration of love as I had ever gotten, and it overwhelmed me into silence. I worked quietly beside him, cleaning, putting food away, and wiping things down, until he turned off the sink and the kitchen was completely clean.
Slowly turning toward me, he pinned his hip against the counter and watched me.
“So…guess it’s late.”
I briefly glanced up before ducking my head again. I wanted him to stay. I wanted him to grovel and apologize for what he had cruelly done to me when I was eighteen, but I also realized he didn’t know who I was then, and I was unfairly holding him responsible for something he didn’t know he’d done.
Blinking, I shoved my nerves aside and bit my lip. “Guess so.”
Reaching up, he rubbed along the base of his neck as though he was nervous. I knew I was acting strange—like a high schooler finally alone with her crush and unsure how to make a move.
He huffed a silent laugh—as though it would fit just between the two of us—then he leaned down.
“Rae.” His rasp rumbled along my skin as his lips met my hairline. “Show me your room.”
Blushing, I lifted my hand, hesitating a moment before pushing past the awkwardness and grabbing his. I reveled at how much bigger it was than mine as I tugged him behind me. The house was quiet as we padded through the kitchen and down the hall, until he was walking into my room and shutting the door behind him.
Seeing him braced against my door, smiling at me with that mischievous grin, lit me on fire from the inside out. I blurted out the only word I could think of.
“Puzzles!”
He quirked a brow.
“Um…do you do them, or did you want to watch something?”
Finally, he peeled himself away from the door and slowly stalked toward me. “This is your bedroom—the one you had when you were a teen?”
He looked around at the walls, scanning the awards and ribbons I had hung up. Internally I thanked myself for not having any photos of my teenage self anywhere, and that the box of him was gone now. Seeing his tall frame next to my dresser was creating a tsunami of emotions. He was a dream—a walking, talking dream—here inmyroom, looking atmythings.
Nodding, I looked around with him. “Yeah.”
His strong fingers picked up one of my stuffed animals and inspected it.
“Did you ever get lucky in that bed?” He smirked at me, still slowly walking through my room, touching small pieces of my past. Each stroke might as well have been made into my skin.
“Uh…” Lucky? As in sex?
My expression crumpled. “No. I was a virgin until college.”
That made him freeze. He turned to face me, a dark brow raised. “Completely, as in you didn’t do anything at all until college?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. How could I explain that I had been saving myself for him? I had honestly thought he’d kiss me that night in the library, maybe do more. I hadn’t had any interest in other boys…no one at all was in my world except for him.
To answer him, I merely shook my head. Words wouldn’t come. With two slow steps in my direction, I noticed he was moving me backward. The backs of my legs hit the mattress just as he paused in front of me.
“So, you were never touched under the covers?” His question grated against my skin, forcing goosebumps to erupt. He leaned closer, asking rhetorically at this point. He knew I hadn’t.
