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Her voice. Fuck.
Tess walks outside and my heart stills. Her hair is down, her look adorably casual. She’s dressed in a pair of jeans and the black hoodie I sent her. She swims in the thing and it reaches almost to her knees. Even though I love her cute dresses and skirts, she’s so fucking gorgeous right now in my old sweatshirt that I’m ready to fall at her feet.
As these thoughts race through my head it finally dawns on me that I’m standing here gawking at her like a creep.
“Hey, Tess,” I manage to say.Brilliant.
She cocks her head, a small smile on her lips. “Hello, Micah.”
Dani watches us like we’re performing a very fascinating play.
Total gallops over with dirt on his tongue.
Dani picks the dog up. “Let’s get you some water.” She looks at Tess, then at me. “I’m going upstairs to check on Cecile.”
Tess nods and stuffs her hands in the deep front pockets of the hoodie.
I stare at her lips and think about how they taste. “Let me know if Cecile’s awake now,” I say to Dani.
“Will do.” Dani smiles and leaves us alone.
Tess evaluates me with those soulful brown eyes. “I saw you park in front of my house earlier. You didn’t stay.”
“Guilty. I thought you’d be at work.” I want to touch her so badly my fingers are practically twitching.
A strange shadow crosses her face. “No, not today.”
“So…” I let the word hang there.
Tess lifts an eyebrow and waits.
“Did you enjoy the holidays?” I can’t fucking believe that question came out of my mouth. That kind of bullshit small talk should be outlawed.
She doesn’t seem to mind. “Honestly, the holidays were nothing special. I worked too much. Believe it or not, I spent New Year’s Eve with Haven. I went to visit Lita at the care home and Haven was there. We ended up ringing in the new year together with vending machine snacks. And you had a fight later that day. I really wanted to watch. I was disappointed it wasn’t being streamed anywhere.”
I’m kind of surprised she knows this. “It was supposed to be. Someone screwed up.”
She nods and looks down at her white sneakers. Tess doesn’t get nervous often but she’s nervous right now. “What else did you do?”
Thought about you. Wished for you. Jerked off to you. A LOT.
“Absolutely nothing. My New Year’s Eve was less thrilling than yours. I sat in my hotel roomaloneand ate a steak.”
She notices the way I emphasize the word ‘alone’ and presses her lips together to hide a smile. In a purposeful move, she tucks her hair behind her ears. She’s wearing her sapphire earrings, the ones I scoured jewelry stores on the Vegas strip to find.
“I know that I thanked you already, but thank you again for these. I wear them every day. And obviously I love your sweatshirt. I hope you weren’t expecting to get it back. It’s the best gift I ever received.”
This girl. Doesn’t she know that she’s the keeper of my heart?
I’m not really getting anywhere by playing it cool. Might as well try some honesty.
“You’re so beautiful,” I say to her. “And you only got more beautiful while I was gone.”
Her pretty brown eyes soften. “Micah.”
I want to grab her up, haul her out of here, take her someplace where we can be alone, and show her what I’ve been thinking about nonstop for the last two months.
But Dani’s back and she’s upset. “Cecile’s not doing well. The nurse says her pulse is very erratic. Henley is telling Matilda to come home and then he’s going to pick Charlotte up from school. Cecile is awake now.” Dani’s chin trembles as she looks at me. “She’s asking for you.”
