Page 64 of How to Date a Younger Man
My heart clenches.
“You don’t really fit into my preconceived idea of a lover. You’re not like any of the other men I’ve spent countless years trying to unwrap and pin down and dissect . . . You’re Griffin. Simple, wonderful, makes-me-laugh Griffin. What we have is easy, but it’s not boring. It might just be perfect.”
She meets my eyes for the first time since she started this speech. I’m completely in awe of how jaw-droppingly beautiful she is.
“So, what you’re saying is . . .” As amazing as her words are, and as much as I’m going to cherish them for the rest of my life, I’m going to explode if she doesn’t get to the point.
“I love you,” she says.
My whole body lights up. “You what?”
“You heard me,” Layne says with a quiet glare. “I’m not saying it again.”
I’d think she was truly fucking pissed at me by the look on her face . . . except for the slight blush to her cheeks.
“I’m not sure I did,” I say, leaning up so our faces are close. I stroke her cheek with my fingertips. Is this real? “One more time?”
Layne looks at me through hooded eyes, licking her lips. “I love—”
I crush my lips to hers in a searing kiss. She braces her hands on my shoulders as I pull her down to the bed with me, a soft sigh escaping her as our bodies meet.
Every touch tingles with electricity, as if each individual atom in my body has come alive for the very first time. Our kisses turn from hungry and desperate to slow and sizzling, our limbs entwined in a dance we both know so well. Suddenly, she pulls away.
“So . . .” She gasps, catching her breath. “How do you feel?”
I give her a look that says really?
“I need to hear it,” she murmurs, her gaze downcast in a moment of insecurity.
We can’t have any of that.
I lay our bodies down, side by side, cradling her head in my hands. Her big green eyes shine with a purity that cuts right through me. This is going to feel so good to say out loud.
“How do I feel? That’s easy. I love you. I’ve always loved you. From the moment I met you and touched your skin, I wanted to be with you. I’ve never met anyone like you, and I want to spend the rest of my life at your side, loving you, creating a life and family with you. You, Layne it’s always been you.”
With every word I say, more tears pool in her eyes. As they begin to spill, I wipe them away with my thumbs, and she smiles at me.
“Okay, where were we?” she whispers against my lips.
The kiss we share next is softer and sweeter. It feels different than every other kiss we’ve shared before because this kiss is our first as an us. I’m hers and she’s mine and I never want it to end.
“What are you grinning about?” Layne asks, her chin tucked into her big plaid scarf. She looks at me now with a familiarity that makes my heart grip.
How does it feel like we’ve been a couple for ten years, not ten minutes?
“I’m just imagining what Krissy is going to think,” I say with a smile.
Layne and my sister had a standing brunch date that I’ll be crashing. It’s not the first time, and considering this new development in our story, it certainly won’t be the last. I just had to hope to every god there was that when Kristen flipped out, it was in a good way.
Even if she’s upset, there’s absolutely nothing that can bring me down from this high right now. I’ve finally got my dream girl and my sister will have to learn to live with that fact. “How are we going to start?” Layne says, chewing on her lip, nervously. . Of course she’s nervous. Kristen is her best friend and now she’s on her way to admit that she’s been secretly fucking her brother behind her back.
Yeah, that doesn’t sound great.
I give her hand a reassuring squeeze. “I think we just start by coming clean. Open it up with the fact that we’re together.”
“And then what?” she says with a heaving sigh. “We tell her about all the sex we’ve been having behind her back for months?”
“Let’s not focus on the details of our sex life,” I say with a cringe. Okay, even if I’m on top of the world at the moment, this is still going to be awkward.
Within minutes, we’re at the front door of the diner where Layne and Kristen usually meet. The bell on the door jangles as we enter, and we’re immediately greeted by a hostess who leads us to the back patio, where we find a smiling Kristen.
