Page 19 of His Curvy Woman

She’s quiet for a second, and if not for her racing heartbeat, I would have thought she fell asleep. “If I’m late, you’re in trouble.” She rolls out of bed and grabs her phone. I watch over her shoulder as she sets her alarm too and sends a message off to her mom telling her she’s staying at my house for the night.

Thank god she agreed to stay. I would have taken her home if she wanted me to, but she agreed, and that’s what matters. I hope she’s starting to believe that I want more than just one night with her, I want the rest of our lives.

We lay there for a while as I stroke up and down her back with the palm of my hand, and she traces the tattoos on my chest and ribs.

“How the hell did I get so lucky?” I ask.

“What do you mean?” She says, looking up at me, resting her chin on my chest.

“I’ve wanted you to be mine for years, and now you’re in my arms. When something happens that you never thought could be a reality, it just makes you appreciate it that much more.”

She gives me a soft smile. “I know exactly what you mean. It started when I was in eighth grade. Ramsey had his friends over all the time, that was just par for the course, I guess, but there was something different about you. You were kind and talked to me when others acted like I didn’t even exist. Even James and Trevor, who were cordial, never treated me like you did. You made me feel special and that my thoughts and ideas had value. At the time I couldn’t put that to words, I just knew that I had the biggest crush on my brother’s best friend.”

I never knew she felt this way, maybe I suspected a little after I thought about that last night but hearing her tell me is completely different.

“Do you think we’d be together now if you had never left?” She asks.

“I’ve thought about that some over the past couple of years. I’d like to say yes, but who knows. I do believe that we’d be together no matter what, that in the end, you would be my wife and the mother of my children.”

“Isn’t it a little soon to be talking about those things? We just reconnected.” Whitley asks.

“Does it make you uncomfortable, or are you worried about what other people might say?”

She shrugs and sits up, resting her head against her hand. “If this is our only love story, I don’t want to miss all the parts that will make it transcendent.”

“Our love story will definitely be transcendent Lee. It will be everything.”

I hold her face in the palm of my hand and lean up to kiss her slowly. This kiss isn’t crazed. It’s meaningful and filled with passion. By the time we pull away, there’s something in her eyes that wasn’t before. No words need to be spoken. She finally gets it. She knows that I’m all in and she’s ready to take that leap with me.

We fall asleep, Whitley wrapped up in my arms. In the middle of the night, I wake, and our positions have shifted, she’s rolled to her other side, and I’m plastered to her back, my legs intertwined with hers. I place a kiss on her shoulder and snuggle my face into her hair, then fall back to sleep easily. There is nowhere else I’d rather be.

---