Page 40 of Darn Knit All

A grateful lump formed in my throat. “You won’t. We’re in this together.”

He made a rumbling sound. “Now on to the touchy-feely shit. What are we doing about PDAs?”

I clasped my hands together in my lap, surprised to find my palms had grown sweaty.

This is Theo,I reminded myself.Nothing to be nervous about.

“We should probably hold hands. Maybe an arm around the shoulder kind of thing.”

His glance slid toward me, hesitating for just a moment too long. “What about kissing?”

My cheeks warmed. “M-maybe one or two. For authenticity.”

“Right, authenticity.”

We both glanced away, a weirdly uncomfortable silence falling.

“Should we… practice?” he asked, his voice strained. “You know, so it looks natural.”

My heart kicked up, thumping heavily against my ribcage. “Um….”

“We don’t have to,” Theo rushed to assure me. “I mean… plenty of couples don’t do PDAs.”

He had to be right, but I just couldn’t think of any off the top of my head.

“Like who?”

“Charles and Camilla?” he said, referring to the king and queen of England.

I snorted. “I don’t think they count.”

“Umm… there’s bound to be others.”

We stared at each other, then burst out laughing.

“We’re hopeless.”

He nodded. “That we are.”

Our gazes locked, our amusement draining away.

Theo leaned in, his eyes trained on me, his jaw tense.

“Yes or no, Mai?”

I drew on my courage, nodding my head slightly at his question.

A small grin tipped up one corner of his mouth. He slid onto the floor beside me, moving into my space until I was pressed against the couch, Slowly, deliberately, he cupped my face, sliding his thumb across my bottom lip.

“I’m gonna need words.”

My heart pounded in my chest, a tight shimmering ache beginning deep between my legs. I liked that he wanted verbalconfirmation of my permission. I liked that he didn’t just assume.

But fuck if it didn’t make it ten times as hard to answer him.

Sucking in a deep breath, I locked eyes with him. Settling my hands on his chest, I gently tugged at his shirt, pulling him toward me.

“Ye—”

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