Page 43 of Falling for You

I clean myself up and drop back into bed, fall asleep and dream of her. Of a life I never expected to want or hope for.

* * *

“I’m dying here,”Olivia whines at my doorstep.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Uh, what do youthinkI’m doing here?”

“Being nosey?”

“Exactly,” she beams, pushing me aside to make room for her to bully her way inside my house. She plops down onto my couch with a huff. “So? How’d it go?”

I don’t know how much to tell her. If I explain that I didn’t get home until after three am, she’ll latch onto it and assume I slept with her. Not that it matters, but… nah. It does matter. I want Olivia to know the truth from the start.

I sit down in the chair to the left of her so she doesn’t have to twist to face me. “Our date was a little, um, different than I had planned.”

“What? What happened? Rex, I swear if you just hooked up and left in the middle of the night, I’ll punch you in the gut.”

I raise my hands in the air like she’s actually going to get up from her place on the couch and follow through with the threat. “Whoa. That’s a little violent.”

She shrugs. I know she won’tactuallypunch me, but the look on her face tells me that she wouldn’t be opposed to a little bit of violence if I pushed her to it.

“No. Nothing like that. Though, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your confidence in me.”

Her eyebrows rise, arms rest on her pregnant belly, waiting for my explanation. So I give it to her. From the moment I showed up on her door step until our kiss at her door, though, I don’t give her many details of the kiss that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. That’s for us.

“Wow.”

“That’s all you have to say?” I’m shocked.

“Well, I’m a little surprised, I guess. I had no idea you were such a stalker.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I don’t think she expected it, either. I swear I wasn’t really stalking her — or not trying to anyway.”

“You really like her, huh?”

“I do.”

“What’s her name?”

I knew she’d ask. Human nature, and all that. But something is telling me to keep it to myself. At least for now, anyway. Shaking my head, I relax into the chair, resting my ankle on my knee, hands on both. “I’m not ready yet.”

“No! You have to tell me!”

“No I do not. Trust me. When I know it’s going somewhere, you’ll meet her, find out her name and anything else she’s willing to tell you. But right now, I’m keeping her to myself. Once you weirdos get a hold of her name and where she works, I have no doubt you’ll be sneaking over to…”

“Do exactly what you did and stalk her?”

“Yup.”

“So you like her for more than a kiss on her porch, huh?”

“I do, but I have a lot to learn about her, too. We barely know each other.” And that’s bugging the shit out of me. It’s not that she’s closed off. Not one bit, really. She’s one of the most open and honest people I think I’ve ever met. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot to learn about her. And I’m not just talking about the surface things. Like what’s your favorite food and shit like how she takes her coffee or if she considers Ramen noodles a meal like I so often do. Those are the things to learn about each other over time. On my own, from paying attention.

Shit. I sound like I’m in a chick flick or something.

“That doesn’t really matter, Rex. Don’t you think you can feel a connection with someone or realize they’re worth more than a one-night stand before youreallyget to know them?”

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