Page 67 of Finding Us

“Whatever. Just take me upstairs.”

“You sure?” he asks, still smiling.

“Yes!” I practically yell it.

He picks me up in his strong arms and carries me upstairs to our room. Our pizza’s getting cold, but I don’t care. I have to have him. I can’t wait.

The sex is amazing as always. And when it’s over, Garret props up on his side, looking down at me as he skims his warm hand over my skin.

“So that’s what would’ve have happened if I’d kiss you that night?” he asks.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” I consider it. “Actually, after a kiss like that, yeah, I probably would’ve had sex with you. That was a really good kiss. Better than good. It was indescribable.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” He continues to move his hand along my skin, down the curve of my hip, over my stomach, and up my chest. It feels so good I don’t want him to ever stop.

“So now are you going to tell me why you didn’t kiss me that night?”

His eyes meet mine and he says, “Because that night, if I’d kissed you, I would’ve kissed you like I did just now. And like you said, that might’ve led somewhere. Somewhere I wasn’t ready to go with you.

“Why not?”

His hand moves to my face and cups my cheek. “Because even after only knowing you a few days, I had feelings for you that I’d never had with anyone else. From the moment I met you, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And I missed you when you weren’t around. When I think back to that night and how I felt about you, I think I was starting to fall in love with you. I didn’t realize it at the time. I hadn’t known you for very long so I wouldn’t let myself believe that I loved you. And it’s not the same love I have for you now. But it was still love. So I wanted to get to know you more before we took things farther. I’m glad we took things slow and used that time to get to know each other. Did I want to have sex with you that night? And all the other nights we hung out? Hell, yeah. But I also knew that we should wait. Iwantedto wait. I wanted to wait until the time was right. And I wanted you to decide when that time was. I wanted you to decide when I was worthy of being with you like that.”

I bring his face to mine and kiss him. “Just when I think I can’t possibly love you any more, I do.”

“I love you, too.” He kisses me back. “Now let’s go eat.”

I climb out of bed. “Don’t think this means you get out of watching the talking dog movie.”

He starts putting his shorts on. “Damn. I thought the kiss would make you forget about that.”

“Nope. We’re still watching it.” I yank my shorts on and slip my tank top over my head.

He comes over and pulls my tank down over my waist. “Then I’m going to do what I really wanted to do when we watched that movie the first time.”

“Which is what?”

“Kiss you like I just did.” He smiles. “And touch you.”

“Then we’ll end up having sex again. We won’t even see the movie.”

He laughs. “We will if you learn to control yourself and tell me no.”

“After you kiss me like that? And now you’re adding touching, too? I can’t say no to that. That’s impossible.”

He walks out of the room, but turns back when he hears me pulling the covers over the bed. “Don’t bother making it. I’m sure we’ll be back here in an hour. Maybe sooner.”

I roll my eyes at him.

We go back downstairs and eat our pizza while watching the movie. I’ve seen this movie at least five times and the howling cartoon dogs still make me laugh. Halfway through the movie, Garret starts kissing me again and as expected, we end up right back upstairs. So we didn’t exactly re-enact that night, but I like this version way better.

CHAPTERTWENTY

The next morning,Harper stops by as Garret and I are having breakfast.

“Only three more days!” she squeals, joining us at the kitchen table.

“You want coffee?” Garret asks her. “Or something to eat?”

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