Page 101 of Desserts for Stressed People

“Hello,” I say when we stop again. Before I can throw myself at him, he presses his thumbs over my cheeks, wet with tears.

“What’s going on?” I lunge at him, but he holds my shoulders. “Were you crying?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

With an inquisitive gaze, he drops a peck on my lips. “Can we sit and talk for a minute?”

I don’t want to panic over nothing again, but I know I haven’t been the best version of myself today, and a weight settles in my stomach, making it hard to breathe. It’s never good when men want tohave a talk. Is it?

“Come,” he says as we sit on the couch with our knees pressed together. “I have something for you.” He takes a paper out of his jacket and puts it in my hands.

I glance at it wearily, but he urges me to open it up. “0347, 9628,” I read out. “Tell me they’re winning lottery numbers, because my boss is a real asshole.”

With a wide smile, he holds both his phones up, then puts them on the coffee table. Oh, they must be his pin codes.

“Shane, no, I—”

“Heaven, listen to me.” His lower lip disappears behind his teeth. “I’ve deleted RadaR. And I understand you struggle with trust right now, so you have my pin codes. The work one changes every week, but I’ll give you the new one as soon as I have it. You can go through my phones whenever you want. You can answer them too, just...if it’s my work phone, you’ll need to pretend you’re Marina and pass the message along.”

When I look down, he uses his finger to tilt my chin up.

“Hey, I mean it. I just ask you one thing in return,” he says. “Promise we’ll try to build trust together. With time. And until you’re ready, my phones are there for you to use at any time.”

“Shane.” I take a deep breath and squeeze his hand in mine. Shane isn’t Alex, and I will not let my past relationship ruin what’s happening between us right now. I refuse to. Turning to the passwords, I rip the paper four times, until I don’t have enough strength to do it again, then set them down on the coffee table with a sigh. “I’m sorry.”

“We don’t need to rush it, Heaven. You can take your time.”

“No, I don’t want to.” I throw my arms around his neck and hold him tight. I know things aren’t solved just yet—it’ll take more than tonight for me to put my complete trust in another man. But I’m dead set on doing my best and doing it the right way. “I don’t need to check your phones. What concerned me is...”

He cups my cheek when I hesitate, scouting my eyes. “What is it?”

I grab his phone and turn it face down on the coffee table. “That’s what you did today. That’s what Alex did around me, because—”

“—he didn’t want you to see the texts he was getting.” He passes a hand over his tired face. “No, Heaven, I turned my phone because I didn’t want my eyes to go there if the screen lit up. I wanted to focus on you—I always want to focus on you. Especially if I’m at work, and I only get to be with you for four minutes.” My chest flutters as he scratches his head. “But, hey, this is good. Now that I know it bothers you, I won’t turn it over anymore.”

I move against him, pushing my lips onto his and dragging him into a deep, long kiss. “Nuh-uh. If that’s the reason, please, do it all the time.”

“Whatever you want,” he whispers, holding onto my lower back as his eyes dip down to my lips. When I straddle him, peppering him with kisses as I unbutton his shirt, his hands graze up my legs until he cups my ass. “Hmm...Heaven.”

I slide my hands under his shirt, feeling his toned muscles with each finger. I can’t finish unbuttoning it, the urge is too much. Grinding against the hardening bulge in his pants, I kiss his chest, moaning at how good he tastes. Like sugar and man. Can I lick all his muscles, one by one? Would that be weird?

“Let’s go to bed.” When he tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, I stand. Hand in hand, we walk to the bedroom, and with a devilish smile, he takes off his tie, then the rest of his shirt. “Come here,” he says.

I walk to him and kiss him until we fall onto the bed side by side with a giggle. He looks exhausted. I graze my fingers on his cheek and wonder how I look. I took my makeup off, and I haven’t slept in days.

“You’re so beautiful,” he says as he turns us around so that he’s lying on top of me. He’s reading my mind again. “Do I lookbeautifultoo?”

“Oh, are we making fun of each other?” I ask as I playfully swat his shoulder.

Locking my wrists into his fists, he holds them against the mattress. “I doubt you’ll find something to make fun of me for.”

“Really? ‘Oh, no. She’s not my, hmm, wife. No, I’m not, hmm, no, married, no,’” I mock.

“Ah, yes. That wasn’t super smooth, I’ll give you that.” He pecks along my jaw. “Therese is so sneaky. And I didn’t want you to think you were my side piece.”

“Turns out you were mine,” I whisper, and when he bites my neck with a growl, I shriek. “I’m sorry! Sorry!”

“Are you sleeping in this?” He lets my wrists go and holds onto my shirt. As I nod, more kisses rain all over my face. “Then get under the blanket. It’s time to close our eyes.”

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