Page 51 of Tailored for Them

I lifted an eyebrow at her, “For what?”

She bit her bottom lip before smiling around it, “Just…not rolling your eyes. Or judging my interests. Making me feel safe enough to get excited about the things I like.”

I frowned at her, “Girl. You should not be thanking me for that. If your partner does that to you, dump their ass.”

“Well,” Nicole rolled her eyes before pulling away and standing up from the couch, “Thank you for showing me what the bare minimum behavior should be, then.”

I reached out to wrap my arms around her waist and pulled her down into my lap before she could step away.

“Thank you for telling me what you like,” I murmured against her neck, “You are so cool.”

Nicole giggled when I teased her neck with my tongue, “As long as you think I’m cool.”

“And hot as hell,” I spoke against her skin. I trailed my lips up her neck and nipped at her earlobe, “And fun.”

Nicole sighed into my embrace, “You’re fun, too. I have fun with you, no matter what we’re doing.”

“Good,” I scraped my teeth against the shell of her ear, before dramatically tipping the two of us over on the couch, “Now hold still while I have more fun with you.”

The morning shifted into laughter and moans and caresses and whispers of affection.

By the time my phone buzzed with incoming texts, an hour and a half had already passed.

I loved it.

I loved lazy mornings with Nicole.

I lovedher.

Oddly enough, the thought wasn’t terrifying at all.

It felt like a breath of fresh air to admit it to myself.

But that didn’t negate the fact that this was the very first time in my adult life I had felt this way romantically toward anyone.

How did I go about proving to her that I was all in?

That, even though I had never felt the need to settle down with someone before, I was more than excited to do so now. It was a sudden shift, one I leaned into with open arms, because I knew myself well enough to know what I wanted.

What I wanted was Nicole.

Plain and simple.

I just really, really hoped she’d be open to hearing it soon.

Because I knew just how to prove it to her.

Chapter Fourteen

TAYLOR

“Good news, you’re still relevant,”I announced, after entering the Madey household the next day. I wanted to have a fairly serious conversation with my friends, but because of who I was as a person, I decided to ease into the conversation through good old-fashioned roasting.

All four of them, including the baby, glanced up at me from their living room seats.

“Who?” Susie asked. She and her dad were sitting on opposite sides of the coffee table, putting together a massive jigsaw puzzle. Courtney sat on the couch with baby boy Cooper on her lap. He immediately resumed gnawing on his teething ring.

“Your father.” I nodded toward Josh, who raised his dark brows at me with a smirk. Adjusting the glasses on his nose, he chuckled and focused on the puzzle.

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