Page 150 of Not That Ridiculous

Which I hadn’t heard for forty whole minutes.

I had it bad.

I opened my mouth to reply but snapped it shut without saying anything. As soon as he knew it was me, the idiot would probably turn the lights off and hide behind the sofa, as if I was a politician come calling about the local election.

“Hello?” Kevin said again.

I pressed my lips together, looking up at the window. I realised that he’d see me if he looked out, and flattened myself against the wall just in time—he came into view on the second floor.

Apparently playing peekaboo was a thing we did.

I pressed the buzzer again, and waited.

I heard his approach as he banged down the last few stairs inside. I turned to face the door.

He opened it with an impatient yank, took one look at me, and shut it in my face.

“Kevin,” I said through the wood, with barely a wobble in my voice. “I love you.”

He snatched the door open and stared at me.

I shrugged. “I love you. If you’ve been avoiding me because you think I don’t want you around anymore, you’re wrong. I love you.”

His chest expanded in a deep breath, wide eyes on mine.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same,” I said, my throat closing up and making the words come out oddly strangled, “but I thought you should know. And you can stop freaking out.”

Speaking of freaking out…if he didn’t at least blink in the next minute, let alone respond to my love confession, I was going to join him.

I hadn’t exactly planned this. I was making shit up as I went along. I’d had the vague idea of reassuring him that we were still very much on. I hadn’t planned to blurt out that I loved him. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I still didn’t know how long-term he saw this.

Thankfully, Kevin did more than blink.

He reached out, slowly, as if he was trying not to spook me. Which was hilarious, coming from the man who had a habit of cheerfully tossing me about, and had thrown me on the floor and jumped enthusiastically on top on more than one occasion.

He slid a hand around the nape of my neck and exerted gentle pressure, stepping back as he did, drawing me over the threshold and into the stairwell.

As soon as I was inside, he snatched me against him, booted the door shut, and pressed me against it.

He kissed me wildly, and it took a while for me to realise he was murmuring against my lips.

“Love you, Charlie. So much, oh my god. Seriously. Iloveyou. Shit. I really love you.”

“Shh, shh,” I said, trying to pull back. “It’s all right, calm down.”

“Nope.” He bit my lip then grabbed my hips, grunted with effort, and slid me up the door, wedging himself between my thighs and humping me further up .

I pulled at his hair. “Kevin,” I growled.

He growled back, and went for my neck.

“Uhn.” My head fell against the door with a thunk. I squirmed. “Kevin.Kevin. Upstairs. Take me upstairs, I don’t want to do this here.”

He sucked hard on my neck one more time—the little shit left a giant love bite, I just knew it—then let me down slowly enough that I felt every single one of his abdominal muscles as I went.

He smiled at me and took my hand.

I smiled stupidly back, and wove my fingers through his.

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