Page 49 of The Significance of Moving On

I shake with excruciatingly delicious suspense, while tearing back the wrapper slowly, teasingly as to see Casey’s every reaction and his face is full of them. Finally when he looks to almost be in pain I take pity on him and tear the package open the rest of the way. What. The. Hell?

“Plane ticket?”

“Look at the destination.”

“Florida.Florida?Oh my God, Florida. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” This would be the moment where I forget we’re taking things slow and intimacy between us makes him uncomfortable. He doesn’t know what hit him when I stand and leap at him, throwing my arms around his neck, slopping the wettest kiss imaginable square on his mouth.

He nibbles on my bottom lip, sighing into my mouth and his shoulders relax as he takes control of the kiss. His hand roams from my waist down to the hem of my shirt, and then under my shirt where he glides it gently over the skin of my back and I think I’ve finally gotten through to him. He melts into me. I melt into him. We’re goo in each other’s arms.

“Nope,” he says somehow gaining enough mind to push me away. “I said slow. This isn’t slow.”

“It’s just a kiss.” I pant while I continue to cling to him.

“It’s never just a kiss for us and you know it.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

I want kissing.

There, I’ve said it. Okay, well maybe not out loud. That was my practice run for when I ask Casey to meet with me in order for us to air out our grievances. I’m not sure Casey actually has any, but this is one of mine.

We can’t live like this anymore.

Ever since he gave me that gift and I launched myself at him like a rabid spider monkey, it’s all I’ve been able to think about. He said he wants to try, well trying means kissing. I won’t go for more. We can save that for someday down the road, when he’s more comfortable with the idea of intimacy within a relationship.

That’s what it boils down to. When I was staying with D I asked if something had happened to Casey that I needed to know about. Why doesn’t he like sex? He’s a young stud. He should be having all the sex. Oh, I found out from both Demetrius and Daniel that Casey likes sex as long as it’s casual. No attachments.

I’ve gone over my argument a hundred times in my head when I walk into the living room to speak with him. But he looks peaceful, reclining back in his chair, again, sleeping after a busy plow day and I completely lose focus, lose my rational argument, lose myself and brush my lips against his. My fingers smooth over his cheeks, and he leans in.

“Fuck,” he whispers against my mouth and pulls me onto his lap. My feet dangle over the side of the recliner and he holds me like he never wants to let me go.

“I thought we about this, sweetheart.”

“No. You talked.” I should point out to him that we’re still kissing. Every word is spoken between presses and tugs. “Now you’re going to listen.”

“Okay,” he says through one last press of his lips and leans his forehead against my temple. “You’ve got my attention.”

“Here’s the deal, either we’re strictly roommates, in which case I have to move out again because we both know I can’t handle being simply your roommate, or we add kissing to our relationship.”

“Why do you want to complicate it?”

“I’m not asking you to deflower me, Case. I only want your lips. Most boyfriend’s kiss their girlfriends. It’s a fact, you can look it up.”

He laughs through his nose and pulls me closer. “I know, sweetheart. Clearly, I want to kiss you. But—”

“I’m grieving and you don’t want to be that guy. Yeah, you’ve said that. But you aren’t that guy. You could never be that guy because you aren’t taking advantage of me. I know myself.”

“Can I think about it?”

“You can have the week that I’m in Florida.”

He nods. “I’ll let you know when you get back.”

“In the spirit of full disclosure, Daniel is meeting us in Miami. He’s connected with family over the years and is visiting for the holiday.”

“Just think about it, Casey. I’m going to pack.”

As the next couple days fly by, pun intended, Casey remains his normal Casey self except for one difference. Before he touches me in any capacity, I’ll catch him stopping to scan my face. He crinkles his brow and I can see the thought behind his eyes. Like he agreed, he’s thinking about what I said. That fills me with hope for us, for some kind of future.

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