Page 28 of If I See You Again
Now it was his turn to wrap around me, and I savored the feel of his body against mine. How long would this last this time? Would he dangle it in front of my face only to yank it away again, or was he finally giving in to the pull?Please let him finally give in.
“This is scary,” he mumbled the words against my shoulder before placing a kiss there.
“Why do you say that?”
His shoulders lifted in a shrug before he rested his cheek against me. “I don’t know. Most things in my life have felt pretty fleeting. Do I let someone in again and risk it being yanked away?”
It was nice that he was opening up and letting me know about his fears. It meant we were going somewhere. At least, further than we had before.
I stood there for a moment and continued to let the water and his words wash over me. Promising him that things would always be perfect would be a lie. We still had some major hurdles we needed to overcome if we wanted to take this to the next level.
Malcolm didn’t pull away. We stood there in the shower and let the water cascade over our bodies as what he said hung heavy in the air. Once the water ran cold, he let go of me and reached around to turn off the spray. We had done little in the way of getting clean, outside of rinsing off, but maybe that was all this had been about.
We climbed out of the shower, and Malcolm handed me a big, fluffy towel from the cupboard next to the sink. I dried my body quickly before tying it around my waist and turning to watch him. He took his time, rubbing the soft, buttery material over his limbs before he noticed me watching.
I loved the way he blushed. It was so damn cute and endearing. There wasn’t much about Malcolm Fisher that I didn’t like.
“It’s been a while, and unless you want my parents to see us in a compromising position…” He trailed off, wrapping his towel around his hips and waving to the door,
I’d never have imagined that, at thirty-five years old, I would be worried about being caught by someone’s parents. Yet there we were.
The house was still quiet as we crossed the hall to the bedroom. We quickly grabbed our clothes and got dressed, then went back downstairs to the kitchen. Malcolm started going through the refrigerator the second we walked in.
“Are you hungry? I’m not completely sure what I’m allowed to bust into and what’s for dinner tomorrow…” He looked up, and I raised an eyebrow at him. “Right. Maybe we should just order something.”
Malcolm pulled his phone from his pocket and pulled up a food delivery app. I sat next to him in that same little kitchen nook as we scrolled through the options. I wasn’t familiar with anything outside of the usual chain restaurants, so I tried to talk him into picking something from a local place. We ended up settling on a pizza place that did a Chicago-style pizza and a big salad to split.
I had been to Chicago several times on business, and although the city was known for its unique pizza, I had never tried it. Malcolm looked flabbergasted when I told him, and he said we needed to rectify that immediately. Before long, we were back, sitting on the couch, waiting for food to arrive.
Heat filled my face as I checked to make sure we hadn’t left any kind of mess. There wasn’t anything I could smell, but would his mom and dad be able to? Was this what it was like to be a sneaky teenager? I’d never messed around much when I was younger.Audrey had been too much of a handful, and I’d tried to be a good example for her. Go figure that the girl ended up in all sorts of messes without my help.
When the pizza arrived, Malcolm placed everything across the coffee table and turned on the TV. He flipped it over to a streaming service and picked some random movie to play in the background, neither of us paying attention to it. All I could focus on was the way Malcolm fussed over the food, making sure the little cups of ranch dressing were enough for the two of us, or needing to see if he could find more in the fridge.
“Would you just sit and eat?” I said with a laugh.
Malcolm turned and scowled, but plopped next to me on the couch. “Fine. I just want this to be a good experience for you.”
“And it will be just because I’m doing it with you.” I bumped my shoulder into his, and a blush spread across his cheeks again. Why the hell was it so much fun getting him to do that?
Chapter 21
Malcolm
By the time we’d polished off the pizza and salad, cleaned everything up, and then made our way to bed, Mom and Dad hadn’t come home yet. Normally, I’d worry, but now more than ever, I was convinced they’d been staying away intentionally.
After lying in bed for thirty minutes, headlights illuminated the bedroom window that faced out toward the driveway. Car doors opened and closed, followed by hushed voices making their way into the house.
David had dozed off quickly, and I itched to climb out of the covers and confront my parents about their meddling, but in a way, I was thankful they’d stuck their noses into my business. Without them, today wouldn’t have happened.
Instead of continuing to dwell on things, I rolled over, closed my eyes, and fell into the deepest sleep I’d had in a long time.
The smell of coffee and something sweet filled the air as I awoke. David was already sitting up, rubbing the sleep from those dreamy blue eyes of his. Maybe that had been what had woken me up, him moving around.
“Morning, gorgeous.”
I snorted. There was nothing attractive about me in the mornings. My hair always stuck up in weird directions, and unless I trimmed my facial hair, it grew patchy in places. For that very reason, I kept it shaved most of the time.
“You’ve already won me over. There’s no need to keep trying to flatter me.”
