Page 37 of Shameless
I sat back and nodded. “I never thought I’d be in the one-percent club as the box says ninety-nine-percent effective.”
She laughed and nodded. “Right! But now that you took me home, I’m stopping myself from defining my life based on television shows and really starting to figure out who I am.”
Unlike characters on television, she was absolutely three-dimensional and interesting.
“That’s good,” I said. “For me, I’m nervous about flying to London tomorrow.”
She pressed a hand to her heart. “Why?”
I needed to just accept that I couldn’t change anyone and to allow my parents to squander money and pacify my sister as the good son. I took a deep breath. “I hate confrontations. In my soul, I know I’m going to have all this responsibility placed on my shoulders because my sister can’t take over my life.”
She took my hand. “You can handle it.”
I had no other choice, really. I shrugged and placed my free hand on her belly. “Our baby is wanted and of my own doing. My parents, though… I promise they won’t warm up like your dad.”
“I’ve met your sister, and my mom is still the same as always. We’ll be fine.”
She was making me share her strongly held beliefs that people could live happily and that wasn’t just a fluke of the Norouzi family, which I’d wanted to be part of since college.
“The lengths people go to, to get money will shock you,” I said.
She waved a hand in the air. “Honey, I help people build wealth for a living. While it wasn’t at your level, I’ve seen plenty.”
That was true, but she’d never experienced the frosty expectations of titled peers who thought the world owed them while they lived on the mortgages of hard-working people instead of helping others, which was what our ancestors had done for a millennium.
My skin buzzed with awareness and need of her. I knew what she tasted like, so denying myself was like stabbing myself in the chest. “Just remember you’re on my side when we get there and you’ve been presented to the queen.”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t know what that means, and I don’t want details on that.” She held my hand to her chest as she said, “I am on your side now, and I was thinking about what you said in the pool about ‘I do’ versus ‘I will.’”
My heart raced. “Yeah?”
She nodded and said, “If we’d have had that conversation before the wedding, I’d have said ‘will.’”
I stood and let go. If I didn’t, I would break our deal and my big plans.
She stood and said, “Wait.”
I faced her, unsure what I’d do or say. I burned to have her.
Then she wrapped her arms around my neck and shoulders, and her eyelashes lowered. When she puckered her lips, I craved another taste of heaven.
We kissed, and our lips met again, sending a thrill through me.
As we stopped for air, I let her go. I needed her to fall in love with me, so I said, “Good night, Britney.”
Her face was bright red, but she stepped back and said, “Right, okay. Good night.”
I headed back to the pool, hoping that some laps might cool me down since every part of my body wanted to go back inside her, the only woman who’d ever truly satisfied me.
Chapter Thirteen
Britney
* * *
Michael’s kiss had sent tingles down my spine, and I’d dreamt about him all night.
Acting on my desires would’ve been easier if I hadn’t said that stupid thing about not having sex. A huge part of me wanted to take back the idea of being celibate, but a whisper in my soul was saying we were getting closer and should stay the course. So I held still.
