Page 49 of Keeping it Casual
She leans over to give me a kiss on my cheek.
“Don’t settle for less than what you truly want, Jeremy,” she says.
My mind starts to whirl.
Lucy comes back into the room then, and our conversation moves on to talking about all the news her grandparents shared with her.
But Em’s words are on my mind as I drive home.
Am I settling for less than what I want by agreeing to keep things casual with Dustin?
What do I actually want with him?
I think of his slow-starting smile that builds to something amazing. I think of his gentleness with Lucy. What an amazing dad he is to Lachie. How hot things are between us in the bedroom, yet the way he touches me so tenderly and reverently. The way we can talk about anything and everything. How much we make each other laugh.
Shit. I have my answer.
I want it all with him.
I want to wake up every morning with him. I want to cook with him, laugh with him, have incredible sex with him.
I want to blend our families together, support each other through the good times and the bad.
I want to sit in a rocking chair holding his hand while we watch our grandchildren play.
My eyes prickle at the thought.
Can I convince him to want the same thing? We’ve agreed to keep things casual, but when I really think about what this is between us, it feels anything but casual.
My phone rings through my dashboard, and I see Dustin’s name. I quickly hit accept.
“Hey, I’m just on my way home now, then I’ll be right over,” I say.
And maybe, based on what I’ve just realized, I’ll be brave enough to talk to him. Brave enough to suggest that what we have together is now way beyond the parameters of where we first started.
“Jeremy.”
It’s one word. Just my name. But he says it in a voice I’ve never heard before.
Alarm pumps through me.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“The police just called. Lachie’s been taken to hospital. Some prank with his friends went wrong.” Dustin rattles off the sentences matter-of-factly, but I can hear the brittleness in his voice, like he’s about to shatter at any moment.
“Oh my god. Is he okay?”
“They couldn’t tell me any more details.”
“I’ll meet you at the hospital,” I say, hanging up. Then I pull an incredibly illegal U-turn and plant my foot on the accelerator, breaking the speed limit in the process.
But it doesn’t matter.
Nothing matters but getting to Dustin.
Chapter 13
Dustin
