Page 80 of Anything for You
One hand on her lower back, I unlocked the door. Bear greeted us, eager for company, then rushed to the back door where I let him out.
She excused herself to the bathroom, and I went to the kitchen to wash my hands and get us waters. We’d both had a few bites at the event, so I wasn’t sure if she’d want dinner.
Steps in the hallway drew my attention to her and I nearly tripped over my own feet when I saw her. She stood with bare feet and the too-long legs of my black sweatpants pooling around her ankles. Up top, she wore one of my T-shirts tucked in a way that made it look oddly stylish.
“Come sit with me,” she said, holding out a hand to me.
“You changed.”
She gave me one of her amused smiles.
“I did. Do you want to? Let me take those and I’ll let Bear in while you go.” She took the glasses from my hands, heart-shaped face serene and completely uninhibited.
Thanks to her composure, I didn’t let my nerves get the best of me. I simply went to my room and shoved away the thrill of seeing her shoes and dress draped over the chair in one corner of the bedroom. I pulled on gray sweats and shucked my button-up, leaving me in a white undershirt. If she wanted to have this conversation dressed down, we could.
But why hadn’t she simply gone home to change? Wouldn’t she be more comfortable?
Here came the reminder that I didn’t have experiencewith women in this context. I hadn’t been in a relationship since my early twenties, and it might as well have been a lifetime ago. More than that, I’d never been in one with Dove. It didn’t actually matter what any other woman would do or might want because the only one I wanted to please was Dove.
So get out there and ask her.
Sometimes, the voice in my head sounded far too much like Kenny’s for my comfort. Still, with that very basic prompting, I returned to the living room to find her curled up under a blanket, Bear on his bed, and her mind engaged in whatever reverie it’d spun, so much so that she startled when I sat down next to her.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
She waved the apology away, her fingers tipped with a pretty light pink color that made her hands look even more delicate than they were. “No, that was all me. I was just thinking.”
Then she shifted, sliding into my lap and straddling me. She settled there, her weight a delicious anchor to the couch, and she rested her hands on my shoulders. The second she’d moved, my pulse had begun pounding, and now that she’d stopped, I was in no less danger of losing my mind.
“What were you thinking about?” I asked, my voice sounding a bit strangled as I spoke.
She stroked her hands over my shoulders and partway down my arms, then back up. “I was thinking about how to convince you I want to be here.”
My brain was not functioning on all cylinders, considering the way she’d positioned herself and the incredible feeling of her body pressed to mine. “I think I believe you.”
She giggled, but cupped my cheeks for a moment todraw my focus fully to her words. “We need to talk about this.”
After a moment of clearing my mind of the rampaging thoughts, I registered the concern knitting her brow and nodded. “You might need to move.”
She raised one brow. “Not happening. Gotta keep you pinned down for this one.”
Refusing to let my baser instincts run away with things, I nodded. Whatever she needed to say, she had a reason for doing it this way. I wanted to know what it was, and I wanted to do whatever she needed.
“I want to be here with you, Dorian. I worry that nights like tonight make you second-guess that.” She tugged at a thread hanging from the sleeve of my undershirt.
The heat and adrenaline pumping through my veins banked. I didn’t want to have this conversation. Some part of me had hoped maybe we’d just watch a movie and make out a little. Get distracted from the worries that’d been sneaking their way into my dreams and days bit by bit.
“I know you’re saying that and you believe it. That sounds like I think I know what you feel better than you do, and I’m not trying to be like that. But I’m worried I—” I cut off, unsure of how to explain the fear without repeating myself.
She waited, palms resting on my chest.
“What would you have done if I hadn’t been there? How long would you have stayed?”
Her brows dropped into a glare. “That doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.”
“It doesn’t! Because I was there with you. Iwantedto be with you.”
